After years of turmoil, a resolution may finally be on the way for the future of the Cullman Memory Gardens cemetery. 

State Rep. Randall Shedd, R-Fairview, has spent the last few years working with local residents in an effort to bring some stability for those who have family members interred in the cemetery. 

Last year, Shedd sponsored a bill in the Alabama Legislature that would allow for the creation of a volunteer board that could manage the derelict cemetery. That bill was passed and signed by then governor Robert Bentley last May, but the board will not be created until it can actually control the property.  

The cemetery’s owner, DeArbor LLC, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2014, and the property has been managed by a state appointed trustee and bankruptcy court since then. 

Cache Private Capital, a Salt Lake City-based real estate corporation, is the current mortgage holder of the property, but cannot take control of the property’s management until the bankruptcy proceedings are concluded. 

There have been misconceptions among people who believe the state is in control of the cemetery, but the state has had no control of the property while it has been in bankruptcy court, Shedd said. 

“We just feel terrible about the site, but it’s been out of our control until this point,” he said. 

While the cemetery has been mired in legal proceedings, the mausoleum has remained sealed to visitors and upkeep of the grounds has fallen to local volunteers who have loved ones interred there.

Shedd said he spoke with a representative from Cache Private Capital in December, who told him that the corporation would donate the cemetery once the bankruptcy proceedings are over and they have control of the property. The bankruptcy proceedings will likely end later in the year, and right now, he is working to confirm that that will still be the case. 

If the land is donated, the board can be filled, and will form a long-term plan for the future management of Memory Gardens, Shedd said.

He said the board will be able to manage the property directly or can form a non-profit organization that will be responsible for the upkeep of the cemetery. 

Whichever choice the board makes, Shedd said there will finally be some relief for families who have been worried about the future of the cemetery. 

“Our goal as legislators has been to find some kind of a solution,” he said.