Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Good morning. I call this session schedule cutting commissioners to order. It is September 11th, a little after 8 o'clock in the morning. We are here for an appointment for our coroner. But before we begin, can you please stand and join me to salute our flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you very much everybody for being here. As everybody knows, Haley Thompson put in a resignation and so we as County Commissioners, our job is to make an appointment. And the County Democrat Party gave us three names that came in last night. and we have several different questions we're going to do and we're going to interview you one at a time we'll have the other two step out and then go back and forth like that to get the answers so forth then we'll probably go into an executive session to make our decision any other comments commissioner browning anything

no but thank you all for being willing to step in this is a very important role in our community and it has been it has gotten so much better during haley's uh office we've really got quite a quite a well-respected coroner's office and we want to keep it that way and so this is a really important position right now so thank you for showing some interest

Commissioner Burns, anything? Thank you all for taking the interest in doing this and stepping forward. I know how it is to do these interviews, so I appreciate you being here today and being willing to step into Haley's shoes because she has done a fantastic job at the coroner's office, so appreciate your time.

Yeah, thank you very much. We do appreciate the time and effort of going through this. As mentioned, because she chose not to run, we are going to appoint somebody. technically we have within 60 days of the resignation to make the appointment and if we don't go by then the governor can appoint but as soon as the election because election is going on in november if that is when it's certified then whoever was elected in november after certification takes over in that position for the next four years after that um Anything else? We have a list of questions. We'll ask the same questions unless one of us want to add a little more detail on that particular item and so forth. But we have half an hour apiece?

We do have half an hour apiece. When do you want it to buzz for a warning for wrapping up? Like two minutes, one minute, five minutes?

Buzz for... To warn the candidate. To warn them or... so we can get through all our questions yeah you got 30 minutes apiece so yeah let's go five minutes okay yeah sounds good okay do you guys have an order you want to go to or I get to choose how I want all right let's be old-fashioned ladies first okay let's do that and for the answering the questions you'll have to be standing at the mics over there so we can um have them that's fine just there's footprints on the ground you put your feet there the mics are all set so you just stand there mr burns you want to do the first question sure

Why are you interested in serving as Skagit County Coroner and what do you believe are the most important responsibilities of the position?

Thank you for the question. I first and foremost want to thank Alex for all that he's been doing and endorse him. I know you all know that he has a lot of experience. I wanted to also step up as I was nominated. I think it's really important to I respect the state laws and honor the process of democracy. And I want to honor the nomination with my experience and my passion for the importance of the position. I think it's really important to have someone in this role in the community separate from the courts and law enforcement to represent the people in the community as a public servant. understand the importance of that on a personal level and also as a current hospital commissioner in that role I think my belief is that people in the community every person has the same right to compassion and dignity and justice in death as in life and i just think whoever's in this role should respect that thank you commissioner browning you want the next one yes thank you

Sam, it's good to see you. Good to see you. What experience, knowledge, or skills you bring that you believe will make an effective coroner?

Yes, sorry, and let me know if you can't hear me. I have a soft voice, I know. Sorry, can you ask that one more time?

The experience and knowledge or skills you bring that you believe will make you an effective coroner.

Yes, so my educational background, I have a degree in law and justice and psychology from Central Washington University. After that, I interned with a juvenile drug court program, Snohomish County Juvenile Courts. I worked there for a little while in some different programming. And then from there, I went to Cocoon House as a care coordinator, worked with youth in the community that were unhoused. And then from there, I went to Compass Health, worked with the WISE program, wraparound with intensive services for youth and families in the community in crisis. uh and then from there i worked with northwest regional council and was a case manager for the older adults and people with disabilities in the community and then after that i left that work to be a caregiver for my mom who got cancer and passed what died last year from from that she actually went through decided once it had spread to her brain to use her right to Washington's death of dignity loss with the medical aid and dying. So I was with her while she passed away. I'm glad that we have that right in this state. And on her death certificate, it said cancer, not ingesting poison. So I think indicating that is really important. I also, from my work professionally with folks working with people in the community as young as five years old, as old as, I think my oldest client was 98, just the death is an everyday occurrence. I've worked with youth that have died from overdose, died from gang-related drive-by shootings, I've had clients die from COVID, suicide. I think that it's important to honor people who have died and their loved ones and be able to have that relationship is really important too. Talking with next of kin and family members just with that level of compassion is really important because death, we all have a relationship with it. It might be different for everybody, but it affects everybody. Sorry, I don't know if that was a long answer.

