MidCoast Council has admitted it was wrong and again apologised to both the community and families after it knocked down headstones at The Bright Cemetery, Wingham in July, citing safety reasons.
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At the monthly ordinary meeting on August 28 in Forster, councillors and council staff once again apologised for the error of judgement.
"The office of mayor has written an apology to every person that we are aware of; everyone who was affected by the event," mayor David West said.
Councillors supported a motion expressing they were 'sincerely sorry' and supported all necessary measures to rectify the situation and to ensure it doesn't happen again.
The meeting also endorsed a range of additional actions implemented since the incident, including a commitment to work with the families and the Bight community group.
At the same meeting councillors backed a proposal to commission an external independent investigation into the matter by the general manager, Adrian Panuccio.
Wingham community representative, Tim Crossley said he would support the actions of the general manager, but viewed council's actions as a lack of goverance from the top.
"We are after an apology from the full council," Mr Crossley said.
"This is a matter of grave concern for the people in the community who live here and have ties to the cemetery.
"And the full apology needs to be backed up by full restoration of all the monuments and a stop to the program."
Council commited to developing an action plan to repair the damaged headstones, while plans were underway to develop a separate action plan on the monument risk assessment program.
It would have been a shock for families when they saw the monuments laid down, Cr Len Roberts said.
"We know it would be distressing if you went to the cemetery and saw you family headstone laid down."
However, Cr Roberts said under the cemeteries act families had a responsibility to ensure plots remained safe.
"All monuments, gravestones and headstones should be kept neat and clean by the owners. If not the council has the right to remove them. But, council did not speak to the people to tell them what they were doing."
"When a thing wobbles a little or the headstone was ripped a metre out of the ground goes beyond the pale," Peter Epov said.
"Council took it upon itself to undertake a risk assessment without consultation.
"The community expects council to do the right thing and we want to do the right thing."
Cr Kathryn Bell asked if other cemeteries within the MidCoast Council area would 'miss out' because additional funding would be needed to repair the damage to Bight Cemetery.
"This incident is one of the worst I have seen," deputy mayor, Katheryn Smith said.
As part of its commitment to working with impacted families, council has published a map of the cemetery indicating the monuments which have been laid down. The website also includes a portal for family members to register their interest in the graves, to assist with communication.
The map identifies 59 headstones that have been laid down and indicates there are now 49 confirmed for repair with the remainder to undergo a more detailed assessment.
Jeanene Duncan
Jeanene has more than 40 years experience as a regional and rural journalist starting at The Land Newspaper. She also worked for Stock Journal Newspaper (SA), McPherson, Fairfax newspapers and Rural Press, and contributed to various magazines.
Jeanene has more than 40 years experience as a regional and rural journalist starting at The Land Newspaper. She also worked for Stock Journal Newspaper (SA), McPherson, Fairfax newspapers and Rural Press, and contributed to various magazines.
