Manitowoc County board creates medical examiner department, adds one FTE after coroner testimony

Manitowoc County supervisors voted to create a Department of the Medical Examiner and to add one full‑time equivalent (FTE) medical examiner position after extended discussion with Coroner Kirk Green.

Coroner Kirk Green told supervisors that statutory work and evidence-handling requirements have increased in recent years, that the office signs roughly 300 death certificates and handles about 800 deaths a year, and that the office currently operates with eight deputies and sometimes remains short-staffed. Green urged the board to budget for adequate staffing and pay to attract qualified candidates.

Green said the change from an elected coroner system to an appointed medical examiner model is intended to improve qualifications and redundancy. “It isn’t law enforcement’s job to deal with that,” Green said, describing the difficulty of recruiting staff willing to take weekend, night and holiday calls and to handle unpleasant scenes and autopsies.

Green described additional operational demands: his office orders roughly 900 sets of medical records annually; federal privacy and medical‑records requirements now take longer to satisfy; and there are statutory deadlines tied to cremation authorizations that require in‑person verification within 48 hours after an attending physician signs a death certificate. He said recent statute changes increased the office’s workload and the number of processes it must follow.

Board members asked procedural and statutory questions about the change. Supervisor Behnke and others argued that appointing a qualified medical examiner follows a broader trend away from electing specialized positions at the township and county levels. Supervisor Lillardrich asked for clarification about the 48‑hour cremation verification requirement and the point at which the coroner’s office must verify a physician’s cause of death.

On the ordinance to create the Department of the Medical Examiner (Manitowoc County Code section 2.02, County Departments), the board voted 23–1 in favor. The companion resolution to create one FTE medical examiner position was approved by the board (tally not specified in the record). Green told supervisors he expects the county to need about 12–15 months to recruit and have a replacement in place and encouraged the board to set competitive pay to recruit qualified candidates.

The measures will move forward to implementation steps in administration for job posting and budget placement; supervisors did not provide a timetable in the meeting record for advertising or hiring beyond Green’s estimate. Green said he anticipates retiring within roughly 12–15 months and urged the county to hire promptly to ensure continuity.

Actions recorded: the ordinance creating the Department of the Medical Examiner passed 23–1; the resolution creating one FTE medical examiner position was approved (vote count not specified).