I could say more, but I'll... Thank you, Sam.

Thank you.

The coroner has an important independent statutory role while also working closely with law enforcement, prosecutors, health care providers, funeral homes and county government. How would you approach maintaining the independence while building effective relationships with all those organizations?

Thank you. Just with my work, I know the continuity of care, care coordination within different communities, the community with various entities and organizations is really important. I've worked with communicating with law enforcement, social workers, schools, all CPS, APS in the past. and I I think it's this role in particular is vital to be separate from law enforcement in the courts because sometimes There are incidents that might also involve them and I think it's good to have those things separate free from any sort of bias potentially I have known I don't know if I can kind of share stories without any personal information, but some instances I'm thinking of, we've had a, my parents had a family friend, their child died riding their bike out in front of their house, and they had, it was from, a police officer was in pursuit and hit the kid with a bicycle. So, yeah. and there was a instance I worked with a youth their brother had died in jail from being exposed to a food allergy so just I think having that separation from those things gives better insight in the investigation putting in inquests if you know law enforcement might deem something a certain way but maybe the coroner has a different perspective that thinks maybe that there's more things that should be looked into thank you mr burns what do you what do you see as the biggest challenge facing county coroner's office today and what would be your priorities Yes, that would be something I don't quite know about. I know Alex has been working a lot with them. So I'm not quite sure. I've heard that Haley, you know, has done a lot of great things in making it, working with people and with how it would be. So keeping on that. Also, really looking at... feel like in the role keeping track of like data sets on deaths in the community just to know figure out like um kind of what that says about the needs in the community for example if you know there's a rise in illnesses in the community specific illnesses or overdose deaths, just kind of figuring out and communicating with other entities like public health districts, treatment facilities, trying to figure out how we can kind of work on those preventable deaths in the community together.

Thank you.

Great. Commissioner Brown? All right.

This is a tough one. If you disagree with a law enforcement agency or a medical professional, prosecutor, or county official about an aspect of a death investigation, how would you handle the disagreement?

respectfully just based on people's backgrounds and what they're doing they might have a different perspective in it and I think it's important to listen to everyone but at some point in the rule if something comes up you know being feeling empowered in that role to kind of step back and voice you know concern ask questions and kind of be that voice that is representing the people and not a specific agency it's important to remember thank you what do you believe makes a death investigation

Excuse me, let me start over here. What do you believe makes a death investigation thorough and defensible, particularly when the cause or manner of death is uncertain?

I think just going through it with kind of an open perspective, asking a lot of questions. Yeah, sorry, can you ask it one more time?

okay it goes here over time what do you believe makes a death investigation thorough and defensible particularly when the cause or manner of death is uncertain okay yes so um

And then also, I think in those instances, there's also like loved ones or people in the community that are also impacted by that and asking a lot of questions. I think it's important to acknowledge that and take that into consideration also and kind of answer their questions also, I think.

yeah sorry thank you the coroner's office must operate within county resources while maintaining timely accurate and professional death investigations how would you approach managing limited resources and setting priorities

That's a great question, which I know is coming up a lot in various places with everything going on. So I know that there are hard decisions that have to be made. I think just, again, communicating with everyone and trying to figure it out working together, I don't think those those are just something one person does on their own i think it's like a collective approach but as the coroner i know it would come down to that that voice for those things in particular thank you so sam why do you believe you're the best person to serve as a skagit county coroner oh that is a tough question because i I endorse Alex as I know he has more experience. I honestly, if I'm being honest, I didn't even know this was coming up until a few days ago. But I just wanted to... if that is a way for me to serve the community, to bring forth my experience and just talking about these really important issues with you all. I'm glad to be here and I appreciate all the time that you all are giving right now for this.

Yeah, it's just a follow-up that working with you in the hospital, you bring a very clear and very good and fresh perspective. So thank you for that.

Thank you. Appreciate it. Do you have any questions for us? Um, just, um... I just appreciate your time. And I guess kind of what do you all kind of see as the most important thing in this role in the community?

