The Rock County Coroner’s office in Wisconsin will not close today, but they will undergo a lot of procedural and personnel changes when they merge with the Dane County Medical Examiner’s office. That's after 132 years of stand-alone service in Rock County.
The Rock County community wanted to see the administrator’s office take accountability for examiner services, and that’s what having an appointed medical examiner versus an elected coroner would do. That’s according to Randy Terronez, who is the county administrator’s assistant.
Terronez says the change was initiated after an advisory referendum in 2011 amid personnel issues within the coroner’s office and public concern.
“We met with representatives of law enforcement agencies and fire and EMS as well as representatives of the funeral home industry, and based upon their feedback as well as other community feedback, it was determined the Dane county proposal was the best option for us.”
A coroner and medical examiner have very similar day-to-day responsibilities. The main difference is that a coroner is an elected official and doesn’t always have to have medical training.
Lou Smit was the acting coroner for Rock County. He says the majority of the coroner’s office employees are unemployed starting today, himself included.
“More than anything, it’s disappointing. We have a lot of good people here that worked really hard to serve the citizens and it’s disappointing to walk away and leave it.”
Smit says Rock County working closely with Dane County officials isn’t new, and he is confident in the new office’s abilities.