Last week, three Bay Area cemeteries — including Skyview Memorial Lawn, Evergreen Cemetery in Oakland, and Mount Tamalpais Cemetery in San Rafael — were ordered to halt operations.
The cease-and-desist order followed a February hearing in response to state accusations that owner Buck Kamphausen and partners mismanaged the property and “failed to comply with various state regulations governing endowment care funds and special care funds,” said Solano County Superior Court judge Christine Carringer.
RELATED: Several Bay Area cemeteries shut down by state agency due to financial mismanagement
Ruled in favor of the state, the California Cemetery and Funeral Bureau now controls funds for Kamphausen’s three cemeteries. The owner has since made plans to appeal the judgment.
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“We lost in the court because the judge did not even give me the time to testify,” said Kamphausen. “She didn’t want to hear it from me.”
The hearing also investigated property neglect, failure to submit annual reports and records, and the overall mismanagement of the property’s maintenance. In response to delayed reports, Kamphausen claims that issues began with a former employee. “She was very good, we never had any problems. Then we found that her work was not being done, reports had been delayed, etc.,” he said.
The state then stepped in, in what felt like “a team effort,” said Kamphausen, to clear the issue and move forward. But that was not the case. Although Kamphausen and his partners still manage the cemeteries, its trust funds are now under bureau control — making it difficult to improve the properties, according to Kamphausen.
“We’ve found that they’ve taken over six cemeteries. We went and took pictures of five of them,” said Kamphausen. “Nothing’s been done, they’re run down, it’s just a mess. It’s ridiculous and these are the people that are supposedly regulating us.”
Since the state has ceased control, Kamphausen says it has provided little to no money for maintenance.
“We’re trying to get everything done, I’ve spent a lot of money putting in new water lines at Sky View, and we’re ready to put in sprinkler systems,” he said, including high-pressure plastic pipes that are easier to fix and do not deteriorate.
RELATED: Owner of several Bay Area cemeteries loses ruling over $52 million in ‘endowment care’ funds
The 85-year-old owner said that he is “working every day, trying to keep everything running, trying to keep people employed,” but with interference from the state, doing so is increasingly difficult.
“They’re basically trying to bankrupt me. Right now, we don’t have any funds coming from the endowment care — the state has made sure of that,” said Kamphausen. “They promised us that if we submitted bills for maintenance of certain items, that it would be included as a part of the endowment, that they would pay us — they’re not going to pay us.”
With the rise of cremation rates, difficulty in hiring, and post-pandemic economic downturn, Kamphausen has also credited many of the issues to an industry-wide recession. “We’re trying to adapt and change as fast as we can,” says Kamphausen.
As far as complaints that the cemeteries are overgrown and poorly maintained, Kamphausen feels that the comments are warranted. “All cemeteries have those kinds of complaints, it isn’t something new,” he said.
As for individuals that have either purchased burial plots or made prior arrangements within one of Kamphausen’s properties, those plans will likely remain. Contractually, “the state has to let us bury them,” said Kamphausen.
“We have to show them a file of the contract for the property,” but ultimately, under state approval, plans are still expected to be honored. Kamphausen did, however, warn residents of potential delays in the process.
“It’s a frustrating situation, part of it, I may have caused,” the owner admitted. “But we’re looking at how to do this and do it correctly so there is the least amount of hurt or cost to anybody.”
