Alachua County Commission votes to take up Gaza ceasefire resolution in January and create a new Department of the Medical Examiner

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – At their December 12 meeting, the Alachua County Commission voted to take up a proposed ceasefire resolution for Gaza in January and create a Department of the Medical Examiner, transferring that office from the University of Florida to the County.

Ceasefire resolution

After two people spoke during General Public Comment, asking the Board to pass a ceasefire resolution for Gaza, Commissioner Anna Prizzia made a motion to refer the proposed resolution to the County Attorney’s office to review it and put it on the agenda for their next meeting. Chair Mary Alford said, “I’m completely in favor of that.” The motion was approved unanimously, and Alford said, “Okay, we will be considering the ceasefire resolution with staff, and then by us. Thank you for presenting that, very much.”

The sample resolution urges the Biden administration to immediately call for and facilitate de-escalation and a ceasefire to urgently end the current violence and calls upon the Biden administration to ensure the provision of humanitarian aid and enable reliable access to clean water, electricity, and other human necessities for people in Gaza.

Gainesville Mayor Harvey Ward agreed on November 16 to send a letter to President Biden with language similar to the sample resolution, but speakers have continued to ask the Gainesville City Commission to approve the resolution.

Moving the Medical Examiner’s office under the County

Acting County Manager Carl Smart explained that the County could decide to keep the Medical Examiner’s office at the University of Florida, where it currently is; make it independent; or create a Department of Medical Examiner with Alachua County, under the Board of County Commissioners. He said staff recommended creating the new department and added that the State Attorney is responsible for recruiting and hiring the Medical Examiner in each Judicial District. 

State Attorney Brian Kramer said that when a Medical Examiner leaves office, the Medical Examiner Commission, which he chairs, is “put into action.” The Commission includes representatives from the County, the Medical School, the mortuary services community, and the law enforcement community. The State Attorney’s Office is responsible for recruitment, and the Commission votes to select the new Medical Examiner, then the selection goes to the Governor. 

Kramer said the District 8 structure, with the Medical Examiner under the university, is unique in Florida. He said he believed the County Commission has authority to determine the structure. In some districts, the Medical Examiner is independent and bills the County for the services provided. Other districts make the Medical Examiner a department within the County. 

Current Medical Examiner has another job offer

Kramer said he hoped that changing the structure would persuade Medical Examiner Dr. Thomas Coyne to stay in Alachua County: “If Dr. Coyne were to depart the area and depart our office… Having someone who’s in the community and has been in the community for many, many years, that I can count on being in the community for long periods of time, is a critical infrastructure type issue from my office.” He said that with murder cases taking two to five years, that consistency is important for him.

Dr. Coyne said he took over as Medical Examiner about a year ago, succeeding Dr. Hamilton, who had been the Medical Examiner for about 40 years. Hamilton had a three-way contract with the university and the counties in the 8th District. The university staffed the office, provided an administrator, and provided IT and other administrative services. Coyne said the Medical Examiner actually determines the structure of the office, not the County Commission, and he has enjoyed being part of a university-based system where he could train new forensic pathologists because there is a nationwide shortage right now. 

However, Coyne said, he has had trouble hiring a new Associate Medical Examiner, leading to a very heavy workload and the conclusion that he can no longer do it himself. As an example of why being part of the university made it difficult to hire an Associate, he said that to get a new hire to a level where their salary is competitive with the rest of the state, the university adds additional responsibilities within the College of Medicine. Coyne said one candidate walked away after those responsibilities were added. 

Coyne said he was recruited to be the District 2 Medical Examiner in Tallahassee, and he has now been offered that position. 

Prizzia: No information about how much it will cost

Alford said she hoped they could figure out a way to keep Coyne. Prizzia said she was uncomfortable with the recommendation to create a new department “without any understanding of the financial implications to the County… It just feels really confusing to approve the creation of a new department without any information for the public about how much it’s going to cost us.” She wanted more information about how many employees the department would have and how much it would cost. 

Commissioner Ken Cornell said, “I feel the opposite, actually.” He asked which structure is used in District 2, and Coyne said it’s a “private structure.” He said his office had provided a budget to the County that was based on their current budget and that his fear was that “essentially we will be forced to an outsourced model [that] will be infinitely more expensive and actually worse for the taxpayers.” Given Coyne’s job offer, Cornell said he was “terrified of what the potentials are if we can’t work this out today.”

Assistant County Manager Tommy Crosby said staff hadn’t had a chance to develop a specific budget, but they had some “comparables.” He said, “So the question becomes… if we lose the Medical Examiner to District 2, does that necessarily mean we go to an independent model, or do we still want to create a department? Or do we wait and see if UF finds another Medical Examiner?… All of the models are increases; the one that was proposed is dramatically an increase” in salaries for the Medical Examiner, Associate Medical Examiner, and other staff members. 

Cornell read the staff recommendation: approve the creation of a department, direct staff to prepare documents and budgets to create that department, conduct a compensation study, create a new fee operating cost, create positions, and develop a transition plan for the Medical Examiner’s employees and operation.

Dr. Coyne: “I can’t handle this workload by myself that much longer”

Cornell asked Coyne if he would stay if they created the department, and Coyne said his main reason for considering the District 2 job offer was that he doesn’t have an Associate here to “help shoulder the load” and would have that in Tallahassee: “For me, it’s more about saving myself long-term because I can’t handle this workload by myself that much longer.” He said that even if he took the job, he would be in Gainesville for 90 days to help with the transition and added, “I wholeheartedly believe, as does almost every other Medical Examiner in the state and our own Medical Examiner’s Commission, that being under the university is not the best model [and] will hinder [being] able to hire somebody else.”

