Cemetery mapping approved by council

RITZVILLE – The City Council unanimously agreed to map Ritzville Memorial Cemetery, pending approval of a $50,000 grant offered by the state Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation.

If approved by the state, the grant will cover most of the estimated cost of $52,775 for mapping services provided by contractor ViaVista Mapping.

City Clerk/Treasurer Julie Flyckt also noted that a portion of the city’s utility tax revenues might be used to supplement grant funds, if needed.

“Several people want to see the cemetery kiosk updated,” Councilwoman Michelle Plumb said. “We need to know where everything’s located to make an accurate map.”

According to ViaVista’s price proposal, the firm will document the current status of the 10.8-acre Memorial Cemetery.

Ground-penetrating radar and data from the Global Positioning System will be employed to “map all existing burial markers, coping areas, fences, decorative features, and other pertinent features of the cemetery.”

Ground-penetrating radar can also detect disturbed soil caused by wooden and/or metal caskets, voids in the earth with little to no surviving skeletal remains, ceremonial burial objects, vaults, improperly positioned or unmarked graves, and underground utilities.

Plumb described the scanning device as an apparatus “about the size of a lawn mower” that identifies objects and anomalies up to two meters below the surface of the ground.

Once scanning is complete, the contractor will integrate relevant data from existing cemetery records.

In addition, ViaVista will generate printable map files for updating the cemetery kiosk and develop a customized website with a publicly-accessible cemetery map.