Council hears Colored City Cemetery update

The Yoakum City Council heard an update and presentation from the Yoakum City Colored Cemetery at the June 11 meeting.

One of the latest additions to the cemetery includes a new interactive QR code folks can scan which will tell others where the name of the person’s grave is located. This has been in the works for months now, but it is finally official.

“On the city’s website, there is a new QR code for the Yoakum Colored City Cemetery,” Yoakum Memorial Association President Vanita Cheeves said. “It works for those who have a smart phone or Android. When you pull it up, it will give you the initial snapshot of the cemetery. You will see rectangles and each of those rectangles is a grave that has a marker and a headstone. If you click on it, it will bring you up a picture of the headstone and the name. There will be a second screen behind that which will tell you the name of the person, the year they died, and the year they were born. You can scroll down and get some of the information on that person, so if somebody is trying to do genealogy, they can pull that up. In addition, the app gives you the coordinates for the headstone a person was buried in. It also has the capability to print out this information.”

Along with the rectangular icons on the app, there are triangular icons which indicates that the grave is unmarked. Recently, the cemetery hired a guy to go out and find unmarked graves. His finding showed that there were 456 unmarked graves.

On the app, there’s also an icon that says “Veterans” and if you click on that, it will show which of the headstones are from a veteran.

“There are 11 veterans that are buried in our cemetery,” Cheeves said. “If you click on that icon, it will tell you what branch of the military they were in and it will also give you their marker. You can also see which of these veterans fought in World War I, World War II, or the Spanish American War.”

Cheeves also made a request to the council to subsidize the cemetery. The city gives $3,625 to the Oak Grove Cemetery and the Yoakum Colored City Cemetery is requesting that same amount. Council made no action on this item.

Also on the agenda, a request from a concerned citizen, Tammy Sierra, was made for a streetlight at East Hochheim and Dunn Streets.

“I’ve been there 18 years renting the same house and the streetlight has never been out,” Sierra said. “Now, it’s been out for three months. The corner is pretty dark and you can’t see anything. I’ve had my house broken into once and it’s kind of dangerous. I also am requesting a four-way traffic control device at that corner. People will go 60 miles per hour on that street and it’s dangerous.”

Council made no action on this.

Other items on the agenda included: 

• Council awarded a contract not to exceed $343,080 for the 2021 CDBG Waterline Replacement Project funded through the Texas Department of Agriculture Community Development Block Grant. 

• Council awarded a contract not to exceed $52,817.89 for the 2024 Street Improvement Project.

• Council approved a budget expenditure for a garbage truck to the Solid Waste Department in the amount of $232,131.93. The truck could come in by January or February of next year. The council also approved repairs costing $6,041.72 to the Wastewater Treatment Plant.  

• An ordinance on a second and final reading amending the City of Yoakum Fiscal Year Budget was approved.

• A date to canvas the runoff election and swearing in new candidates was set for June 20 at 7:15 p.m. at City Hall. 

• A budget workshop was scheduled for July 15 and July 25.

• The City Hall is closed today (Wednesday) in observance of Juneteenth. The office will also be closed Thursday, July 4 in honor of Independence Day.