Coroner Gordon Terry has
come to the Health and Education Committee each of the five years
I've been on the Committee, asking for funding to attend his
professional conference – the Conference of the New York State
Association of Coroners and Medical Examiners. Each year the funding
has been budgeted, and in the past he has gotten permission to use
that money to attend the conference each year he has asked. This
year he did not.
Otsego County has four elected Coroners. They are not distributed geographically – all four could conceivably be elected from the same town – and they are paid on a per-call basis. All receive the same health insurance as other County employees (including the Reps). Here is the list of Otsego County Coroners and the number of calls each responded to in 2016:
James Dow:
Otsego County has four elected Coroners. They are not distributed geographically – all four could conceivably be elected from the same town – and they are paid on a per-call basis. All receive the same health insurance as other County employees (including the Reps). Here is the list of Otsego County Coroners and the number of calls each responded to in 2016:
James Dow:
28
initial calls for 2016
21
follow ups for 2016
Michael
Fox:
33
initial calls for 2016
24
follow ups for 2016
Terry
Knapp:
134
initial calls for 2016
113
follow ups for 2016
Gordon
Terry:
13
initial calls for 2016
0
follow ups for 2016
This year, so far, the proportion has been about the same.
This year, so far, the proportion has been about the same.
So
the Health and Education Committee asked Coroner Terry to contact the
other three Coroners and whoever else might help, and figure out a
way to even out the calls over a year's time. They have thirty days
to come up with a plan.
I voted to allow him to go, thinking that we should give him, and the other three, time to find a more equitable way to sort out the calls. Andrew Marietta agreed with me; Len Carson and Chair Dave Bliss did not. So Coroner Terry will need to pay his own way to the conference this year.
I voted to allow him to go, thinking that we should give him, and the other three, time to find a more equitable way to sort out the calls. Andrew Marietta agreed with me; Len Carson and Chair Dave Bliss did not. So Coroner Terry will need to pay his own way to the conference this year.
So, did they come up with a plan? When you run for a public office, and are sworn in to do your job, (even if it only to get the health insurance) at least make an effort to look like you care. This guy rarely responds, and in fact, law enforcement doesn't even call him anymore because he wont respond.
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