Whatcom County Council voted 5-2 on Tuesday, May 21 to establish Whatcom County Medical Examiner’s Office workers as county employees.
The vote was held two weeks after four council members initially rejected the resolution.
Plans to transition the medical examiner’s office, one of the only offices in Washington state to operate as an independent contractor, have been in discussion for more than a year. The benefits are numerous, including helping the office obtain grant funding and better the chances for accreditation. The office must be accredited by the end of 2025, per a new state law.
This is the second time the resolution has been in front of county council. Council members voted 4-3 against the resolution on May 7 due to the concern a county department needed to be created for the office employees, rather than just allow them to be unrepresented county employees, similar to Whatcom County Emergency Medical Services employees.
On Tuesday night, that resolution was brought back to life following a lengthy technical conversation over the method by which a similar resolution was introduced. The new resolution, which ended up getting tabled, had essentially the same language but with added material, including letters from the Whatcom County Prosecutor’s Office and public defender’s office, and the Lummi Tribal Health Center’s support of bringing Dr. Allison Hunt and her team of pathologists, death investigators and others into the county.
Council member Tyler Byrd questioned how the new resolution was back on the agenda without substantive changes.
“For you guys to then just change the number and bring it back as if it’s something brand new to put it on the agenda, that is, quite frankly, just going around the legal process that we’ve put in place to manage our meetings,” he said. “So this absolutely should not be back on our agenda.”
Whatcom Deputy Executive Kayla Schott-Bresler apologized for the process error and asked for a fix to keep moving forward with bringing the ME’s office into county employment.
After the process of bringing back the May 7 resolution was figured out, council member Kaylee Galloway made the motion to approve the resolution. Council members Barry Buchanan and Mark Stremler voted in favor of the bill, when previously they had voted no.
Byrd and council member Ben Elenbaas were the two no votes.
Buchanan noted in his comments that he changed his vote because the issue of creating a department would be fixed in the future with a forthcoming ordinance from Elenbaas.
“I have faith that we’ll have a good clear ordinance when we’re done with this that will define that department and we will be off and running,” Buchanan said.
Medical examiners are licensed physicians who perform autopsies, oversee death investigations and are appointed to their position. Their counterparts, coroners, are typically elected and often do not have medical training.
Employees within the medical examiner’s office will receive six weeks of vacation a year, as well as the same health and retirement benefits that other unrepresented county employees get.
An estimated $1.2 million is budgeted for the transition and will allow the county to hire additional full-time and part-time staff.
In a letter from the Lummi Tribal Health Center, Dakotah Lane, the executive medical director, wrote about the ME’s office’s commitment to respecting Lummi tribal customs.
“I have been particularly impressed by their deep respect for tribal traditions and their genuine efforts to accommodate tribal requests and requirements,” he wrote. “This level of cultural sensitivity has been a testament to the medical examiner’s office’s commitment to inclusivity and equity.”
Additionally, due to ongoing construction at the medical examiner’s office at 1500 State St., county council voted 7-0 to approve a request to extend the lease meant for a temporary morgue at a county funeral home.
Annie Todd is CDN’s criminal justice/enterprise reporter; reach her at annietodd@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 130.
