Appoint or elect?

PRINCETON — To elect or to appoint the Bureau County Coroner ... that is the question. In November, Bureau County voters may get to answer that question.

At Tuesday’s meeting, the Bureau County Board took action to have the question drawn up in the form of a binding referendum for the board to consider at its next meeting. If the board approves the referendum, it would be placed on the November ballot.

The appointed versus elected question for the coroner's position was brought before the board in February by Randy Grant, owner of the Grant/Johnson Funeral Home, who told the board he would be interested in running for the coroner’s position if it was an elected position. The county board has always appointed its coroner.

In his report at Tuesday night’s meeting, Law Committee Chairman Bob McCook said the committee has discussed the elected versus appointed coroner question, and the committee’s recommendation is to make the position an elected one. The committee agreed to come back to the full board to ask the board to place the question before the voters.

Board member Steve Sondgeroth agreed with putting the question to the voters.

“I see no harm in letting the people decide what they want,” Sondgeroth said.

About 90 percent of Illinois’ 102 counties have elected coroners, rather than appointed ones, Bureau County Board Chairman Dale Anderson said.

In discussing the question, board member Mary Jane Marini said board members need to have an idea of the advantages and disadvantages of having an elected coroner, so they can give those ideas to their constituents.

In response, Rick Wilkin said he thought the answer was simple.

“I would say the advantage is you (the voters) get to decide who your coroner is,” Wilkin said. “The coroner becomes responsible to you (the voters) as opposed to being responsible to the county board.”

The requirements and salary of the coroner would not change if the position became an elected one, the board agreed.

The November referendum would need to pass by a simple majority, Hieronymus said. If the majority chooses to have an elected coroner, the Bureau County coroner would be elected in the next general election, which is in November 2012. The coroner candidate would go through the same filing and candidate process as candidates for other offices, Hieronymus said.