With fewer volunteers, Lenexa Cemetery Association hopes to pass responsibility to city

The Lenexa Cemetery located on 87th Street Parkway and Pflumm Road could become the city’s responsibility by the end of the year.

The Lenexa Cemetery Association has been responsible for the grounds since 1872. On Tuesday, the Lenexa City Council was presented with a memorandum of understanding seeking a change in operations. The association says it’s concerned about its ability to take care of the property in the future with a dwindling number of volunteers.

There are about 2,000 burial plots in the four-acre cemetery and 700 have been sold. At a rate of about 10 burials a year and approximately 321 empty plots, it will be about 27 years before the cemetery is full.

The association first approached the neighboring St. Johns Catholic Cemetery, but they did not want to take over the land.

In early 2022, the City Council asked staff to look into how to transition the cemetery to the city’s care. In March, the cemetery association’s board voted unanimously to pursue giving the property to the city.

Now, city staff will meet with the association to answer any questions and the association will vote to approve the memorandum. The City Council is expected to vote by mid-June.

A timeline laid out in the proposed memorandum has the cemetery fully in the hands of the city by the end of this year.

The documents say that if approved, the cemetery would fall under the city’s parks and recreation department and may be added to its contract mowing plan.

Burial services would continue to be contracted as a fee-for-service for those buried at the Lenexa Cemetery. The documents state that city staff anticipate contracting service providers for duties like grave digging and headstone placement.