St. Croix County medical examiner to require in-person cremation viewings, seeks 0.5 FTE

The St. Croix County medical examiner told the Public Protection & Judiciary Committee that the office will change its cremation-authorization procedure to require in‑person viewings, a shift from the virtual views adopted during the 2020 pandemic. The examiner said in-person viewing is best practice for confirming identification and for subtle postmortem observations, adding that "there's no 2nd chances once somebody has been cremated." (Medical Examiner)

The medical examiner asked the committee to consider adding a 0.5 full-time equivalent program coordinator/investigator to handle growing operational demands. She said caseloads rose from 851 cases in 2021 to 1,319 in 2025 and are projected to reach roughly 1,600 this year, and that hospice registrations now average about 180 active cases. The examiner said the expanded coordinator would spend part of each day traveling to in‑county funeral homes to conduct views and to expedite authorizations so funeral homes can proceed in a timely manner. "That is the main reason why I'm requesting this FTE increase," she said. (Medical Examiner)

Committee members agreed the staffing request and the policy change addressed a clear operational need but asked staff to propose offsets and implementation details for the 2027 budget process. No formal vote on the position was recorded at the meeting.