Orion Sanders, new KRVPCD manager. Photo by Catherine Stachowiak
Local businessman, president of Kernville Chamber of Commerce, and new cemetery manager Orion Sanders gave an update on the Kern River Valley Public Cemetery District at the Kern River Valley Chamber of Commerce meeting, Wednesday July 10.
He told the chamber the district has an entirely new team at the district, a new secretary, and a new 32-hour a week grounds keeper. “Before I accepted the position, that was one of the keys to that acceptance,” he said. ” The product of the cemetery is the grounds. It’s the view. It’s the beautification of the place. And so that’s the product we’re selling. In order the sell that product we have to have a grounds keeper that can keep the ground green, keep the flowers blooming, keep everything beautiful for all of our loved ones being laid to rest there. That to me was the most important thing.”
He said the district took the current budget, and cut hours out of the manager, and hours out of the secretary position and made a position for a grounds keeper. The secretary will be at the office from 9am to 2pm, 5 days a week to answer phones and handle paperwork.
Regarding the Kern County Grand Jury Report, the team would be meeting deadlines for their financials and minutes, which the district became behind on. From the water well to the retaining wall, the issues are goals the district is resolving especially the Grand Jury recommendations avoiding legal issues.
Sanders said that the personnel turnover left the ball dropped on internments. Sanders said, the county would be providing some training for the district.
Sanders said the district would be using a different program to record burials. They would be using CemSites program to manage their records going forward, with interactive mapping, so the public would be able to tour where their loved one is buried online. The data would take upwards to a year to be recorded and updated.
The old cemetery is part of the district. Last year when the river was high the US Forest Service put sandbags there. However the biggest concern is half of the cemetery floating into the river. There is nothing in the works to fix the problem. Sanders said he saw no paperwork for that issue at the district. He plans to get the county supervisors involved. Sanders said, “Building a retaining wall is not cheap. And it’s not in the cemetery budget to do that. But it’s got to be done. And the county’s got to be aware that its’ got to be done.” he said.
