With Trinity Health’s decision to get out of the coroner business, Ward County is looking at starting its own program. A county committee decided Tuesday to recommend the commission advertise for a coroner.

A coroner has responsibility to handle or investigate unattended deaths and make initial determinations in apparent homicides.

Ward County gets about 180 calls for coroner services a year, Commissioner Jason Olson said at Tuesday’s committee meeting. The county spends about $160,000 a year in transport of the deceased and through its contract for coroner services with Trinity, which ends at the end of June.

“Trinity won’t continue with the contract so we don’t have that option. So, our first priority is to have a corner in place,” Olson said. “There’s long-term planning that, I think, incorporates death investors eventually. I think the coroner that we hire needs to be in that planning and that transition.”

A death investigator may take initial responsibility for the deceased at a scene and perform certain initial investigations. Unlike a coroner, a death investigator does not need to have an advanced medical degree. Ward County requires its coroner to be a physician.

Olson said the county should be able to hire a coroner and two deputy coroners and remain within its $160,000 annual budget. That would include a base salary for the coroner and on-call pay split between the coroner and the deputy coroners as well as the transportation costs estimated around $50,000.

A coroner appointment would be for five years. The coroner would be eligible for retirement benefits through the county, but the committee’s goal in crafting a job description has been to exempt the positions from other benefits.