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Board approves three-year medical examiner services contract with WMed and transport agreement
Summary
Grand Traverse County approved a three-year contract with Western Michigan (WMed) to serve as medical examiner and to recruit and employ medical examiner investigators, and also approved a separate transport-services agreement; staff projected administrative savings over three years despite higher contract costs.
County health leadership presented a recommended three-year contract with Western Michigan (WMed) for regional medical examiner services following an RFP process. The proposed arrangement transfers responsibility for recruiting, employing and deploying Medical Examiner Investigators (MEIs) to WMed; those investigator positions will no longer be contracted positions managed by the county health department.
Health staff said the change addresses operational gaps and turnover in MEI coverage that generated delayed scene-response and phone investigations. The contract includes autopsy and transport provisions; autopsies that require full postmortem examinations will be performed in Kalamazoo as specified by the contract, and transport is procured through a local transport vendor with increased but explicit costs.
Staff projected a reduction in the county’s administrative cost for the regional medical examiner office — to about $287,000 in 2026 from $440,000 in 2025 — with a projected savings of just over $160,000 in 2026 and more than $400,000 across the three-year contract when measured against the county’s prior internal costs. Board members asked about logistics for handling overdose, child or suspicious deaths and whether there were nearer options than Kalamazoo for autopsies; staff said WMed is the recognized specialist and that transport costs are a separate line item.
Board action: Commissioner Nelson moved to accept the medical-examiner services resolution and the board approved the agreement; the board later approved the related transport agreement as presented.
Implication: Autopsies and other specialized forensic tasks will be centralized under WMed; transportation costs and autopsy fees will remain additional expenses to be reconciled with interlocal agreements and neighboring counties.
