RULES, POLICIES AND REGULATIONS RELATED TO
THE MAYFLOWER COLUMBARIUM CHAPEL OF
MAYFLOWER CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH
3901 Northwest 63rd Street, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73116
The Mayflower Congregational Church Columbarium of Mayflower Congregational Church (the ‰¥þColumbarium‰¥ÿ and the ‰¥þChurch‰¥ÿ) has been created to provide a space for depositing (‰¥þinurnment‰¥ÿ of) cremated remains (‰¥þcremains‰¥ÿ) of deceased Church members and other eligible persons and/or memorial space.
The Columbarium Committee (the ‰¥þCommittee‰¥ÿ). The Committee administers, operates and maintains the Columbarium under a delegation of authority from the Trustees.
Committee Membership and Appointment. The Committee shall consist of three persons, all three of whom shall be members of the Church and the Board of Trustees. Committee members shall serve for at least one year and no more than three years, which shall coincide with their terms on the Board of Trustees.
Committee Functions and Duties. The Committee shall have authority to:
Elect its own Chairman, Vice Chairman, and Secretary.
Set meetings according to need as Applications to Purchase a Right of Inurnment are received.
Suggest procedural changes, subject to approval of 2/3 of the members of the Trustees.
Receive proceeds from the sales of niches and make disbursements or pay expenditures, subject to accounting for such financial transactions to the Trustees upon request, using accounts with designated financial institutions.
Generally administer, operate and maintain the Columbarium consistent with these Rules, Policies, and Regulations and the physical plans submitted to and approved by the Trustees, maintaining all records and documentation relating to the Columbarium, the sale of niches, and all inurnments in the Columbarium.
Inurnment space in the Columbarium may be purchased by a member or former member of the Church. Requests for the inurnment of others may be accepted if recommended by the Committee and approved by the Trustees.
The one-time fee for the right of inurnment in the Columbarium is as follows:
Wall or Tower Niche - $1,500
Memorial Garden - $750
Scatter Garden - $500
Memorial Plaque - $300
This fee includes all costs directly associated with inurnment, inscription of names and dates, and perpetual care in the Columbarium. It does not include the cost of cremation, transportation and other off-premises costs. The fee may be changed if recommended by the Committee and approved by the Trustees. Current holders of an Inurnment License and Agreement will neither be reimbursed nor assessed additional costs if the fee changes.
Each niche in the Columbarium shall have a capacity of one urn. To purchase a niche, an eligible person should obtain a Columbarium packet from the Church Business office. This packet contains a copy of the Columbarium brochure, the Columbarium Rules, Policies, and Regulations, an Inurnment License and Agreement, an Application to Purchase and Certificate, and an Inscription Order Form. The applicant should complete all appropriate forms and submit them, with payment in full, to the Church. A member of the Committee will contact the applicant to insure that all information is correct and then submit the application to the Committee for final approval. When the application is approved, the applicant (now ‰¥þLicensee‰¥ÿ) will be issued a completed Certificate to a Right of Inurnment (‰¥þCertificate‰¥ÿ).
When an application has been approved, the applicant will have the right to select any niche(s) which may be available at that time. If more than one application shall have been approved on the same date, the rights of preference shall be based on the date and time the completed applications are received. No more niches will be sold to a family than those necessary to inurn the cremains of all eligible persons in that family.
The Church and the Committee shall be held responsible only for written orders given in person or by mail and shall not be held responsible for any mistake occurring due to the lack of precise written instructions as to either the inscription upon or the location of a niche where inurnment is desired.
Services. Only a minister serving Mayflower Congregational Church or a Mayflower designee invited by the aforementioned shall be authorized to officiate at an inurnment service in the Columbarium. The committal service shall be at the convenience of the Mayflower Congregational Church minister chosen to conduct the service and the family of the deceased to be inurned.
Urns. The only urn that may be used for inurning cremains in the Columbarium shall be (1) the urn purchased from the church (2) an urn of similar size which will fit in the niche.
Inscription on Niches. The inscription shall be the uniform size and style as chosen by the Committee and shall include only the deceased䴜s full name, date of birth, and date of death. The purchase price of the inurnment rights shall include the cost of such inscription. Arrangements for the inscription, in accordance with the name and dates so furnished, will be made by the Committee. The Church and the Committee shall be responsible only for such errors in the inscription as might be made by the party doing the inscription which deviates from the name and dates as filled in on the signed Inscription Order Form.
Personal Items. Personal or memorial items may be placed in the niche along with the urn as long as the items will fit in the original size of the niche, and not be of a volatile nature. These approved items may be photographs, letters, news clippings, etc. A detailed inventory of personal items the are placed in the niche shall be filed with the church office. The church shall be held harmless for any damage, decay, or destruction of said personal items placed in the niche. The church hereby offers no warranty for the preservation of said personal items.
