By Jim Bloch
The city of Port Huron will buy two 40-niche columbaria for the Allied Veteran’s Cemetery inside the footprint of Lakeside Cemetery.
At its regular meeting June 12, the city council unanimously approved the $42,471 contract with lone bidder Coldspring Granite Company, of Cold Spring, Minnesota for the two units, which are designed to hold cremated remains.
The purchase was budgeted and will come out of the city’s Cemetery fund.
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“The reason we have a single source provider is that, if you were to bid this out, everyone would source them as the product,” said City Manager James Freed, as heard on the recording of the meeting posted on the city’s website. “They make it. They’re the ones we’ve been buying them from. Our columbariums are pretty much sold out now. This is for our Veteran’s Cemetery and I think it’s important that we have a place ready and available for our veteran’s when they’re finally laid to rest. It’s important that this is made available to our veterans in their time of need and their family’s time of need. And we’re running out.”
“It’s for two 40-niche (units) so there’s 80 spots,” said Mayor Pauline Repp.
“Correct,” said Freed. “Also note, we don’t make a lot of money on them, but we’ll break even. So this cost is covered over time.”
A resident asked during the public comment section of the agenda what columbaria were.
Mayor Pro Tem Sherry Archibald asked Freed to explain them.
“A columbarium is a granite structure — it’s above ground,” said Freed. “If you drive by the Veterans’ Cemetery, they have little boxes and each little box can contain the remains of a veteran with a nameplate on the front. It’s lit up beautifully at night so people can visit and read the names of our hometown heroes who’ve served their country with dedication and honor.”
Anita Ashford asked if the cremains of spouses of veterans could be contained along with those of the veteran in the same niche.
Yes, said Freed.
The Allied Veterans section of the cemetery is located west of Gratiot Avenue between Krafft Road and the canal. Honorably discharged veterans residing in St. Clair County may be interred there.
A columbarium niche for such a veteran costs $500 for a resident of Port Huron and $750 for a resident outside of the city, but within St. Clair County – plus opening and closing costs, which are $70 for city vets and $120 for county vets.
Veterans receive a price break on their niches. Residents pay $650 and non-residents pay $1,300 per niche for the columbaria north of the chapel.
Jim Bloch is a freelance writer based in St. Clair, Michigan. Contact him at bloch.jim@gmail.com.