Cornell: “If I hear you say yes, you’re staying, I’m prepared to move forward with the motion”

Cornell asked Coyne, “If we pass that motion, are you staying?” Coyne responded that he didn’t know what the salary would be, and he had “a great offer” from Tallahassee. Cornell said, “To me, this motion is a step of faith on both sides… We very much want to work with you… I don’t want to set a precedent, but if I hear you say yes, you’re staying, I’m prepared to move forward with the motion.”

Kramer advised the board to ask staff to continue to look at all the options but warned them that if Coyne leaves, the decision about the structure will be made by the next Medical Examiner, and they could potentially be without a Medical Examiner for over a year, which has been the situation in Tallahassee. 

Cornell said he was in favor of trying to work this out between Coyne and County staff, “and then ultimately, if that doesn’t work out, we’re going to be in exactly the same spot as we are today.”

Commissioner Chuck Chestnut, who is a funeral director and works professionally with the Medical Examiner, said, “I think it’s very important for us to understand the importance of having a Medical Examiner… I would hate to lose our current Medical Examiner… I understand Commissioner Prizzia saying about the overall cost and what it would be to the County, but I think personally that it would be a savings to us, in terms of your credentials and all of that stuff, to keep you here, and I think it’s well worth it.”

Ricardo Camacho, Operations Manager of the Medical Examiner’s office, said that the office could offset some of the County’s costs by providing additional services that will earn income and potentially allow the office to provide funds back to the counties in the district. 

Kramer made “a suggestion that maybe can move us forward,” that the County Commission could approve a one-year budget provided by Coyne and approve a contract for Coyne but limit the number of years on the contract. He said that could “give [Dr. Coyne] a couple years to get up and running instead of requiring it up front.”

Prizzia: “I haven’t even seen a budget… I just feel like we’re throwing spaghetti at a wall”

Prizzia, however, said, “There’s no budget… I haven’t even seen a budget. That’s my point… This is all like, ‘Hey, we really want this guy who got a better job offer,’ and now we’re having a HR negotiation about somebody’s job on the dais. And this is just not the way things go, like, it’s weird… But secondarily, even if we did this, even if we pass this, it doesn’t mean that he’s going to stay because… he doesn’t know how much money we’re gonna put into it. He doesn’t know what our salaries are going to be… So I don’t know why he would stay, even if we did approve this today… I just feel like we’re throwing spaghetti at a wall right now.”

Coyne said the budget was “not much different” from the amount the County currently gives the university, which then pays the salaries of his staff.

Crosby agreed with Prizzia that no numbers had been presented to Commissioners, but he said staff has researched comparable budgets from other counties that are similar in size to Alachua County, and a budget in line with those counties would also meet the requests from the Medical Examiner’s office.

Alford said, “I can’t imagine the chaos and cost it would be to not have a Medical Examiner.”

Commissioner Marihelen Wheeler said she was “all for the motion” and that even if Coyne leaves, “We would still have the same problem… If Tommy [Crosby] says we can do this, I believe him.”

Prizzia asked to see a copy of the budget and later agreed that she had been shown a paper copy, but all she remembered was a “drastic increase” in the Medical Examiner’s salary. Coyne said another district is advertising for an Associate Medical Examiner, right out of training, with no experience, at the salary he is currently making as the Medical Examiner. He said this had all come up quickly because he never knew he could request to be under the County instead of the university until he had the offer from Tallahassee and he was told about that option in an effort to persuade him to stay here.

Budget would be an increase of 10-15%

Crosby said he didn’t have a copy of the budget with him, but it was an increase of 10-15% over what the County is currently paying for Medical Examiner services – an increase from about $1.8 million to about $2 million, “which is still far less than St. Johns and some other counties are doing.”

County Attorney Sylvia Torres warned the Board that they couldn’t make the decision that day: “Budget amendments have to be done in public hearings, you’ll have to add FTEs, you’ll have a contract with a Medical Examiner that will have to come back before you can approve that, you’ve got to adjust the Pay Plan… you will see this again before it’s completed.” She said staff had crafted “a potential motion that might actually better meet your needs than the one that’s in the backup.”

Motion

The proposed motion had three parts: 

• Approve the creation of a new Department of the Medical Examiner under the Alachua County Board of County Commissioners.
• Direct staff to negotiate a contract with the Medical Examiner at a competitive rate and bring it back to the Board for approval.
• Direct staff to conduct a compensation study for necessary positions and develop a budget for the new department.

Cornell said he was ready to make the motion, but first, he wanted Coyne to say he would stay if they passed it.

Coyne: “I’m taking a final leap of faith that you guys will work with us”

Coyne responded, “Sure… I’m taking a final leap of faith that you guys will work with us… I will say also… I have two boys and a wife who would kill me if I forced them to move again after a year.”

Cornell made the three-part motion listed above.

Coyne wanted to make sure that all his employees could transfer to the County within the four-month window after his resignation from UF, and Torres said the County Manager can do up to six months of interim appointments to manage the transition. Crosby agreed that it wouldn’t be an issue.

Nobody from the public spoke to the motion. The motion passed unanimously.