Mediation session held on Rhodes Cemetery
WAYNESBURG – A mediation session was held Wednesday in an attempt to determine what should be done about the Rhodes Cemetery, a small, family cemetery in Franklin Township that was left resembling an ancient burial mound several years ago following excavation for a new motel.
The cemetery, which contains eight to 12 bodies – the most recent buried in 1862 – is behind the Econo Lodge on Miller Lane.
Excavation work completed for the new motel by Econo Lodge owners Nikita Lodging Inc. has left the cemetery a large mound of earth, rising more than 25 feet high and measuring about 65 by 61 feet.
The mound is “very unstable,” Robbie Matesic, director of the county Department of Planning and Economic Development, said prior to the mediation.
Nikita had planned to preserve the cemetery by building a retaining wall around it and steps leading to the graves. However, work on the new motel was halted by the township in the fall of 2015 until Nikita could address the cemetery.
The mediation session Wednesday was closed to the public.
Prior to its start, court-appointed mediator Lori Paletta-Davis explained the process is conducted privately to allow parties to hold uninhibited discussion in an attempt to resolve the matter.
She called the meeting a “problem-solving” session and said though she could not discuss issues regarding the case, the case file containing court filings would be available and open to the public in the courthouse after the session.
Paletta-Davis explained she was holding a brief introduction prior to the session after being told members of the public wanted to attend it; however, only two reporters and one or two others not party to the case were present.
Paletta-Davis said she would welcome public input on what should be done with the cemetery. She said anyone who has any suggestions can contact her by email at lori.palettadavis@comcast.net.
After work on the motel was halted by the township in September 2015, Greene County President Judge Farley Toothman initiated action to bring the matter before the court.
Last May, Toothman presented a motion to require the township to declare the cemetery a public nuisance and assume care for its management and restoration under the court’s supervision.
He cited a state law regarding burial grounds, which states that should a burial ground become a nuisance, the court “may direct” that it be placed in the care of the township in which the burial ground is situated.
The township, however, does not believe it should be responsible for correcting the problem, claiming responsibility lies with Nikita Lodging.
K.R. Patel, general manager of Nikita, said last May work on the motel was halted when the township issued the stop-work order. The company eventually hoped to continue the project, finish the motel and construct the cemetery retaining wall, he said then.
Several mediation sessions have been held since the case came before the court.
“We hope to get to the point soon where we have a solution so the stop-work order can be lifted,” said Matesic, whose office became involved in the case at the court’s request.