Commissioner Burns, you want to? knowledge and expertise in the field, willingness to work with others, because this is something that you have to collaborate with other departments, as well as managing the resources. Those are probably my top three priorities there. Commissioner Browning?

Something I've relied with from Haley and has been really good is that she is kind of like, she's not the canary in the mine shop, but she knows what the canary is. She's always looking for things that are potentially going to be rising to a level of concern. And there is a really good... data gathering and data utilization process that really has never been the case in the county so much before and has been really, really good. So that's something I really think we all rely on. All of the departments in that county, the police department, the public health, really rely on the information that comes out of the corner to help us see changes in society, changes and dangers in society down the road.

yeah i agree with the fellow two commissioners but also a good team player understanding what your role of your legally responsible to do but also helping to explain what that is to the other police departments prosecutor's office commissioners because there's a lot of different people working together to try to help the families after a death has happened and we want to all work together and we

sometimes don't have the resources we don't have the time it's just things happen but understanding what your responsibility is corner to go forward so great thank you thank you it's a little unique it's like public health where you're you respond to the whole county and it's not the cities don't have a corner and that makes it a little different and really makes it very very you got to work with again different jurisdictions and work with them successfully so yeah definitely thank you i appreciate it

Once again, thank you very much for putting your name in, even if you only knew a few days ago, but that's very good. And I would encourage you in the future to look at other government type of positions available because I'm impressed with your answers and so forth. So thank you very much. Thank you.

I really appreciate it. I appreciate your time. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Who are we going to go next with? Let's go, Jeremy. Can we do that? Yeah.

Perfect, yeah. Nope, we got it. That works. Here.

Yep. Go ahead and your feet on the little feet things there, and the mics are all set. So, Mr. Burns, you want the first question?

Sure. Why are you interested in serving a Skagit County Coroner, and what do you believe are the most important responsibilities of the position?

I am interested in serving as the county coroner because I am interested in protecting the public health of our county, interested in supporting the county, and I'm interested in making sure that the deceased and their families are able to have a trustworthy source of information. Sorry, can you repeat the second part?

And what do you believe are the most important responsibilities of the position?

I believe the most important responsibilities of the position are going to be the investigation into causes of death, as well as just managing the office. So I think it's going to be very important to be able to manage the team, work well with the investigators, work well with our investigative partners, and also just making sure it is following the laws that are required for the position.

Thank you.

Commissioner Browning? So what experience, knowledge, or skills do you bring that you believe will make you an effective coroner?

I have a background in public health. I've been a lead microbiologist at the Washington State Public Health Laboratory for six years in the COVID and STI laboratories. I think I originally thought that my science knowledge and ability to manage a laboratory, manage high regulation environments, manage a staff, and do investigations would be really strong background for the position. I've had the chance to be in the coroner's office, and I've really found my best strengths are the background with being responsible for government money, purchasing, following strict regulations, being responsible with public disclosures, public health information, keeping all that information safe, and following regulations. Thank you.

The coroner has an important independent statutory role while also working closely with law enforcement, prosecutors, health care providers, funeral homes, and county government. How would you approach maintaining independence while building effective relationships with these organizations?

I think that all of these organizations can work together. None of them should be opposed. I've certainly had to work with some of these organizations before at the public health lab. I would have to work with health providers, doctors, to try to make sure patients are getting the best possible care. As the coroner, I would want to carry that forward, make sure I have an open dialogue with all of these different departments, and make sure They all feel comfortable talking to me about anything because I would want to be able to take that feedback and understand how I can interpret that and change anything that might need to be changed. But I also recognize that as the coroner, I would be independent to ultimately make those decisions. I would make those decisions with the team of investigators who work in the office because they are certainly experts at what they do. But ultimately, the decision would be mine for a lot of these things.

Thank you. What do you see as the biggest challenges facing a county coroner's office today and what would be your priorities?

I think the biggest challenge facing the coroner's office, certainly going into 2027, is the budget. It will be incumbent on me to be very careful with the finances of the county and of the office, because I still want to make sure that the best possible services are provided, but being just very careful

Thank you. Great. All right, so if you disagree with a law enforcement agency, a medical professional, prosecutor, or county official about an aspect of a death investigation, how would you handle this disagreement?

