§ 2-603. Definitions.

(a) The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this article, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning:

(1) Block means a plot of land consisting of lots and spaces which is identified on the cemetery plat filed with the city clerk.

(2) Cemetery means property owned or leased by the city for the burial of human remains and any land leased or owned in the future for the burial of human remains.

(3) Cemetery administrator means that person designated by the city manager to have responsibility for preparation and storage of documents for the conveyance, sale or transfer of burial rights and the collection and deposit of funds in payment of said conveyance, sale or transfer. The cemetery administrator shall also be responsible for any administrative work related to the interment or disinterment of human remains in the city's cemeteries.

(4) Cemetery manager means that person designated by the city manager to have responsibility for the day-to-day maintenance and operation of the cemeteries.

(5) Certificate of ownership means the instrument issued by the city, upon payment of the established fee, evidencing a perpetual right of burial in a certain cemetery space of the individual to whom the certificate is issued or a member of the immediate family of that individual.

(6) City means the City of Lake Wales, Polk County, Florida.

(7) City clerk means the duly appointed city clerk of the City of Lake Wales or his/her designee.

(8) City commission means the elected governing body of the City of Lake Wales.

(9) City manager means the city manager of the City of Lake Wales or his/her designee.

(10) Conveyance, sale or transfer means the conveyance of a right to burial in a space and shall not be deemed to convey fee simple title to the space.

(11) Deed means the certificate of ownership executed by the city certifying the conveyance to a purchaser of the right to burial in a space.

(12) Disinterment means the opening of a burial site, the removal of a casket or other enclosure containing human remains from the open site, and the closing of the site.

(13) Final disposition means the final disposal of human remains by means including, but not limited to, earth interment, aboveground interment or cremation.

(14) Finance director means the finance director of the City of Lake Wales or his/her designee.

(15) Funeral means the observance, service or ceremony held for a deceased person.

(16) Funeral directing means the making of arrangements for, or directing the arrangements for, the preparation and transportation of human remains for final disposition; or using, in connection with one's name, the word "funeral director," "licensed funeral director," "undertaker," or "mortician" or offering or representing one's self as offering such services.

(17) Funeral director means any person licensed in the State of Florida to practice funeral directing.

(18) Grave means the excavation on a lot for the final disposition of human remains.

(19) Immediate family means spouse, child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, brother, sister, mother-in-law and father-in-law.

(20) Interment means the opening of a burial site, the placing of a casket or other enclosure containing human remains in the open site, and the closing of the site.

(21) Lot means the numbered divisions as shown on the recorded cemetery plat which consists of one (1) or more plots.

(22) Lot marker means a marble or granite post used by cemetery staff to locate the corners of the lot or plot; for the purposes of this article, lot marker shall also mean a permanent metal marker embossed with the contract number and date of sale of a burial space and permanently mounted at the northwest corner of a burial space.

(23) Marker means any memorial that is composed of only one (1) piece; e.g., a flat marker. There are cases where a marker is composed of two (2) pieces, but has the effect of a marker; e.g., a bronze marker on granite. This is still technically a marker, even though it has two (2) pieces.

(24) Memorial means any marker or structure upon or in any lot or niche, placed thereupon or therein or partially therein for the purpose of identification or in memory of the interred.

(25) Monument means any memorial that has two (2) separate sections or more; e.g., a stone with a base. The top section of a monument is the "tablet" and the bottom section is the "base."

(26) Nonresident means a person not residing within the corporate limits of the city.

(27) Owner means any person, firm or corporation who has purchased a lot, part lot or grave space in a city cemetery or the heirs, personal representatives or successors of the owners.

(28) Plot or space means that parcel within a lot in which the remains of one (1) adult human being will be or have been buried.

(29) Resident means a person residing within the corporate limits of the city.

(30) Service animal means any animal such as a seeing-eye dog or hearing-ear dog used to assist a person with a disability or an animal trained for law enforcement purposes and under the control of a law enforcement officer.

(31) Vault means an underground or aboveground chamber or container used for the final disposition of human remains.

(b) For the purposes of administration and enforcement of this chapter, unless otherwise stated in this chapter, the following rules of construction shall apply:

The word "shall" is always mandatory and not discretionary; the word "may" is permissive.

The words "he," "his," and other words denoting the masculine gender shall extend and be applied to females and to firms, partnerships and corporations as well as to males.

Words used in the present tense shall include the future, and words used in the singular number shall include the plural and plural the singular, unless the context clearly indicates the contrary.

Unless the context clearly indicates the contrary, where a regulation involves two (2) or more items, conditions, provisions, or events connected by the conjunction "and," "or" or "either...or," the conjunction shall be interpreted as follows:

(1) "And" indicates that all the connected terms, conditions, provisions or events shall apply.

(2) "Or" indicates that the connected items, conditions, provisions or events may apply singly or in any combination.

(3) "Either...or" indicates that the connected items, conditions, provisions or events shall apply singly but not in combination.

(4) The word "includes" shall not limit a term to the specific example but is intended to extend its meaning to all other instances or circumstances of like kind or character.

(Ord. No. 2009-32, § 1, 12-15-09; Ord. No. 2015-05, § 1, 08-04-15)