Dougherty Coroner Michael Fowler seeks benefits from County Commission

ALBANY — Dougherty County Commission Chairman Chris Cohilas directed County Administrator Richard Crowdis and County Attorney Spencer Lee to evaluate Coroner Michael Fowler’s requests Monday to transfer his position to a salaried position and to add Fowler to the county’s benefits package.

Fowler asked the board to consider the action at its joint business/work meetings Monday morning, saying he’d like to protect his family in the event he is injured on the job.

“I’ve worked 1,500 cases since I’ve been in office, and there are any number of dangers associated with the work I do,” Fowler, who was first elected to the coroner’s office in 2012 and re-elected for a second term in May, said. “It’s not just that I could be hit by a car while examining a body on the side of the road or if a suspect is still present when I go to the site of a shooting, there are also (diseases) like TB, hepatitis, HIV.

“Unlike other emergency personnel, I am hands-on. And I don’t have any benefits at all.”

Fowler, who is currently paid on a per-case basis, also asked the board to consider making him a salaried employee.

“I’ve talked with coroners in Columbus, Macon, Savannah and Augusta, and they all are elected officials and receive benefits,” he said. “I’d love to have the option to go to a salaried position, and I think I deserve to have a benefits package. I’d like to be able to take care of my family if something happens to me.”

Crowdis said that any change involving an elected official would have to go through the local legislation process with the state Legislature.

“If we go through that process, I believe that the way our local delegation operates, the first step would be to have a recommendation from this board,” Lee said.

Cohilas directed Lee and Crowdis to find what the “ask is” pertaining to Fowler’s request and to evaluate that request so that the commission can “make a reasonable decision.”

Fowler got an immediate show of support from District 4 Commissioner Ewell Lyle.

“I know Mr. Fowler does a lot in this community, and I don’t think it’s appropriate for the coroner of a county this size not to have benefits,” Lyle said.