Manitowoc County board creates medical examiner department and approves one FTE position after coroner testimony

The Manitowoc County Board of Supervisors voted to amend county code to create a Department of the Medical Examiner and separately approved a resolution to add one full-time equivalent (FTE) medical examiner position after hearing extended testimony from the county coroner and questions from supervisors.

The board passed the ordinance to create the department under Manitowoc County Code Section 2.02 by a vote of 23-1. The separate resolution creating the 1.0 FTE medical examiner position was then approved by the board; the transcript records the resolution as approved but does not list a full roll-call tally for that vote.

The matter drew detailed comment from Manitowoc County coroner Mr. Green, who described operational and statutory pressures on the current coroner system and urged the board to ensure adequate staffing and pay to attract qualified candidates. "We sign about 300 death certificates," Mr. Green said, and noted the office handles roughly 800 deaths a year. He emphasized statutory and federal requirements that have increased workload over the past eight years and said the county currently orders about 900 sets of medical records annually for investigations.

Mr. Green told the board that many statutory duties require timely action. He cited the requirement to verify a physician's cause of death and sign cremation releases within 48 hours when applicable, and warned of criminal penalties for noncompliance. "All of these things are extremely important. And the 48 hours doesn't start Monday through Friday," he said, describing the 24/7 nature of the work.

During the discussion, Mr. Green outlined staffing challenges: he said his office currently operates with eight deputies, frequently relies on deputies for weekend, night and holiday call coverage, and sometimes remains short one or two on-call people. He recommended that the county consider additional positions in the coroner/medical examiner office when setting the budget and noted he intended to retire within roughly 15 months, which he said made timely recruitment important.

Several supervisors spoke in favor of moving toward appointed, qualified positions rather than elected offices, citing trends in other local governments and concerns about guaranteed qualifications for elected candidates. Supervisor Behnke explicitly voiced support for the change, saying the appointment approach "gives us an opportunity to put the right people in the right places." One speaker in the record expressed opposition to creating the appointed medical examiner position on the grounds that it was unnecessary; that speaker's remarks appear in the transcript but were not attributed to a full name in the available record.

Board members asked clarifying questions about statutory authority, the effect on deputy staffing, and whether the county should budget for parts-time or fractional positions; Mr. Green said he planned to propose 0.6 and 0.8 FTE additions in his budget submittal to improve redundancy and coverage. He also encouraged the board to review pay and hiring practices used by other counties to attract qualified lay medical examiners.

The ordinance to create the Department of the Medical Examiner was described on the record as an amendment to Manitowoc County Code Section 2.02. The subsequent resolution to create 1.0 FTE medical examiner position was introduced as resolution "2025/2026-103" (transcript format) and approved by the board during the same meeting. The transcript does not specify hiring timeline, salary or detailed funding source for the new position; Mr. Green recommended prompt recruitment to avoid staffing gaps prior to his retirement.

The board's action transitions the county from an elected coroner structure toward a medical examiner system as defined by the local ordinance vote, and supervisors indicated follow-up work will include budget decisions, job qualifications and recruitment plans.