The maintenance and cleanup is ongoing at Grandview Cemetery, where Ravenna Township trustees plan to install a columbarium by summer’s end. A columbarium is a prefabricated structure designed to house cremated remains.
“If you were to pass away, and they didn’t want to keep your remains at the house, the cremains would go in there, and the name would go on the front,” Trustee Vince Coia said.
Turns out space for cremains is actually an issue at Grandview.
“We’re running out of room for this kind of thing because during this Covid we’ve had a lot of people that have had to be cremated,” Coia said.
In a separate statement to The Portager, Trustee Hank Gibson had this to say:
“Since Ravenna Township trustees were court ordered to assume the responsibility of Grandview, without any financial support from anywhere, and after it was left an awful mess by the Martin[s], we, along with our sexton and road department staff, continue to work feverishly to restore public trust to the many family members across Portage County who have loved ones buried at Grandview.
“The Martins betrayed many folks while owners of Grandview. The township trustees have had to invest a great deal of funds that we did not envision when given Grandview for repairs, equipment, cemetery improvements and maintenance. We continue to improve the appearance of Grandview in hopes that the public trust will be restored.”
Public cleanup
Ravenna Township’s annual spring cleanup is set for 8 a.m. to noon April 17. Dumpsters will be located at the township garage on Spring Street, at Skeels-Mathews Community Center and at the McElrath ballfields. No tires, paint, batteries or chemicals will be accepted.
Township employees will be on hand to help residents unload vehicles at the Spring Street location. Trustees or township employees will also act as observers at the other two locations. The dumpsters will be removed after noon.
The township’s curbside chipping program kicks off May 3, and will continue the first and third weeks of each month throughout the summer.
Guidelines are posted on the township website, but we include them here:
- Place material on the road right of way.
- Arrange material in neat piles with the butt ends toward the road.
- Do not include leaves, grass or lumber.
- Do not include stumps or branches with dirt attached.
- Do not include limbs greater than four inches in diameter.
- Brush piles are restricted to four feet high by eight feet long and eight feet wide.
- The Road Department will not pick up anything that does not meet the above criteria.
Wendy DiAlesandro is a former Record Publishing Co. reporter and contributing writer for The Portager.