News
Something went wrong at Greenpoint Cemetery. A councillor is angry about it. And no one will say what happened.
Cr Andrea de Vries raised the incident at a council meeting on Tuesday, telling staff she had been contacted about a "pretty traumatic experience" at the cemetery near Bluff. She said it was upsetting to even discuss, then turned her frustration on staff over drainage.
"We need to have a provision or something in place that allows us to bury people with dignity regardless of whether or not there is drainage in there," de Vries said. "Otherwise we shouldn't be offering it as a level of service and we should be very clear with our community about what they will be receiving if they purchase a plot in our cemeteries."
When approached afterwards, de Vries declined to say what had actually occurred, citing the privacy and dignity of the families involved. She did say drainage problems at Invercargill's cemeteries were not new — people had experienced issues at all of the city's cemeteries over the years.
Council manager parks and recreation Caroline Rain confirmed she was aware of the incident and acknowledged drainage work had not been done in advance at Greenpoint. She also declined to go into detail, pointing to the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act, which allows councils to withhold information to protect the privacy of individuals — including the deceased.
Rain put the drainage problems down to geography. "These conditions can result in some waterlogging in parts of the cemetery during wetter months, and are typical of the area," she said, attributing the issue to a combination of high groundwater and prolonged rainfall.
Burials at Greenpoint are still going ahead, Rain said.
The exchange happened during a long-term plan workshop covering parks and reserves, social housing and public toilets — routine enough, until de Vries raised a burial that clearly wasn't.