Some of the new regulations would include documenting all coroner calls, changing stipends for body bags and transportation, and coroners providing notice when they are unavailable.

The board will hold a public hearing on the proposed coroner laws at the Essex County Court House in Elizabethtown at 9 a.m. Monday, Feb. 25.

Willsboro town Supervisor and County Chair Shaun Gillilland said the board has had concerns with how the coroners operate for many years, and this local law is needed. In the past, he and other county officials said it’s hard to make changes to how the coroners operate because they are elected positions.

“A lot came together recently,” Gillilland said in a phone interview Friday. “Between the elections and (newspaper) articles, it’s been pushed to the forefront. It’s been recognized as a problem for a number of years, and now we’re addressing it.”

In December, the Enterprise published an article called “Essex County coroner fed up with ‘lazy’ colleagues.” In it, Essex County Coroner Frank Whitelaw of Bloomingdale claimed that he often had to pick up the slack of the other three coroners at the time, Paul Connery of Ticonderoga, Walter Marvin III of Elizabethtown and Kellie Valentine of Moriah, all with backgrounds in funeral home directing. Connery did not seek re-election in November. Jay Heald of Elizabethtown, also a funeral home director, filled the position.

Whitelaw said the other three coroners are often hard to reach and responded to substantially fewer calls than him. Later, the others denied Whitelaw’s claims and said they were efficient workers.

Gillilland said the proposed law is a good start for regulating the coroners.

“We reached out to coroners, funeral homes, state police the (Essex County) District Attorney’s Office, the New York State Association of County Coroners and Medical Examiners for feedback,” he said. “I think we’ve got a pretty good product here to bring some standards to how the coroners operate.”

Though it hasn’t been presented to the board yet, there is a draft law that could reduce the number of county coroners from the current four to two and possibly create geographic jurisdictions for each coroner.

“That’s something we’re still working on,” Gillilland said. “We passed out a draft, but it has not been introduced officially to the board. That number of two is not hard and fast. It’s possible that four is the right number. We’re still researching it.”

If that law is passed, it would require another coroner election this November.

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Records

The new law would require coroners to log every call they respond to with the county clerk. The record would include date, name, cause of death, manner of death, location and other relevant information. Whitelaw already keeps personal records and showed them to the Adirondack Daily Enterprise in November.

“They’re looking at standardizing paperwork,” Whitelaw said. “We didn’t have anything before, so this is a huge jump in the right direction.”

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Dispatch

The law would have Essex County Emergency Services dispatch the coroners. During a recent Board of Supervisors meeting, Essex County Attorney Dan Manning said this will keep police departments and ambulance services from having a “pet coroner” – one they always call despite time and location.

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Removal

Essex County doesn’t provide vehicles to coroners. Many work in funeral homes and already have proper vehicles for body removal, but Whitelaw, a retired state police officer, had to purchase his own. The new law would make it so that licensed funeral homes contracting with Essex County can transport bodies to funeral homes, morgues or hospitals. Only in emergencies would the coroner be allowed to transport a body.

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Training

A 101 class is already required for every coroner in the state, but the new law would allow county coroners to pursue other classes such as blood-borne pathogen, mass fatality-casualty and synthetic opioid training at the county’s expense.

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Salary

The annual salary for coroners would be set at $4,529.38.

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Stipends

The new law would reduce call fee and removal fees from $300 to $100 – $150 if a funeral home can’t remove a body and the coroner has to use his or her own vehicle. There would be no stipend for body bags because they would be obtained by the county. According to Whitelaw, the body bags he uses cost between $7 and $30 each, but he gets reimbursed $75 per bag from the county. Mileage reimbursements would also drop to standard IRS rates, which is currently at $.545 per mile.

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Reaction

Heald said he read the proposed law and “absolutely agree(s) with what the county put forward.” Valentine chose not to comment, and Marvin could not be reached for comment by the time of publication. Whitelaw said he’s also impressed with the law.

“I’m appreciative that they truly listened to me back in December,” he said. “A lot of the points I brought up are being considered for public law. I do plan on attending the public hearing and recommending some additions, but for the most part, everything that I’m seeing is really great.”

By the end of 2018, Whitelaw said he was ready to resign from his position, but with possible changes on the way, he’s not sure now.

“I’m on the fence,” he said. “I still love the work. Unfortunately, I just had to deal with Denny Allen (former Olympic Center general manager who died Feb. 1.), and I received a lot of gratification and thanks from his loved one. That’s the part of the job that your paycheck doesn’t reflect.”

Whitelaw said if the Republican Party doesn’t endorse him come November’s election, he has no problem not running again.

“At this point, maybe I’ll be viewed as a bad boy by the Republican Party,” he said. “If the Republican Party doesn’t endorse me, I won’t seek out some obscure party.”