Kane County may ask public to vote on future of coroner's office

The Kane County Board can't remove embattled Coroner Chuck West from office, but local residents might be given that opportunity in November.

West is awaiting trial on criminal charges of official misconduct. County Board Chairman Karen McConnaughay called on West to take a leave of absence while the justice system sorts out West's activities. West has repeatedly said he will not step down. He's also noted that there's no way for the county board to remove him from office and the trial is likely to stretch until the end of his current term in office, which is two years out.

Ever since then, McConnaughay said she's been stormed by questions about how the coroner's office can properly function while steeped in criminal accusations.

McConnaughay's answer may be to allow residents to decide if they no longer want a coroner. McConnaughay set a special meeting of the county board's Executive Committee for July 20 to discuss the idea of putting a referendum question on the November ballot to eliminate the coroner position. The county would then, presumably, establish a medical examiner system similar to Cook County. McConnaughay referenced a recent article in Sangamon County that relied on a 2004 study by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics that said the average operating cost of operating a medical examiner's office is the same or less than running a coroner's office.

If that's true, that fact would run contrary to research Kane County performed in the recent past that showed a medical examiner would cost the county far more than a coroner's office.

"We reviewed this years ago," said county board member Jim Mitchell when he learned of the idea. "There was a board member who was very adamant about doing this until he looked at the cost. I believe it was four or five times the cost of having a coroner. That really put the kibosh on it at that time."

McConnaughay said county staff has researched a cheaper option where the county would have a medical examiner setup that has a forensic pathologist as a part-time employee.

The county board has until the final week of August to put a question on the November ballot via a simple majority vote.