Marin supervisors switch coroner's job to sheriff

And so we reduce the number of "insiders" so that the graft pot has to be split fewer ways and the threat of a truly independent elected official is reduced....

The Marin County Grand Jury investigated this, and recommended NOT eliminating the position. Their investigation showed that there would be little to zero savings. So now we'll have cops doing the coroner's job. How many sheriff's deputies do you think apply for their position, with the thought of "hey, I want to do coroner's duty?

Yes, this type of change should have been put to a vote.

It's amazing that Supervisor Adams doesn't think that "living people" receive any benefit from the coroner's office. Unbelievable. There have been plenty of "living people" who have expressed their opinion to the Board that the Coroner needs to remain independent. The Supervisors would do well to pay attention since those same people will be voting next November.

I think the sheriff's office could do just as good a job as the supervisors, so why don't they roll the supervisor's duties in the sheriff too? After all, sheriff doyle doesn't believe in incentive pay for his staff - except he get's an educational incentive every month - I wonder how long till he gets a big fat tax payer raise for his new duties? Adams - you are so far out there that I just can't find any words that can reach your spacey marin hippie mind.$250K a year in tax payer money for a green commute, which goes to employees who don't even live in marin! I can't wait until you are up for re-election. I will be first in line to vote you out!

Marin supervisors need the AX next. Crooks!

There are dozens and dozens of local, government run "Mosquito Abatement Districts" in the state and each of them is nearly identical in all aspects to each of the other ones. The training, the admin, the insecticides, and the equipment are all the same.

Isn't it interesting that the politicians won't merge them all into one agency and eliminate all the duplication???

You see, the government operates to serve itself and preserve those cushy Monday - Friday jobs whenever and wherever they can. They really don't care that the public dislikes them stealing our money through taxation for no other purpose than keeping themselves in a public job.

"Critics of the merger urged the board to let voters decide whether they want to get rid of an elected county post. Some said they said they will launch a referendum to reverse the board's decision."

This is the way to go. Launch the referendum! This decision must be reversed.
This is too important an issue to let the decision be made by the Board of Supervisors.

The Coroner should remain independent. The same or even better savings could be achieved if the bloated salaries of the twenty-plus county department heads plus those of the members of the Bd. of Supervisors were slashed a paltry (to them) $10,000/yr. They would hardly notice it. So they gave up their cost of living raise. Big f_ing deal. There is no inflation anyway. They should all step up to the plate and do this voluntarily. The taxpaying public would be immensely grateful.

The voters should have decided this one, not the supervisors! Let the referendum begin...oh, and how much additional expense will that be? There should also be an analysis after a period of time to really evalaute whether or not there was any cost savings.

say what wrote:

The Marin County Grand Jury investigated this, and recommended NOT eliminating the position. Their investigation showed that there would be little to zero savings. So now we'll have cops doing the coroner's job. How many sheriff's deputies do you think apply for their position, with the thought of "hey, I want to do coroner's duty?
Yes, this type of change should have been put to a vote.

Basing an argument on the opinion of octogenarian retirees most who need to be driven to meetings is probably the wrong angle. Every study they have done in the last ten years has been flawed and full of errors. I prefer the argument that a voted on position should only be eliminated by the voters. Can Congress eliminate the position of President?

Support Your Community wrote:

"Critics of the merger urged the board to let voters decide whether they want to get rid of an elected county post. Some said they said they will launch a referendum to reverse the board's decision."
This is the way to go. Launch the referendum! This decision must be reversed.
This is too important an issue to let the decision be made by the Board of Supervisors.

looks like it's going to happen. www.marincoroner.org

So let's get this right. The cops will be investigating themselves. The coroner is supposed to be an independent investigatory unit. As a former employee of the Department of Corrections who worked inside I know a little of the workings. Inmate deaths were investigated by an independent coroner. If you pepper sprayed a live hanging inmate instead of cutting him down you had a chance of being caught by an independent coroner. Not so now. Even if you believe all cops are pure and good and incapable of bad deeds the independent coroner's office at least gave the appearance of justice instead of the appearance of conspiracy to cover up murder.
Money saving? That's a laugh. Have you ever seen the budget of department of corrections?
Hey, I've got another money saving idea. Let's replace the state assembly, state senators, judiciary and Govenor's office with the Sherriff's Department. We could really save some money!

