MAYVILLE – County lawmakers changed a charter that will allow them to appoint two more coroners this week according to County Legislature Chairman P.J. Wendel.
“The reason is just in case we need more,” said Wendel. “You don’t ever want to be without a coroner because when you are without, the police are without and it delays investigations.”
Chautauqua County pays its coroners on a per-case basis, unlike Erie County, where the coroner is a full-time position.
“It’s not like we are paying anybody to be on-call, they (coroner) only get paid if they work a coroner case,” Wendell said.
Coroners investigate when a death is suspected to have been either sudden with unknown cause, violent, or unnatural.
“If you are a 50-year-old man who is in good health and you don’t wake up one day, that’s a coroner case,” said Wendel.
Currently, there are four appointed coroners; two in the north county and two in the south county.
Wendel said the goal is to have extra coroners on hand so they don’t put themselves in a bad predicament.
“One of our appointments is Dan Tyler, who lives in Maple Springs,” he said. “Maple Springs is kind of in the middle of county, so he will be positioned to work a case wherever he’s needed.”
“Sometimes, we have six deaths in one weekend, so there’s a definite need,” Wendell said.
Tyler and Desiree Sundquist will be appointed county coroners at a meeting on Wednesday in Mayville.
