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Hamblen County Mayor Bill Brittian discussed the Coroner’s Office and the Health Department at a recent budget meeting.

Brittain explained the move from using a coroner to investigators and how that reflected the budget.

“We had a transition year between 2022 and 2023, transitioning away from the coroner’s office,” he said. “Eddie Davis was the last coroner in the State of Tennessee and he retired.”

“We are now under a program called Medical Death Investigators and it’s done very well and transition has been strong and went well as we become more automated. These expenses are offset by about $15,000 that the state gives us for sending our reports to them.”

“There is an $8,200 increase in the budget,” he said. “The Medical Death Investigators get paid $45 per call and per case and this proposal will increase them by $50.”

“There would be additional costs due to autopsies prices going up, we have around 45 autopsies a year and then some software that is used and also hotspots so they can send their reports out in the field.”

Commissioner Debbie A’Hearn questioned if investigators get paid even if they do not go on a visit and just accept the call.

“You said that they charge $45 per call they take if someone passes, are they having to go out to the call or are they just charging for a phone call,” she asked.

“Most of the time they go to the call,” Brittain answered.

“If they don’t go to call and just receive a phone call do they still charge the $45,” A’Hearn questioned.

“Yes, because they still have the paperwork to finish, there may be some follow-up that must be done. We had in some cases where the family would not accept the body so the investigators have to find a family member to accept them or a place for the body to go,” Brittain said. “With every job there are cases that are simple and there are cases that are more difficult.”

Brittain explained the Hamblen County Health Department and how its budget is paid mostly by the state.

“In this budget there is $66,267 out of an $885,067 budget that is local money, the rest is state health department money,” he said. “The employees of the department are hired by the state but they are technically county employees and the state reimburses us for them.”

“The $66,267 pays for repair costs associated with the building such as phone systems, electricity and internet access.”

He discussed the small increase of budget for Cherokee Park and the shuffling of positions at the park.

“The budget has increased by $137. We have had some major staffing reshuffling with the retirement of Frank Parker,” he said. “What we have done is gone with two full time employees and three part, seasonal employees.”

“The full time employees will work year round and the part time employees will work from March to October.”

“What we have done is paid for the part time positions by reducing overtime pay because that is the point of using part time positions for weekends to reduce the overtime.”

Commissioner Edna Greene asked who referred the new park director, David King, to the county.

“Frank recommended him,” Brittain said. “David had worked under Frank for many years.”

Brittian explained the county’s contributions to the soil conservation district and for tourism.

“This is a position that we fund for the soil conservation district,” he said. “We pay for their salary and that is our contribution to them.”

“We have two lines for tourism and our contribution to the Morristown Area Chamber of Commerce is $22,500 and they do a tremendous job. We pay $2,000 for the State’s Disc Golf Championship which brings in $200,000 money spent in the community. We pay $30,000 for the July 4 event which we offset with sponsorships.