Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Changes may be coming to the Goldenrod Cemetery in Tekoa.
In the past two months, discussion by Mayor John Jaeger and the city council has centered on bringing electricity to the hilltop property to allow for better access to water.
“We just have a hard time getting enough water on it to keep it green,” said Jaeger.
“It’s really important to have your cemetery looking really nice. It says something about your town.”
In August, Mike Jeffries of B&B Sprinklers in Spokane gave an estimate of what it might cost to install electricity, larger water pipes and a water lift station, or booster pump, along with replacing sprinkler lines.
“Most of the challenge is getting the water up there,” Jeffries said, noting the particularly low water pressure at the 10-acre site.
He recorded 22 pounds of water pressure.
“The minimum is 50 pounds,” Jeffries said. “That’s why it requires a booster pump.”
In addition, he said that the original three-inch galvanized pipe must be replaced by six-inch water mains to comply with current code.
“Those pipes are probably 80 years old with leaks everywhere,” Jeffries said.
All told, Jaeger hoped he might hear an engineer’s estimate from Jeffries in the range of $70,000 to $80,000. Instead the work was deemed at around $300,000.
So the mayor shelved the project for this year.
The Goldenrod Cemetery upkeep is paid for out of Tekoa’s general fund. Aside from that, there is a cemetery fund which provides revenue from interest earnings.
In previous years, the interest from the cemetery account, for which there also is an endowment, was enough to pay for cemetery maintenance.
Jaeger said that if B&B’s estimate was closer to what they had in mind, the city could have borrowed the $70,000 to $80,000 from another account and paid the money back with interest.
“We’re thinking about it if the price was right,” he said.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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