Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
The City of Tekoa has named three trustees to administering the Cohn Trust fund. Mayor John Jaeger asked three residents, who accepted, in mid-September. They are Carol Sturman, a member of the city council, Joyce Hanson and Virginia Heaton.
The $2.2 million endowment is deemed for Tekoa's Goldenrod Cemetery.
The three trustees will be for a to-be-formed tax exempt organization which will administer the endowment.
“Procedurally, where this is right now is in the hands of the city attorney,” said Ted Rasmussen, attorney for Gloria Rasmussen, existing trustee.
“If the IRS says 'yea', then the newly formed organization will receive the Cohn Trust money,” said Rasmussen. “If they say 'nay,' they will advise them as to what needs to be done to turn it into a 'yea.'”
Last year, after Tekoa received the endowment from the late accountant/bookkeeper Eleanor Cohn, Jaeger directed the city's engineer, Matt Morkert of Century West, to lay out some options for a long-sought improved water delivery system for the hilltop cemetery.
Morkert presented these to the city council in August 2015.
The main change would be to replace the two-inch waterline with six-inch pipes.
Jaeger talked about potentially needing a new booster pump.
As a condition of the endowment, the city may only use its interest revenue.
Eleanor Cohn, who died in 2009, had set up the trust for the care of her daughter, Judy Cohn, who died in December 2013.
The terms of the trust deemed that, after Judy’s death, the remaining funds would go to the Goldenrod Cemetery Perpetual Care Endowment Fund.
The Tekoa Cemetery is operated by the city, as opposed to many others in the county, which are run by cemetery districts. Tekoa’s annual budget for the cemetery is an estimated $14,000, along with an existing $100,000 in the Goldenrod endowment.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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