Ohio’s Department of Commerce offers resources to help maintain cemeteries

COLUMBUS, Ohio – While visiting cemeteries during the Memorial Day weekend, the Ohio Department of Commerce is asking Ohioans to keep an eye out for safety and maintenance concerns.

The department’s Division of Real Estate and Professional Licensing oversees more than 4,100 cemeteries in Ohio. The division is asking visitors to report any concerns while they pay tribute to those who have died serving their country.

“Of course, report it to the township, report it to the cemetery association operators, but we are also a resource for you at the Department of Commerce. The cemetery section is able to take and address complaints if you have them. We can discuss with you what the minimum maintenance guidelines are, what those norms are. And then, if we need to get in touch with cemeteries and educate them about our grant program to make some of these changes, we’re more than happy to do that,” Emma Wilson said.

Wilson is the cemetery registration and regulation chief and she wants to highlight a resource for cemeteries that need help to address any maintenance or safety concerns. That resource is the Cemetery Grant Program that recently expanded under Ohio Governor Mike DeWine.

“The idea of this project is to be creative, to come up with things that otherwise you wouldn’t get done, you wouldn’t otherwise have the funding for, and to finally get those projects accomplished with the grant program,” Wilson said. “And historically, that cap has been $2,500 per grant. We actually, this upcoming fiscal year, have seen an increase from the governor and we now have a grant of $5,000.”

If you notice any problems while paying respects to our fallen service men and women on Memorial Day weekend, you can report it through the Department of Commerce’s website.