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Lake County coroner asks for third full‑time deputy, says part‑time hires aren’t sustainable
Summary
Coroner Alex Creek told commissioners multiple part‑time death investigator roles are impossible to fill and requested converting those positions into one full‑time FTE, citing safety, training time and long on‑call hours; board will schedule a public hearing on the supplemental budget.
Alex Creek, Lake County coroner, urged the Board of County Commissioners to approve a supplemental budget request to convert three hard‑to‑fill part‑time death investigator positions into a single full‑time deputy and to reclassify one long‑standing part‑time admin role as a contractor. Creek told the board that scenes are unsafe to staff with only one investigator and that investigations typically take six hours on scene and can result in 24–36 hour workdays when transport and autopsy travel are included.
“We deploy and we do our own removals. There is no such thing as an undertaker,” Creek said, explaining why two trained responders are needed on many scenes. He described the costs of repeated hiring—background checks, psych evaluations, training—as roughly the same for part‑time and full‑time hires and said the county pays these fixed costs multiple times when part‑time staff leave.
Creek said his office tried to design a revenue‑neutral solution but concluded that running the operation entirely as a cost center was unavoidable. He noted grant support for toxicology (a Colorado State grant covering up to $45,000) and that one deputy’s position was omitted from the current budget by clerical error; that deputy moved to the county to take the job and is living locally.
The board pressed for comparative data and asked staff to supply per‑incident costs and county FTE comparisons before a final decision. Finance staff and commissioners said they are open to the request but must see where money can be moved within the current budget or identify reserves. Creek said he will pursue internal re‑budgeting and that the supplemental request will be scheduled for a public hearing at a regular meeting.
