Starke County Coroner Dannie Hoffer says he’s taking steps to save the county money, but other county officials are worried that could lead to some legal troubles. Hoffer addressed several concerns during last week’s county council and county commissioners meetings.
For one thing, Council President Freddie Baker noted that Hoffer was using his own personal computer to conduct county business. Hoffer said his $500 office supply budget would not be enough to buy a computer for the coroner’s office. “I’m trying to go as slowly as I can,” he said. “I’m not trying to cost the county more money.”
“But what it’s going to do in the end is it’s going to cost us money,” Baker replied. “If something goes wrong, how many times today do we hear that somebody’s using their own computer and doing municipal business on that computer, yours, how do you protect it? You can’t.”
The commissioners asked Hoffer to discuss the issue with County IT Director Mark Gourley, to see if some extra equipment may be available or if the cost could be covered by the IT budget. Hoffer added that he purchased several items for the new county morgue out of his own pocket, including a bathroom vanity, shelves, and a refrigerator.
Allowing other coroners to use the morgue without a formal agreement in place was also a cause of concern for the commissioners and council members. Hoffer explained that Starke County would not be liable for mistakes made by other coroners on the property. Still, County Attorney Marty Lucas said it would be better to put it in writing. “It never hurts to have a piece of paper where the person is saying in advance, ‘We’re going to use your facility, but we’re going to indemnify and hold you harmless from any claim related to the facility usage,'” Lucas said.
Hoffer has discussed charging LaPorte County’s coroner to use the morgue. However, he has been letting Marshall County use it for free, after the coroner there provided some free help with a couple of Starke County cases. “They did take a case from here, took it over, came back, done the autopsy, took the baby back, brought him back over here, never charged us a dime for the autopsy, the removal, the storage, nothing,” Hoffer explained. “1:30 in the morning, we had the homicide-suicide. We only had room for one person left in the cooler. We called Marshall County. They came at 1:30 in the morning all the way to Monterey, picked up the gentlemen, took him back to their morgue, held him overnight, brought him back to Starke County the next day for the autopsy, never charged us a dime.”
Meanwhile, Hoffer asked the council and commissioners for a pay raise, saying that he’s the lowest-paid coroner in the state. The request was tabled, until the commissioners could do some research of their own.