Well, I would first want to hear from that individual. I would be open to scheduling time to meet with them and really hear their side of things. I don't have any illusion that I know everything. So I would fully listen to what they have to say. I would consider if there is good reason to pursue what they've thought. I would also bounce those ideas off of the team at the coroner's office to see if they have any insight into what it would be. But again, ultimately, it would be my decision. So if I have felt I fully listened to what they have to say and still disagree with it, I would stick to what I believe.

What do you believe makes a death investigation thorough and defensible, particularly when the cause or manner of death is uncertain?

Collecting evidence is probably the most important thing. So I think it's very important that the staff are well trained. It's important that we're responding to scenes as much as possible, being rigorous about our documentation. And then upon doing the exam of the body, doing thorough rigorous exams, again, taking very careful notes, very careful documentation, reviewing records, and keeping very careful case notes of everything that was done and every decision that was made.

Thank you.

The coroner's office must operate within county resources while maintaining timely, accurate, and professional death investigations. How would you approach managing limited resources and setting priorities?

Certainly the resources are going to be an issue going forward. Luckily the staff is, or really the whole office has been very carefully looked at and decisions have been made as far as how to allocate resources. I will stick to those resources as carefully as possible. Have to probably make some difficult calls in terms of some sort of I suppose you could say edge cases That could go for deeper investigation or not. I will try to provide as much Investigation as possible to every case But I will have to stay within budget constraints Thank you So, why do you believe you're the best person to serve as a Skagit County coroner I I believe I'm the best person to serve as a Skagit County Coroner because I take the role very seriously. I think it's important that the people have someone they feel they can trust when it comes to medical decisions. You know, generally that's an important thing for people to feel like they can trust their doctors or any kind of medical professional. And so you want someone with a certain amount of expertise in that field. and someone who understands it. I also feel I'm well qualified because I have a lot of compassion. I really enjoy people, really enjoy working with people. Explaining things to people is a passion of mine. And I want people to feel like they can trust me, and I believe they can.

Thank you.

Thank you very much. Do you have any questions for us?

No.

None at all?

I don't believe so.

OK. um well thank you very much appreciate uh you putting your name in for the program thank you with that we will come to the next one thank you thank you Thank you very much. Appreciate you being here. We've got a series of questions. Commissioner Burns, got the first one? Yeah.

Why are you interested in serving a Skagit County coroner, and what do you believe are the most important responsibilities of the position?

The Schedule County Coroner is just like other government jobs, a service job, a service to the community, which is something that I'm very interested in doing. That position, as I understand it, is going to be leading a team. That's something I've got some experience with. The Office of Coroner is in charge of investigating all deaths that don't have an apparent and clear cause, as well as a number of other situations like child deaths and drug deaths. There's, let me think. You said what was the interest level, and what do I understand about the job? I believe your most important responsibilities. The most important responsibilities, thank you. Yeah, the most important responsibilities, and then of course there's the notification, and that's going to be the heaviest one, I believe. It would be notification to family. That's pretty important.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you. So what experience, knowledge, or skills do you bring that you believe will make you an effective coroner?

Yep. So I would like to acknowledge that I don't have any medical background other than first aid CPR stuff, but this will be more of a service and leadership experience. I've got 22 years in the military, leading lots of teams through lots of trials Different scenarios, working in the nuclear world, we're answerable to the White House, so I understand a heavy responsibility. As far as other medical leadership, though, no, that's not something that I would consider my strength. I'm going to have to lean heavily on the experts and the staff of the office if that was the scenario. Great. Thank you.

the coroner has an important independent statutory role while also working closely with law enforcement prosecutors and health care providers funeral homes and county government how would you approach maintaining independence while building effective relationships with these groups independence from You work closely with the law enforcement prosecutors and health care providers and funeral homes and county government.

Okay.

How would you approach maintaining independence while building effective relationships with those organizations?

I'm struggling to identify where I would have an allegiance with one or the other, I guess. I don't.

Sometimes a case may, the coroner may disagree with one of those other organizations. I understand.

