12-101 Wyuka Cemetery; declared a public charitable corporation; powers; trustees; appointment; terms; vacancies; reports.
12-101. Wyuka Cemetery; declared a publiccharitable corporation; powers; trustees; appointment; terms; vacancies; reports.(1) The cemetery in Lincoln, Nebraska, known as Wyuka Cemetery, is herebydeclared to be a public charitable corporation. The general control and managementof the affairs of such cemetery shall be vested in a board of three trustees until July 1, 2009, and thereafter shall be vested in aboard of five trustees. The trustees shall serve without compensationand shall bea body corporate to be known as Wyuka Cemetery, with power to sue and be sued,to contract and to be contracted with, andto acquire, hold, and convey both real and personal property forall purposes consistent with the provisions of sections 12-101 to 12-105,and shall have the power of eminentdomain to be exercised in the manner provided in section 12-201.(2) The trustees of Wyuka Cemetery shall have the power, by resolutionduly adopted by a majority vote, to authorize one of their number to signa petition for paving, repaving, curbing, recurbing, grading, changing grading,guttering, resurfacing, relaying existing pavement, or otherwise improvingany street, streets, alley, alleys, or public ways or grounds abutting cemeteryproperty. When such improvements have been ordered, the trustees shall pay,from funds of the cemetery, such special taxes or assessments as may be properlydetermined.(3) The trustees of Wyuka Cemetery shall be appointed by the Governorof the State of Nebraska at the expiration of each trustee's term of office. Thetwo trustees appointed for their initial terms of office beginning July 1,2009, shall be appointed by the Governor to serve a five-year term and a six-yearterm, respectively. Thereafter, each ofthe five trustees shall be appointed by the Governor for a termof six years. In the event of a vacancy occurring among the members of theboard, the vacancy shall be filled by appointment by the Governor, and suchappointment shall continue for the unexpired term.(4) The board of trustees of Wyuka Cemetery shall file with the Secretaryof State, on or before the second Tuesday in March of each year, an itemizedreport of all the receipts and expenditures in connection with its managementand control of the cemetery.(5) The trustees of Wyuka Cemetery shall have the power to provide,in their discretion, retirement benefits for present and future employeesof the cemetery, and to establish, participate in, and administer plans forthe benefit of its employees or its employees and their dependents, whichmay provide disability, hospitalization, medical, surgical, accident, sicknessand life insurance coverage, or any one or more coverages, and which shallbe purchased from a corporation or corporations authorized and licensed bythe Department of Insurance.(6)(a) Beginning December 31, 1998, and each December 31 thereafter,the trustees shall file with the Public Employees Retirement Board an annualreport on each retirement plan established pursuant to this section and section401(a) of the Internal Revenue Code and shall submit copies of such reportto the members of the Nebraska Retirement Systems Committee of the Legislature.The annual report shall be in a form prescribed by the Public Employees RetirementBoard and shall contain the following information for each such retirementplan:(i) The number of persons participating in the retirement plan;(ii) The contribution rates of participants in the plan;(iii) Plan assets and liabilities;(iv) The names and positions of persons administering the plan;(v) The names and positions of persons investing plan assets;(vi) The form and nature of investments;(vii) For each defined contribution plan, a full description of investmentpolicies and options available to plan participants; and(viii) For each defined benefit plan, the levels of benefits of participantsin the plan, the number of members who are eligible for a benefit, and thetotal present value of such members' benefits, as well as the funding sourceswhich will pay for such benefits.If a plan contains no current active participants, the trustees mayfile in place of such report a statement with the Public Employees RetirementBoard indicating the number of retirees still drawing benefits, and the sourcesand amount of funding for such benefits.(b) Beginning December 31, 1998, and every four years thereafter, ifsuch retirement plan is a defined benefit plan, the trustees shall cause tobe prepared a quadrennial report and shall file the same with the Public EmployeesRetirement Board and submit to the members of the Nebraska Retirement SystemsCommittee of the Legislature a copy of such report. The report shall consistof a full actuarial analysis of each such retirement plan established pursuantto this section. The analysis shall be prepared by an independent privateorganization or public entity employing actuaries who are members in goodstanding of the American Academy of Actuaries, and which organization or entityhas demonstrated expertise to perform this type of analysis and is unrelatedto any organization offering investment advice or which provides investmentmanagement services to the retirement plan. SourceLaws 1927, c. 197, § 1, p. 560; C.S.1929, § 13-101; R.S.1943, § 12-101; Laws 1953, c. 15, § 1, p. 81; Laws 1959, c. 28, § 1, p. 179; Laws 1967, c. 38, § 1, p. 167; Laws 1998, LB 1191, § 3; Laws 1999, LB 795, § 2; Laws 2009, LB498, § 1.AnnotationsThis section authorizes Wyuka Cemetery to sell personal property so closely connected to its cemetery operation as grave markers and monuments. Speidell Monuments v. Wyuka Cemetery, 242 Neb. 134, 493 N.W.2d 336 (1992).Wyuka Cemetery is a body politic and corporate, and legacy to it is subject to inheritance tax. In re Estate of Rudge, 114 Neb. 335, 207 N.W. 520 (1926).