The Mayors’ Council of Guam held its regular monthly meeting on April 19 to discuss how funeral escorts will be handled.
For years, the mayors of all 19 villages have been escorting funerals for island residents from and to a loved one’s final resting place.
During its regular monthly meeting on April 19, Piti Mayor Jesse Alig, who’s the president of the MCOG, revealed that a survey was done to choose whether or not a one way escort was the route the mayors wanted, which a vast majority voted in favor.
He proposed contacting the Guam Police Department first when looking for an escort for funerals although GPD require payment unlike the MCOG.
“After further discussion on April 19, it is more ideal that we would recommend to the funeral homes to first call GPD because they are the ones that provide the service as opposed to the mayors,” said Alig. “So, if GPD who charges for the services but can not do it then they can ask the Mayors if they are available.”
Alig told the Pacific News Center that Doing funeral escorts takes away time and resources as well as other duties staffers may have like maintenance.
He added that funeral escorts are a liability issue when it comes to stopping traffic and ensuring every staff is trained properly to do so.
“The biggest issue we have is liability,” Alig said. “Number two, its personnel or the lack of personnel and our vehicles. Yes, we are getting new vehicles, but for most of us we’ve only received one and it takes at least three to five to do a good and proper escort and the liability. Yes our staff is trained for traffic control but really the authority rests on the police department.”
Meetings with funeral homes have not been set as of April 21.
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