I understand, okay. Yeah, I would say that my first loyalty is to the facts and to the A large value of mine is compliance, a regulatory compliance. And so that would be my driving force more so than how I feel about something or what somebody's trying to tell me. Yeah, I'm not. I guess I would have to have an example to better answer that question. I apologize. Okay, thank you.

What do you see as the biggest challenges, excuse me, the biggest challenges facing a county coroner's office today, and what do you believe, wow, I lost my place, and what would be your priorities?

Right now, just like everyone else in county government, the issue is budget and staffing. I understand that a number of staff positions have already been cut and there's always the opportunity for us to lose more in that office. And so just offering the level of service that we wanna offer the people of Skagit County with a reduced staff load is gonna be one of the larger issues that we face. I understand that autopsies are very expensive as well to contract out with those pathologists and so that's going to be you know obviously a burden on the on the budget as well so i think that trying to work around those budgetary struggles is going to be our largest struggle in the coming years was there a second part to that question i'm sorry um you were covering priorities that was really the second part of it and what would be your priorities got it uh my priority uh if i was selected would absolutely be to

yeah i honestly to continue uh as best i can what haley's already set up uh as a coroner i understand she's done a fantastic job so that would be the priority thank you so if you disagree with law enforcement agency medical professionals prosecutor or county official about an aspect of a death investigation how would you handle that disagreement um

If I had a disagreement with one of those entities, I think that I would, and I'm not sure exactly how the process works, but I imagine that I would choose to note in the report or whatever what the dissension opinion is. But ultimately, if the authority lies within the coroner's to make the decision, I'll make clear this is what I believe, and I would not ignore the dissending opinion as well. So, yeah, but again, I would have to understand the process more to answer that fully.

What do you believe makes a death investigation thorough and defensible, particularly when the cause or manner of death is uncertain?

That's a tough one. I would have to lean heavily, again, on staff and doctors. I think that if the cause is uncertain and we can't figure it out, yeah. I'm not sure if it's all right for the coroner to say that this is an unknown cause, but sometimes we'll just have to swallow our pride and do that, I suppose.

Thank you. So the coroner's office must operate within county resources while maintaining timely, accurate, and professional death investigations. How do you approach managing limited resources and setting priorities?

Yep. So with limited resources, there's definitely a triage process. You need to identify what your top priorities are, what your must-dos are, and then you trickle down from there and you try and fill in as much as you can and do the best that you can with what you've got. So it's going to be important to identify, like I said, which aspects of the job we cannot miss that we have to do correctly. We'll have to identify the stuff that we definitely should get done and then the other stuff, the niceties. Just like anything else though, yeah, we're gonna have to prioritize and some things will have to not go the way that they should go with a full staff and full budget. And I'm sure you gentlemen understand that.

We realize this has been a very quick process for all of you and didn't give you a whole lot of time to become highly skilled. But still, with that, what skills make you the best person to serve as Gadget County's Coroner?

I'd like to say I believe Alex to be the best candidate for this. I'm here in support of his candidacy as well. So I believe that should you choose me, that I would absolutely be able to lead that coroner team. But my lack of medical knowledge is definitely something that would concern me as far as the execution of this job.

in this county military backgrounds really weigh heavily because we've had some very very best employees coming because of the discipline that comes from the military and so i certainly would encourage you to keep working towards that it really brings a good perspective for our county thank you i appreciate that do you have any questions for us

don't thank you very much just once again thank you very much for putting your name in the hat and then coming through the interview process we do appreciate that and I think as commissioner Browning mentioned and I think you do have good skills and I really want to encourage you to move on to other things that may come up in the future so thank you very much for being here thank you for your time gentlemen thank you commissioners you want to take 10 minutes for an executive session or five or what do you want to do i need to use the restroom set as another let's go 10 minutes okay wait we will now be going into executive session until 8 50. The clerk will note the attendings of the session. If the meeting is extended, we'll return the hearing room and identify additional time needed. So we will go in the back room back there for 10 minutes. Thank you very much. Just once again, we had executive session to discuss the quality applications and not make any decisions in the executive session. So it was just the discussion of the candidates and really appreciate all three of the candidates putting their names in and going through our interview process. Call the meeting back to order. It's 8.52. Our executive session has ended. No action was taken. Is there a motion from one of the commissioners here?

