The state medical examiner’s office plans to open a new office at Northern Kentucky University if the Board of Regents approves the agreement at a mid-March meeting.
Speaking at the House Budget Review Subcommittee on Justice, Public Safety, and Judiciary, Justice and Public Safety Cabinet Budget Director Rebecca Norton said that the state’s medical examiner’s office will lease a new office in a soon-to-be-named renovated building at NKU.
“Justice [and Public Safety Cabinet] and Northern Kentucky University are working on finalizing details of the actual lease agreement right now,” Norton said.
Norton said NKU could approve the agreement at a March 15 Board of Regents meeting.
“We think it’ll be mutually beneficial to the operation of the medical examiner and the university,” Norton said.
The potential for a new office comes after the previous one closed in 2017 due to staffing issues.
“There once was an office and lack of staffing drove the subsequent in operation and closure,” said Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Bill Ralston
Ralston elaborated that Kentucky has experienced a staffing shortage consistent with the rest of the country.
“Across the country, there is a shortage of forensic pathologists,” Ralston said. “And so Kentucky is not alone. That shortage has created difficulties in the hiring process.”
There are only around 400 forensic pathologists across the country. The Frankfort branch of the Medical Examiner’s Office has had job postings open since last September.
“However, we have at least been able to make the salaries competitive with the region and across the nation,” Ralston said.
The salary increases came via last year’s House Bill 1, which also paved the way for the potential office by authorizing the Justice Cabinet to establish a lease for a new office in northern Kentucky.
“With the passage of House Bill 1, money was allocated to improve both staffing and salaries,” Ralston said.
This funding also allowed the state’s medical examiner’s office to maintain its current staff.
The Office of the Medical Examiner’s main office is in Louisville, with regional offices in Frankfort, Eastern Kentucky, and the Western Kentucky Office in Madisonville. The Louisville and Frankfort offices currently serve Northern Kentucky.