From Sheriff Bill Prim:

Having worked as a law enforcement officer for more than three decades, I have dealt with multiple coroners offices over the years on death investigations.

While I have always had a fundamental understanding of the job functions of the county coroner, that personal knowledge of the import of the role of county coroner has been heightened greatly since last year when the Office of Coroner of McHenry County was vacated.

As the Sheriff, I have assumed the interim responsibilities of coroner since March of 2019 and have continued serving in that duel capacity over the course of the past 18 months.

Being intimately familiar with the operations of the Office of Coroner, it is my opinion that the Office of Coroner remain directly accountable to the people of McHenry County.

In a democratic republic, accountability to the people is preserved through an election process. As the Office of Coroner serves essential law enforcement related duties, it is important that it remain an independent, autonomous, elected office, beholden to the people it serves.

The Office of Coroner should not be subservient to, nor influenced by, for example,

• a county administrator
• a county board chairman
• a state’s attorney, or
• even a sheriff.

Instead, the Office of Coroner should effectively and impartially discharge its duties on behalf of the people of the county.

As such, I urge you to vote no on the referendum which seeks to eliminate the elected position of coroner.