Village Grants Bid for Columbarium at Huntley Cemetery

An Elgin company won a bid to build a columbarium at the village owned Huntley cemetery.

Elgin Granite Works will build a columbarium with 120 units to hold urns. Huntley trustees unanimous approved the bid, which came in at $36,000, officials said.

St. Mary Catholic Church in Huntley has a columbarium in its portion of the cemetery.

The village’s portion of the cemetery has 290 plots left and Huntley sells about 10 a year, Village Manager Dave Johnson said. Huntley has acquired a home on Dean Street that can be clear to expand the cemetery.

Huntley began exploring the idea of a columbarium a year ago and sough input from William Jorgensen of DeFiore Jorgensen Funeral Home in Huntley. Out of the 100 plus funerals the funeral home oversees a year, 50 percent are casket and 50 percent are cremations, he said. The funeral home has a crematory.

“There is a need for a columbarium,” Jorgensen told the village board during a discussion last week.

He thought the project had stagnated until last week when he learned trustees were discussing awarding the bid to the Elgin company.

“I was a little flabbergasted,” he said, adding he felt he did not have the opportunity to bid on the project. Village officials, however, said Huntley does not notify individual companies when bids are sought. A public notice is published in local newspapers.

This week, Jorgensen said it was merely a misunderstanding.

“I don’t think the village understood the scope we could offer,” he said. “I think it’s a good idea. It will be a nice addition to the cemetery.”

The village's cemetery committee will handle the columbarium and the sale of units. Carol DeFiore, Jorgensen's partner, said the cemetery committee is efficient and makes the process of purchasing a plot easy for families.

Cities sometimes own cemeteries, which is common in smaller towns, DeFiore said. Hampshire also owns its own cemetery, as do other neighboring communities.

“It stems from when small towns were very self-contained,” she said.  “Huntley is a great, little, cute cemetery,” she said.