Albany County Coroner.  Term is four years; there is no term limit.  Annual salary for 2007 will be approximately $12,000.  The current office holder, Julie Heggie, is not running for re-election;  Thomas A. Furgeson (D) and David C. Montgomery (R) are each seeking the office.
 
Biographical Information:
 

David C. Montgomery (R):  I was raised on a dairy farm at Boulder, Colorado, attending Colorado State University, entering the funeral profession in 1966 in Longmont, Colorado.  I then attended Northeastern Junior College, University of Colorado and graduated from the Dallas Institute of Mortuary Science.  I hold a funeral directors and embalmers license in Colorado and Wyoming.  I worked for several funeral homes where the owner was the county coroner and was deputy coroner in Logan County, Colorado prior to purchasing the funeral home in Laramie, Wyoming in 1991 which I have owned and operated Montgomery-Stryker Funeral Home since that time.

 

Thomas A. Furgeson (D):  I have lived and worked in Laramie for over five years, arriving with my wife and infant son in 2001. We recently added a daughter, and happily call Laramie our home. I worked for the State Historic Preservation Office while pursuing a UW Master’s degree (physical/forensic anthropology), and have been a Deputy Coroner under Julie Heggie for nearly three years. I am a research scientist at UW; certified as a Wyoming Coroner through 2008; certified in medicolegal death investigation; experienced with many hours on actual coroner cases in Albany County; and I occasionally serve as field osteologist for law enforcement.

 
What professional qualifications do you think should be required for this office?
 

David C. Montgomery (R):  The qualifications required by the State of Wyoming is that the person elected as coroner must within six months of taking office attend the state coroner’s school held in Douglas, Wyoming.  It is also important to have knowledge of the causes of death, be knowledgeable of the workings of the coroner’s office, and be able to work with other agencies to accomplish the duties of the office.

 

Thomas A. Furgeson (D): A 40-hour training course and modest annual continuing education are currently required. This is inadequate to ensure a competent coroner, but won't change soon due to unique Wyoming circumstances. Since current requirements are no guarantee, voters alone determine the level of competency of their County Coroner. Minimal coroner qualifications should include: medicolegal death investigation training; documented forensic training and experience; and, since each case is unique, several hours of casework supervised by a certified coroner.

 
What would you like to see changed in the way business is conducted in the Coroner’s Office? 
 

David C. Montgomery (R):  I would like to see accountability in the coroner’s office provided to the citizens of Albany County.  This needs to occur in all areas, from providing to the public an addressable office available to the public, (not just possible cell phone contact), to working closely with other agencies including law enforcement, crime laboratories, and pathologists to provide timely investigations for all concerned, to knowing how to fill out death certificates properly.

 

Thomas A. Furgeson (D):  This county office should immediately establish a physical address to provide citizens a proper location to comfortably and securely interact with the Coroner: one that is neither a mobile unit nor combined with the business of a profit-based funeral home. This office should establish an efficient database system to expedite cases and fill records requests, and become more actively engaged with law enforcement and other county organizations with need of Coroner's Office input and assistance.