Quorum Court Approves Raises and Votes To Purchase New Cadaver Cooler

(MENA)  The Polk County Quorum Court unanimously agreed to raise the salaries of all full and part time county employees by $1200.00. The raises will be retroactive to January 1, 2019. The only exception to the raises will be for Justice of the Peace and library employees. In addition, the Polk County Coroner will only receive a raise of $206.60 per year since it is only a part time position.

The ongoing problem of current County Coroner Brian Bowser having access to the county – owned cadaver cooler may be seeing some sort of resolution. Bowser, who owns the Bowser Family Funeral Home; stated that he has not been in compliance with state law that requires the coroner to maintain custody of a body until picked up by the State Crime Lab, released to a family member or funeral home. Bowser has not been able to do so under the current arrangement.

The current cadaver cooler is located at the Beasley – Wood Funeral Home, in which former coroner Richard Myhand was previously the manager of the funeral home.

The court ruled that the current cooler be sold and the funds used to purchase a new cooler and be placed at the Bowser Family Funeral Home.

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Jeri Pearson

Jeri is the News Director for Pulse Multi-Media and Editor of The Polk County Pulse. She has 10 years of experience in community focused journalism and has won multiple press association awards.

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