It’s a changing of the guard and procedures for the Greene County Coroner’s Office.
The Greene Prairie Press reports that new Greene County Coroner Brady Milnes announced several changes in procedures at the most recent Judiciary Committee meeting of the Greene County Board.
Milnes informed the committee that he will be switching from doing autopsies on traumatic deaths to using x-rays and toxicology reports to determine the manner of death. He says he will continue to do autopsies in other deaths. The x-rays and reports will be completed through a contractual agreement with Boyd Memorial Hospital in Carrollton. Milnes says the switch will save the county between $1,500-$1,800 per death investigation. The contract with Boyd will also allow Boyd’s ambulance service to transport decedents to the county’s body cooler if they are already on scene of an incident involving a death.
Milnes has requested a personal office in the courthouse to discuss reports, but the committee informed him there was no space in the courthouse for a new office. The committee says that Milnes can continue the previous procedures of discussing reports and other items with the public or officials in the courthouse’s law office or county board room.
Milnes also reported that the county’s body cooler would be moved from Airsman-Hires Funeral Home in Carrollton, where former coroner Danny Powell works, to Daws Family Funeral Home in Roodhouse. Milnes says his office also reached an agreement with Daws on a contract to handle cremation services for indigent persons. Milnes says the contract for the cremations is a requirement by the state.
The final change was a request for new badges without names for deputy coroners. Milnes says by not having names on the badges, it would allow the county to reuse them once a person leaves the position rather than having to purchase new badges each time. Milnes did say he was unsure if the previous deputy coroners were going to continue working for the county under his administration.