BLACKFOOT — The Bingham County Commission and County Coroner Jimmy Roberts are at odds following a heated meeting over a request to increase the coroner’s budget by over 70 percent for the next fiscal year.
The budget increase would work to bring the coroner’s office up to basic professional standards, according to Roberts.
Bingham County Commissioner Mark Bair said such a budget increase is unnecessary and he would only vote for a 3.5 percent increase required to match inflation.
One of the three main issues is whether the elected coroner’s position is a full-time position or not. Besides being on call 24/7, 365 days of the year, Roberts presented a time log showing he averages 217 hours per month, which is over 50 hours a week and qualifies as full-time status.
All of the commissioners wondered why he was putting in full-time hours when all previous coroners worked part-time hours.
Commission Chairman Whitney Manwaring commented that for the last 20 years the county has had part-time coroners and that was fine.
Part of the answer involves greater training. Roberts is the first Bingham County Coroner to be certified by the American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators — a process that took two years of classes, hands-on training and passing a 240-question exam in 4.5 hours, which not everyone passes the first time.
In the process, and through other coroner training seminars he completed, Roberts learned how death investigations need to be conducted to accurately determine the time, cause and manner of death; provide closure for grieving families; and protect the county from legal liability.
Roberts’ goal is “providing professional, standardized, scientific and compassionate forensic medicolegal death investigations,” as stated in his budget request.
Roberts’ training also led him to draft a professional policy and procedures outline following the National Association of Medical Examiners’ minimum guidelines. It was the first written procedure outline in Idaho to be submitted to and be approved by Idaho Counties Risk Management Program, or ICRMP, the state’s insurance company for counties.
The outline details a 16-step basic investigation process that can take between 5 hours to 50 hours per case, depending on whether it was a relatively simple home death of someone under medical care, a homicide or a sudden death of a minor.
The question before the commissioners is whether the part-time, less expensive and less trained policy is enough to serve the county or if it will fund the shift to more professional standards and be one of the leading coroner departments in Idaho. It is a crossroads type decision that is often difficult to make.
Why be trained? Part of Roberts’ passion is from how his father’s death was handled.
In 2004 in Boise County, a coroner ruled his father’s death was a suicide, but an astute deputy, who understood firearms, pointed out the suicide wasn’t possible due to the weapon used and the body’s position, Roberts said.
It took years and state level authority to finally determine it was a homicide, locate the killer and successfully prosecute him. According to Roberts, the added anguish to his family was unnecessary and shouldn’t have happened.
Why investigate? State law requires that the time, cause and manner of death be recorded on all death certificates and that requires what the National Institute of Justice calls, “Independent but collaborative investigations with law enforcement, ensuring best outcomes for death and criminal investigations.” Having consistent investigations also minimizes the county’s liability risks. A lost lawsuit has been known to bankrupt a county.
Another major budget concern is the number of autopsies being requested. In fact, Bair declared that, “No one is questioning quality – quantity is the question.” He noted that to date this year Bingham County has requested 28 autopsies, while Bannock County, which is nearly double in population, has requested 18 autopsies. However, unless all counties are following the same guidelines, is this comparison accurate?
Roberts follows the National Association of Medical Examiners’ minimum guidelines that list 13 instances when autopsies are necessary. Of those 13 circumstances, only three involve crimes, including drug-related deaths. The other 10 involve workplace injuries, electrocution, drownings, motor vehicle accidents and when the body needs identification, including skeletal and burned remains.
Roberts declared in response to Bair’s challenge about ordering 28 autopsies that, “There have been no frivolous autopsies performed.” In fact, the Ada County forensic pathologists that perform all of the autopsies for the county, also screen the need for an autopsy to not waste their time on unnecessary requests – and they accepted all of Bingham County's autopsy requests.
The national standard is one autopsy per every 1,000 residents in the area, however, Roberts felt the county numbers were closer to .75 autopsy per 1,000 residents.
Bair argued that Idaho wasn’t as violent as the rest of the nation, and he didn’t believe that even a .75 per 1,000 population was needed. Roberts indicated it was about public health, not criminal activity.
Roberts’ budget request is for a conservative 30 autopsies for a total of $75,000 with toxicology costs being an additional $25,000. The .75 per 1,000 rate would be 38 autopsies for $95,000. Bair focused on how the coroner’s office has been over budget for the last three years and that no previous coroner had overspent their budget before. Another crossroads decision – which path will the commissioners choose?
The third major budget issue involves having facilities to allow the coroner’s office to adequately serve the living families and honor the deceased. Eventually, Roberts’ goal is to become accredited like Twin Falls and Kootenai counties, which opens grant opportunities for the county. Submitting data to national databases, part of the new procedures, also helps bring funding to the county.
A key immediate need is having a secure county morgue that would ensure the chain of custody for legal prosecutions. A FEMA grant provided the county a 24-body mobile morgue for $1.00. However it is parked and not being used because it needs to be in a locked, fenced yard with a dedicated, sufficient power source.
Roberts is asking for $80,000 for the next three years to retrofit the property at 503 N. Oak St. that the county owns. This would serve the coroner's office for the next 25 years — including providing space for the mobile morgue — according to Roberts, and be a major step toward accreditation.
Roberts’ controversial decision to transport the bodies himself instead of contracting with local funeral homes, will save $22,000 a year.
Bair’s assertion that the coroner’s office “tosses the body bags in the back of a truck” was hotly refuted. Turns out nearly all county coroners respectfully transport the decedents in a covered pickup, Roberts said. Funeral homes use minivans, but according to Roberts, he can't use a minivan because it would expose him to possible airborne pathogens and contaminants. There needs to be separation between the coroner staff and the deceased.
Beyond the sparks and allegations is a crossroads decision of which path forward the commissioners want to fund – the part-time status quo or the full-time approach. Which approach does the county need? And how can they budget for it?
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