The Alachua County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) directed staff to begin negotiations to create a department of the state medical examiner within the county and away from the current spot inside UF.  

The decision came on Tuesday without an opportunity for the county to look at the exact department structure and budget, and Commissioner Ken Cornell, who made the motion, called it a leap of faith for both the BOCC and the current medical examiner Dr. Thomas Coyne.  

The motion directed county staff to create the department, negotiate with Coyne at a competitive rate and begin an analysis of other counties’ medical examiner departments. It passed 4-1 with Commissioner Anna Prizzia in dissent.  

The medical examiner’s office is currently housed within UF’s College of Medicine. Alachua County pays UF who then pays the staff’s salaries and provides the overhead to operate. Brian Kramer, state attorney for the Eighth Judicial Circuit, said the current structure is completely unique in Florida.  

Other options would be to bring the medical examiner within the county as a department or to contract the work to an independent firm or medical examiner.  

Kramer said he hopes that the county structure will be appealing enough for Coyne to stay. Kramer said he’d have concerns about losing Coyne.  

Coyne became the medical examiner for the 8th Medical Examiner District, covering seven counties, around a year ago, taking over for Dr. William Hamilton who had served for more than 40 years.  

Coyne said because of a severe shortage of medical examiners and UF’s hiring process, he hasn’t been able to fill the assistant medical examiner role. Besides his normal credentials as a medical examiner, Coyne is also certified in pathology and toxicology.  

He said that means he can handle any case instead of needing to contract an expert. That also helps the state attorney when needing experts for court.  

However, having to testify at court and handle cases puts a large workload on Coyne without an assistant medical examiner, he told the commission. UF also stopped paying for medical malpractice insurance and legal services, Coyne said.  

Prizzia said she’d rather direct staff to return with a plan and budget for the new department. However, time pressure also factored in.  

Coyne is also being recruited by Leon County to be its medical examiner based in Tallahassee, who has been without its own medical examiner for over a year according to Coyne. The job was offered to him in November, leaving little time to prepare a fully-fledged plan for switching the department to the county.  

“I just feel like we’re throwing spaghetti at a wall right now,” Prizzia said. “We don’t have any real information on which to base a decision, and it’s not even a decision that’s going to ensure that [Coyne] is going to stay.” 

However, the combination of potentially losing Coyne, the uncertainty of getting another medical examiner and confidence from staff in reaching a good deal pushed the BOCC to pass the motion.  

Cornell said he didn’t want to be in a situation where the county had to outsource its medical examiner role. He said that would be more costly and it could take a long time to find a new medical examiner given the shortage—much less one with additional qualifications.  

“I started to dig in over the weekend of what [the financial impacts] were, and I’m terrified of what the potentials are if we can’t work this out today,” Cornell said.  

Tommy Crosby, assistant county manager, informed the commission that staff had some idea of the cost. He said the county currently pays $1.8 million to UF to house the medical examiner officer. Under the county, an estimated budget came in at $2 million.  

Cornell asked Coyne if he’d stay with Alachua County if the motion passed. Coyne said he doesn’t know what the numbers would be if he agreed, and it would mean passing up a great offer in Tallahassee. Cornell said that’s where the step of faith for both sides comes in, and Coyne said he and his family don’t really want to move after coming to Alachua County only a year ago.  

The motion gives time to structure the department, positions and salaries. The county also said it would be able to get a contract within two months and have time for the staff under UF to transition to the county.  

A final plan would return for BOCC approval.