Willcox residents upset after city announces monthly cemetery cleanup

The city of Willcox announced via social media that the Sunset Cemetery would be cleaned up monthly, and before major holidays, which includes the pick up of personal items and flowers left at graves, causing out-roar with residents.

The Willcox city manager Caleb Blaschke told KGUN9 that city staff will be mowing and maintaining the grounds the last week of each month. If it does not rain heavily and the grass has not significantly grown, he said they won’t need to mow it or remove items unless they are a hazard.

Blaschke said they posted on Facebook about removing memorabilia and items from graves a few weeks before removing them and the city council had meetings about it prior to that.

The manager also mentioned that because many plots do not have contact information tied to them, it was hard to reach out to loved ones about removing the items.

He said anything that was a part of the headstone was not removed and certain types of headstones with vases attached to it were removed and cleaned by staff but were then put back.

More information will be released as the story is updated.