Floral Regulations. Mayflower䴜s Columbarium will be located out of doors and is designed with a garden setting. Therefore no additional flowers, plants, or decorations shall be permitted.
Prohibited Ornaments. The use of any decoration of a Columbarium niche is prohibited. The placing of any items such as toys, signs, wreaths, ornaments, or any other article not provided by the Committee shall not be permitted in or near the Columbarium area. Any of these items may be removed by the Committee or and disposed of, without notice to the owner and without liability.
The Licensee of inurnment rights has an obligation to keep the Church notified concerning his or her current address and/or related information prior to inurnment. In the event of the death of any named Designee, the Licensee shall keep the Church notified of the next person designated to receive notices regarding the inurnment space and that person䴜s current contact information.
An established percentage of funds from the sale of niches shall be maintained by the Church, under direction of the Committee, as a perpetual care fund for the upkeep of the Columbarium, including the following:
Routine maintenance.
Floral arrangements and seasonal plantings
Insurance as required
Future additions, modifications and/or repairs to the Columbarium
Other uses at the discretion of the Columbarium Committee, subject to Trustees䴜 approval
Right to Purchase. The Committee retains the right to purchase the unused inurnment rights from any owner of such rights at the then current standard purchase price or the original purchase price, whichever is lower, prior to the transfer or assignment of said rights to any other owner. Any new owner would have to meet the criteria in Article III of this document and would be subject to approval by the Committee.
Removal. Cremains remain the property of the family or the estate of the deceased. If cremains from the person listed on the Certificate have been inurned in their niche and the survivors wish to remove all the cremains, rights to the niche will revert to the Church, with no compensation due to the owner䴜s estate. This applies only to cremains inurned in a wall or tower niche.
Niche Use. No cremains may be inurned in any niche except those for the person listed on the Certificate to a Right of Inurnment for that niche.
The Columbarium is owned by and is part of the Church. The holder of a Certificate acquires no property rights in the Columbarium, any of its niches or any of the Church䴜s property. Legal title to the Columbarium and all niches remains with the Church at all times. The Certificate attests only to the right to inurn the cremains of the person named on the Certificate in the specific niche stated in the Certificate. Assignment of cremains to a specific niche shall constitute only a license to use such niche pursuant to these Rules, Policies and Regulations, as amended from time to time. In the event of a discrepancy between the Certificate and the administrative records maintained by the Committee, the latter shall control.
Cremains may not be removed from the Columbarium without the written consent of (a) the Church and (b) the Designee of the Right of Inurnment. The rules stated in the section, Transfers of Assignments, shall apply.
In the event that the Columbarium requires repair in order to maintain its integrity, the Licensee agrees to permit the temporary removal of any cremains until those repairs are completed.
The Church shall not willfully take any action or willfully fail to do any act that would result in the loss, destruction, or desecration of any cremains in niches. The holder(s) of the Inurnment Rights will assume the risk of the loss, destruction, or desecration of the decedent䴜s cremains from any or all causes.
The Right of Inurnment will continue as long as the present Church edifice stands and is owned and utilized as the primary place of worship by the Church. If the present edifice is to be sold or demolished and a replacement Columbarium is to be constructed at the new sight, any Licensee will be entitled to an inurnment space equivalent to the space occupied at that time and the expense of the move will be borne by the Church. If Mayflower Congregational Church is dissolved as an entity and a replacement Columbarium is not constructed at a new sight, the Right of Inurnment will cease. In that event, the Church will notify the Owner (or his or her legal representative successors) that they must remove the cremains from the niche. If no one of such persons removes the cremains within a reasonable time or if no one of such persons can be contacted within a legal time, the Church has the right to relocate the cremains as it deems proper. No refund of any amount for the Inurnment Rights will be made.
The Columbarium is part of the Church, and all persons in the Columbarium area are expected to conduct themselves in accordance with customary good decorum as normally observed in a sacred area of the Church. Any member of the Church staff is empowered to enforce these rules and regulations and to exclude from the Columbarium area any persons(s) violating these rules and regulations.
The Church may carry such insurance for its own benefit upon the Columbarium and contents as the Committee sees fit. However, there is no obligation upon the Church or the Committee to provide any insurance for the benefit of the Inurnment Rights holders.
The Trustees of the Church may, at any time, amend, repeal, suspend, or waive any or all of the rules and requirements of these Rules, Policies and Regulations. Waiver of any rule or requirement shall not be construed, unless specifically so stated by the Trustees, to constitute a continuing waiver of that rule or requirement with respect to any situation or occurrence arising thereafter.