Buchanan County may appoint its own medical examiner instead of contracting through Mosaic Life Care for one.

Presiding Commissioner Harry Roberts says the county would only make the change if it would save money without reducing service.  “One would say, well how could you do it in house for less?  Well, if we’re subcontracting, we have one other person in the middle,”  Roberts said.

Roberts says spending on the medical examiner contract this year is over budget. He says that could be because of an increase this year in the number of deaths requiring the services of a medical examiner. But, he says the commissioners want to make sure that in years like this, spending for the medical examiner doesn’t get out of hand.

Roberts says the commissioners have been studying this for some time and should make a decision within a couple of weeks.