JEFFERSON CITY — Gov. Mike Parson has appointed three people to the Coroner Standards and Training Commission, which aims to standardize coroner training across the state.

Sidney Conklin, Brendon Fox and William Harlow will serve on the Commission. There still are four vacant slots left on the Commission for another coroner, an appointed medical examiner, a child death pathologist and an elected sheriff. 

Parson signed HB 2046, which included the commission, in August of 2020. Jay Minor and his family pushed to get the Missouri bill passed that standardized coroner training across the state. KOMU 8 News has followed the story of his son, Jayke Minor, since 2018. 

According to Lisa Cox, a spokeswoman for the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, the commission will create training requirements for coroners across the state, and then the Missouri Coroners' and Medical Examiners' Association will be given any appropriated funds to lead necessary trainings. 

Appropriated funds for the trainings come from money collected from death certificates. Written into HB 2046, the law states that $1 from each death certificate in the state will be collected to fund the training. Cox confirmed with KOMU 8 News that as of now, approximately $250,000 have been put into this fund so far. She said the anticipated DHSS projection for the amount is $355,482 this year. 

HB 2046 did not list time frames for Gov. Parson to appoint members to serve on the commission. Aside from the Division Director being Ken Palermo with the DHSS, Conklin, Fox and Harlow are the only three appointed to be on the commission so far. 

Conklin comes from Huntsville and voters elected him as the Coroner of Randolph County in 2020. He has 32 years of experience with the Missouri State Highway Patrol and served as the Chief Investigator for the Missouri Board of Healing Arts. 

Fox is from Rolla and voters elected him as the Phelps County Prosecuting Attorney in 2015. He first joined the Phelps County Prosecuting Attorney's Office as an Assistant Prosecutor in 2011. 

Harlow is from Marshall and has been the general manager of the Campbell-Lewis Funeral Home since 1995. He is also the Saline County coroner and has served on the Missouri Coroners and Medical Examiners Association since 2015. 

Conklin, Fox and Harlow have terms set to expire in September of 2023.

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