The Pulaski County Coroner’s Office remains busy. Coroner John Behny gave an update on his department’s efforts to the county commissioners Monday.
He said of the nearly 120 deaths in Pulaski County last year, about a third of those had to be investigated by the coroner’s office. “We’re getting called every 10 days, I mean a call where I have to physically lay hands,” he explained. “Not handling things on the phone, if there’s a hospice case or something like that, but where we’re physically laying hands on, about every 10 days. We’re doing an autopsy about every three-and- a-half weeks. It’s serious.”
Behny also told the commissioners it’s time for him to have a dedicated office space. “If I could possibly get some of these files out of the back of my car or my home, somewhere where we would have Internet access and a place to put a computer or a printer, if we get a printer. What bothers me the most out of all this – we’re big boys, we’ll handle it – but finding someplace to sit down and meet with a family member. That one’s tough.” A few ideas have been considered for a morgue or at least an office, but so far, none of those have worked out.
During Monday’s meeting, Behny also gave the commissioners a couple proposals for generating revenue through the coroner’s office. Those include charging a fee for various written reports and requiring a cremation release, which would come with its own fee, as well. “It’s a good way for the health department and I to keep track of [the remains],” he said. “Sometimes, you know, you read stuff in the paper and so forth and ‘Who is that? Where did – how did that?’ Not that we don’t have enough work to do, but I think it might not be a horrible idea.”
Behny presented some examples of what other counties are charging, for the commissioners’ consideration.
