Patrons can rest assured that the much-maligned Memorial Park Cemetery will be in good shape for the upcoming holiday activities, now that 40 city employees have been working at the property, Lawrence Parks and Recreation leaders said Friday.

But some patrons who bought burial vaults, tombstones or other merchandise from the previous owner of the troubled cemetery still have reason to worry.

City crews took over care of the 20-acre cemetery at 1517 E. 15th St. on Wednesday after a Douglas County District Court judge found that its owners had failed to comply with state laws regarding cemetery maintenance.

“It is going well,” said Fred DeVictor, director of Lawrence Parks and Recreation, which is overseeing the property. “I can tell you that a lot of city employees have spent lots of hours out there to get it ready. They understand the importance of this.”

But problems have arisen for some since the court’s ruling. At least one family was forced to buy a new burial vault – a casement that is buried in the ground to surround a casket – after city officials informed them the court did not give the city access to any money or merchandise that the previous cemetery owners had in their possession.

Assistant City Manager David Corliss said that the city was recommending that people who had prepaid for vaults, which can cost around $1,000, tombstones or other merchandise contact the Kansas Attorney General’s Office. Corliss said the Attorney General’s Office – which filed the lawsuit transferring care of the cemetery to the city – was working to recover the money and merchandise.

Charles Barnes, an employee with the Lawrence Parks and Recreation Department, cleans up fallen tree branches at Memorial Park Cemetery. Barnes and dozens of other city workers worked Friday as friends and family of the deceased decorated graves at the cemetery, which the city took over earlier this week after a court found that its owners were not complying with their maintenance duties.

“We know the attorney general is pursuing this very aggressively to make everything right,” Corliss said. “Whether that will happen or not, we don’t know.”

Jan Lunsford, a spokesman with the Attorney General’s Office, said the judge’s decision on Wednesday was a temporary order. He said that matters related to other assets, and a request for a $10,000 payment for each violation of the state’s consumer protection law, hadn’t been ruled on yet. He did not have a timeline for the case to be resolved, in part because such cases are rare. The last time state officials filed a similar lawsuit against a private cemetery was in 1994.

But Lunsford said anyone who believed they may have money or merchandise owed them by the cemetery’s owners, Houston-based Mike Graham & Associates, should contact the Attorney General’s Office at (800) 432-2310.

“But it is going to take some time to let the court sort this out,” Lunsford said.

City officials also were urging patience in regard to the cemetery’s appearance. Mitch Young, the maintenance manager who oversees the city’s cemeteries, said city crews found about 15 dead or diseased trees that needed pruning or removal, along with about a dozen graves that either had unsightly dirt piles atop them or had suffered from settling and needed to have more dirt added.

Much of that work already has been completed. Young also said crews from the city’s Public Works Department had been filling potholes and sweeping the cemetery lanes. In total, Young estimated that 40 city employees had done work at the property, with several working 14-hour days to get the facility presentable for Memorial Day.

“I think people should feel great about how it is going to look,” Young said. “I’ve been very impressed with my staff.”

The city has hired two former Memorial Park staff members – one office worker and one maintenance employee – to help with the transition. Young said community members shouldn’t blame local Memorial Park staff members for the condition of the cemetery.

“With the little staff that they had, they were really working on it,” Young said. “They were doing what they could with what they were given.”

City officials will direct more resources to the property, but where they’ll come up with the money is still an open question. DeVictor said he was still trying to determine how much money his department would need to care for the property the rest of this year and into 2006. He said it likely would be a significant amount. He said the city spent about $200,000 to maintain its two city-owned cemeteries, with about half the money coming from taxpayers and the other half coming from cemetery fees.

City Commissioner Mike Amyx said the city would figure out a way to take care of the cemetery for the long term.

“The work they have done out there already is tremendous,” Amyx said. “The bottom line is when people come buy lots and have expectations of perpetual care, that is what ought to happen. We will make it work.”