MOULTRIE, Ga. — A representative of a handful of local churches approached Colquitt County commissioners at their mid-month review Tuesday about maintenance of overgrown cemeteries.

Commissioners were sympathetic but are limited by law as to what they can do.

Edwin Hortman came to the commissioners looking for assistance with properly maintaining the seven cemeteries advertising for help, and also offered his own assistance.

An abandoned cemetery is defined as one showing signs of neglect, repeated and unchecked acts of vandalism, and disintegration of grave markers or boundaries.

“I had proposed to the board that some of the counties get the local prison inmates to contribute to the maintenance of the cemeteries,” said Hortman at the meeting. “But I am open to suggestions.”

One of the options suggested was gathering volunteers from local churches to help maintain the cemeteries.

Sardis Primitive Baptist Church is one of the churches asking for assistance, according to Hortman. There are only six or seven churches asking for assistance, but he suspects there might be more who just haven’t come forward yet.

“That was one of the things we were really concerned with, was the number of cemeteries that need help,” said Commissioner Charles “Al” Whittington of District 4. “For the ones that are really overgrown, we need to see what we can do.”

One of the issues, County Attorney Lester Castellow said, is that the county can’t maintain private property, which would include cemeteries. There is a specific statute, though, that says that they have the authority to maintain the cemetery if it is abandoned.

“The issue lies in making sure the cemetery is actually abandoned,” Castellow said.

Also discussed Tuesday was the effort to reach an agreement between the Georgia Department of Transportation and the county about lighting at a roundabout the GDOT plans to build on Georgia Highway 37 at Industrial Road and Cool Springs Road.

The GDOT wants the county to help pay to install the lighting, County Administrator Chas Cannon said. The state agency will also leave the day-to-day costs of the lighting to the county.

“It’s all LED lighting, which should reduce cost, but it’s still several years out,” Cannon said.

The LED lighting will replace the previous solar panel setup that the caution lights operate under now.