Do they have the authority to eliminate a publicly elected office? Who has the power to eliminate them?

Where does the elimination of our publicly elected officers end?

Maybe a court injunction would slow down the process.

Jim wrote:

Do they have the authority to eliminate a publicly elected office? Who has the power to eliminate them?
Where does the elimination of our publicly elected officers end?
Maybe a court injunction would slow down the process.

Jim, I am an investigator in the now last class of the Marin Coroner's Office. What the supervisors did was a slight of hand. Technically, they did not get rid of a voted position, they just rolled it into another pre-existing voted position - in this case it was the Sheriff. It could also have gone to the DA's Office. So - even though the people didn't vote for Mr. Doyle, who has no medical training, he is now your elected representative in medical death investigations. I think I could present the signs and symptoms of digitalis toxicity to any member of the sheriff's office, and although many of them are good cops, I'd venture to guess that none of them would know what those symptoms are. Too bad, because there a few hospital and convalescent deaths every year in this county that we investigate, where our first line investigator's were able to pick up things like this and know that they should be autopsied. An investigation like that might show medication administration errors on nursing staff's part. A fact that despite what Supervisor Adams believes doesn't help the living - in fact does. It helps weed out bad nurses and doctors, and also helps the living understand why their loved one died.

Investigator Foehner is right. The services to the community would suffer dramatically. I was a funeral director in Marin for 27 years and worked closely with the coroners office. Former coroner Frank Keaton would be fighting this today, as he did in other counties such as San Mateo. You have to maintain the independent investigative powers. Who will investigate the sheriff when there is a death in the county jail. Conflict of interest? Didn't the grand jury recomend the offices stay split? I am still a funeral director in a Sheriff/Coroner system and it is not good, response times can very from 1 hr to 4 hrs. The handling of the paperwork is dramatically affected. Our families have waited up to 12 weeks for the final death certificate to be issued along with the final report. Our deputies a very professional as I am sure Marin County Sheriff Deputies are, but handling a death is something very different. They will need extra training. Who will pay? Talk to the funeral homes, they will tell you. Mr. Holmes started out as a funeral director. San Francisco County Medical Examiner ( a different system) required that the investigators/deputies be licensed embalmers for many years because they are trained. A centralized county morgue with separate coroners office and staff is the best way to go.

I am not from Berkeley.

I agree with those saying the voters should decide this one! As we did in the San Anselmo election vote out the incumbents including the Sheriff! Only those with medical degrees should be doing this not those with a high school education! Vote them out!

Jim wrote:

Do they have the authority to eliminate a publicly elected office? Who has the power to eliminate them?
Where does the elimination of our publicly elected officers end?
Maybe a court injunction would slow down the process.

Elimination of publicly elected officers ends when we vote out the Board of Supervisors and the Sheriff! How about it voters? Vote them out!

Did you notice all the judges are appointed? They will do nothing. We need to elect new judges as well.

I heard that Charles McGlashan had a temper tantrum during this meeting. Is this true? I was told it was embarrassment. if so, why isn't the IJ reporting what really goes on during the Supervisors meetings?

Jamie wrote:

I heard that Charles McGlashan had a temper tantrum during this meeting. Is this true? I was told it was embarrassment. if so, why isn't the IJ reporting what really goes on during the Supervisors meetings?

I watched the webcast. McGlashan basically said that voters don't make the best decisions, and that the Supervisors know better because they receive ALL of the information. Its funny, I was pretty sure that voters were supposed to be given ALL of the information. But, if the County Supervisors have more information than what is provided to the voters, the problem here is larger than we all think.