“Aside from community volunteers, the association is not operating or caring for their cemetery,” the complaint reads. “The association has failed to register for years, and the cemetery trust fund is not being property maintained in accordance with Ohio law.”
A Montgomery County judge on Wednesday granted a temporary restraining order, allowing the city the right to secure the cemetery premises and gain control of its maintenance and operation, pending a court hearing on the matter scheduled for July 28 at 10 a.m.
In a statement, city officials called their action against the cemetery association an “unusual step.”
“The city was left with no choice but to file the lawsuit given the number of complaints from concerned members of the public that the cemetery is not being maintained and burial records are unavailable,” the statement reads.
Documents name Tammy Baker, Donald Eyler, and Terry Hudson as trustees of the cemetery association. Eyler is believed to have been the main on-site caretaker prior to his death earlier this year.
The court filing claims fiduciary responsibility of the property was transferred to Baker upon Eyler’s death, but no new cemetery caretaker was appointed.
The two surviving trustees could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Trotwood resident Andy Jones was mowing the cemetery grounds Thursday afternoon. He and his wife April have volunteered their time to provide basic maintenance to the site for the past several years.
“It’s a cemetery; it needs to be operated on a day-to-day basis,” April Jones said, adding that she has also personally assisted family members of some of the deceased individuals who are buried in the cemetery.
“If they’ve been taken advantage of by the other parties that were here, I assist them with getting ahold of the Trotwood Police Department and filing a claim if they’ve paid any money for services that were not rendered,” she said.
Documents show the more than 100-year-old cemetery’s association, created to operate and maintain the site, was a nonprofit charitable corporation registered with the Ohio Secretary of State from 1917 to 1993.
The association was canceled in September 1993 due to failure to renew its registration with the state, an annual requirement for cemeteries.
“The association filed partial renewal applications in 2019, 2020, and 2022 and has still not filed a complete application,” the city’s complaint states.
The filing alleges that from approximately 2017 until June 2023, the city and its police department have received numerous complaints from families and residents. The 29-acre site was described as being in “dilapidated condition, with overgrown weeds and grass covering the visibility of many graves.”
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