very good debate this evening at the county board meeting. I am happy the majority voted and entrusted voters to make their vote count.

Have it both ways, vote for QUINCY!

I think they are doing a great job! The office is more profesional now than it has ever been and that is under an elected official. You do know the Coroner is on call 24/7/365 right? Try getting a doctor to do that for under $60,000 a year. The point is we have elected officials doing a great job everyday, and you chose them. If you want to give up your right to vote, that's fine but I don't.

Jdowd - To be totally honest with you I've never seen an entire episode of CSI in my life. So I'm not sure I understand all that, but I guess the point I'm was trying to make is that, although I live in a different state and in a county much larger than Rock County, when the same type of proposal was raised in our county (Medical Examiner or Coroner), there were alot of pros and cons. Ultimately, the biggest issue was the fact that it would cost (significantly) more money to "employ" a medical examiner. I'm not sure how this works from county-to-county or state-to-state but taxpayers here were not in favor of paying for it so needless to say, we still have a county coroner.

The responsibility of a coroner and medical examiner are the same. There would be no difference in salary unless the county board raised the salary to attract more qualified applicants. The county board can set the minimum qualifications for a medical examiner as opposed to a coroner who simply needs to be 18 years of age and a county resident. We should have the most qualified not the most popular running any office.

The office of coroner lacks accountability. Do we, the citizens of rock county know the daily activities in the office? Do the citizens of rock county understand that an elected official does not need to report to their office at all? In the terrible economic times that we are facing in America should we as taxpayers pay a salary of $60,000 to an elected official with no accountability?

I have to disagree, a coroner is not necessarily a bargain basement, major misconception the public has and due to watching too much CSI on television. A medical background is very effective and the coroner works with a trained physician when autopsies are completed. Look around the web for some of the medical examiners which have broken the law and it has been very difficult to remove them.

No doubt Rock County DESERVES to have a medical professional. The question is does Rock County have the MONEY for one? If taxpayers are willing to pay a medical examiner's salary, and not complain about it, then that's great. However, if taxpayers are not willing to absorb some of the cost, then you're stuck with the less qualified, "appointed" bargain basement, coroner.

I think many people need to look more closely at the proposal for a medical examiner. The county would pay more to a medical examiner but the autopsies still will be shipped to another physician. a forensic pathologist is far and above the $100,000 salary. There is a reason why statutes require a medical examiner once a 500,000 county population is reached. The 170,000 Rock County population is nowhere near the requirement and not needed. I would like a state medical examiner which would be responsible to train county coroners and provide assistance toward death investigations much like New Mexico and other states. A medical examiner in our county now takes away the power of voters (which many feel are not qualified to chose the coroner) and replaces the county board (which also do not have the medical expertise to chose the coroner and are not elected at-large by the county population) and takes the independent away from the death investigation process and increases taxes in the county.

Keach is already a medical professional, she could be appointed medical examiner. People are assuming an appointed position would be a physician- not true

The decision to change the coroner to a medical examiner must be based on facts and the functions the office provides and who the coroner is accountable. In Rock County, this debate was based on the actions of one coroner and now is being taken to give more control to the county board. The county board already has budget ability over the office. Each county board member is elected by a small area of the county (29 areas to be exact) and each person is only allowed to elect one county board member. As politicians, the county board must represent their district to get reelected. What qualifies the county board to make death investigation procedures or to choose the qualifications to serve in this office? Are these county board members physicians? EMTs? There is no guarntee that a medical examiner would be a physician. People associate a medical examiner as a physician, but it doesn't need to be. The county board can decide to appoint and change the job description at will. Voters have the choice to either vote someone out of office or recall that individual from office. The coroner provides the service of being an advocate for the dead and to provide an INDEPENDENT death investigation. A appointment medical examiner also wants to keep his or her job. The problem is that is an inmate in the county jail committs suicide, will that inmate get an INDEPENDENT review if overseen by the county board and county administrator? I'm not saying this would happen in Rock County, but what if? A few years ago, it would be unbeleiveable to have a coroner who stole drugs from the dead in Rock County. I prefer to trust the voting public.

The County Board made the right decision, now they want to undo it. Keach may be likable and even very capable, but Rock County deserves to have a medical professional in this important position.

A Medical Examiner would still be a government official. The main procedural difference would be appointment rather than election. A Medical Examiner would hopefully be more qualified, but would cost much more in salary and benefits. Appointing someone does not guarantee that there would be no misconduct in office and it is often harder and more expensive to fire a government employee than it is to remove an elected official. You do not have to look far to see examples of problems with hired officials

I agree that we need a medical professional in the role of coroner. Don't you suppose the appointed individual has some sort of medical background? I'd like to venture out to say that I'm pretty sure they look at that. I'll stop at that because what I want to say may not be appropriate.

elected offical or medical professional? I say go with the medical professional. There is no room for an "offical" here. (Not really sure what one is anyway)

elected offical or medical professional? elected offical or medical professional?... hmmm dosnt sound like a hard choice to me

Do we need more jobs in Janesville? YES! Just hoping a county board member reads this and -poof -> Someone will wake up and return the jobs that we now pay other counties to do. If we can't repair / or whatever the current health care facility than use another building to serve the Rock County citizens that we now send to Oshkosh and Madison for health services.