§11-80-13. Cemetery rehabilitation authorities.

(a)(1) County commissions may establish a county cemetery rehabilitation authority, hereinafter authority, to designate, register, and maintain neglected cemeteries lying outside any municipal area within the county.

(2) When a county commission establishes an authority, it shall appoint a board to oversee the duties given to the authority. Each board member shall serve at the pleasure of the county commission.

(3) City governments have the same power to establish a city cemetery rehabilitation authority and a board to oversee the registration and maintenance of neglected cemeteries within their municipal limits.

(4) Governments are encouraged to include on their board representatives of genealogical and historical societies and other citizens who have shown an interest in preserving cemeteries.

(b) In the absence of action by the appropriate governing body, any citizen may submit, in writing, a request to the appropriate governing body that the governing body establish a cemetery rehabilitation authority, and such request shall be spread upon the minutes of the next meeting of the appropriate governing body following receipt of such request.

(c) A cemetery rehabilitation authority created herein may accept the assistance of private citizens as well as money donated by private citizens or family, in order to afford the upkeep and restoration of cemeteries designated as neglected. A trust fund may be established to supply continuing needs over a long period of time.

(d) The cemetery authority may work with private landowners to determine the frequency of access, either for specified work days or for visits by family to restore and or maintain the graves, or by genealogical researchers.

(e) The county commission of each county may provide for the identification, cataloguing, or recording of neglected cemeteries. A copy of all surveys shall be forwarded to the Alabama Historical Commission for establishment of a statewide inventory. If the county or city has a cemetery rehabilitation authority, this duty may be delegated to that authority.

(f) The authority or the county commissions of each county shall provide for the registration, with the Historical Commission, of each neglected cemetery within the county, unless the cemetery has been previously registered. The registration shall take place within one year of notification being made to the board by any interested party of the existence of the neglected cemetery.

(g) No county or municipality nor any person under the supervision or direction of the county or municipality, providing good faith assistance in securing or maintaining a cemetery under this section, may be subject to civil liabilities or penalties of any type.

(Act 2007-408, p. 836, §2.)