Chairman Wiesen, I would like to make a motion to offer the position of coroner for Skagit County to Alex Latham.

I'll second that motion.

It is a move and second to appoint the candidate Alex Latham. Any more discussion on that?

I just really want to thank both Sam and Jeremy for stepping up. That was a short turnaround for you to learn enough to at least answer questions. I really appreciate that. Both of you brought some real passion, too, for how you see the system working. Sam, I've worked with you before. I love the way you think. And Jeremy, it was really good to hear you. And we all back there said, boy, we could use him in the county. Because the discipline and the clear thinking is fantastic. So thank you for that. Thank you both for stepping up. I appreciate it.

Any other questions or comments?

I just want to thank all three of you as well. I appreciate you taking the time to come in, do the interview, and taking it seriously. Sam, it's obvious that you have a passion for caring for people, and I'm sure you do great work in the hospital board. And Jeremy, you obviously have leadership qualities that will do good things in our community as well. So I appreciate you both.

I'd also like to thank all three candidates for putting their names in and going through the process, it takes a unique individual who even wants to go through the process. A lot of people just sit back and not bother to do it, but thank you. You all have unique capabilities and unique aptitudes that I think are really important for the position, but we'll have to make a decision, and the motion was to appoint Alex Latham for the corners position. Any more discussion? all those in favor to appoint alex latham signal saying aye aye all those opposed motion passes thank you so we have a signature here to make that happen and i don't know the technical the um you have to get a bond and all those kind of things so i'm sure prosecutor's office will help make that happen so We also have a nice little award that we want to give to Haley Thompson right now. So Haley, we really want to thank you for all the years of service that you did for Skagit County here. It's 10 years, right? Yes. It's overtime now.

Believe me, I know the date.

You can go up to the mic there if you want to talk a little bit because you've done quite a bit for the department, what you've been able to do.

I'm getting a certified the remodel um because when you first came in we were using hospitals right yeah we're using Skagit Valley Hospital um our office was in a house on um I believe it was 11th Street um and uh yeah so we were making do with very little um there was no policies and procedures in place we didn't even have a case management system so we were really um had to start all over But I think it was exciting for me to have something to work towards with, of course, my end goal of us becoming accredited nationally. And thanks to your guys' support, we were able to get that far. now we have an amazing team you know all of our agencies work well together which i have to say at the start was a little bit of a challenge you know i'm a young female you know just very different than what we've had previously for corners so people were kind of questioning my abilities initially and had to kind of let them know i know what's going on i can do this you know trust me so we've built that dress so i'm i'm looking forward to seeing alex continue on the work that we've done i know we've got some challenges ahead but um i think i've laid out things in a way that we can hopefully sustain what we've been doing so so thank you very good commissioner browning any comments well as a i mean

As the ex-public health director, I've had to deal with a lot of coroners over the years. And they're all good people, but none of them brought your skills. I think it's partly because you're an anthropologist, but I also think it's an inquisitive mind. But you've been just absolutely fantastic. Watching us grow and become a very, very accredited and very, very respected coroner's office mattered a lot to me. So I really, really appreciate it. So thank you.

Yeah.

Commissioner Burns, any comments? Thank you for your time and dedication that you have put into this job and for making it a better place for the people to work who are there and for making the system more functional and getting accredited. Those are all great achievements, and so you should be proud of the work you've done here. Thank you. Most definitely.

yeah i think you obviously need to be proud i'm proud of all the work you have lived over the years and getting the facility getting the grants and so forth to help fund that facility one of the things that i remember that you were able to do was the unclaimed remains that you were able to go through and get some of those interned in the mount vernon area here and i really appreciate that because some of them had been around for quite a while yeah You were able to take care of that and help move forward with that. So thank you very much for all that work.

Yeah, yeah.

so we have a certificate accommodation in recognition of dedicated public service rendered on behalf of the people the community and in the public interest faithfully unselfishly by Haley Thompson while employed by Skagit County May 16 2016 through September 18th 2026 presented by the board of Skagit County Commission so thank you very much for the years of service well thank you I hope we can stay connected for sure good anybody else want to comment we'll take some pictures after we close the meeting here so with that we're adjourned thank you very much