The county will officially have a new coroner at the start of the new year. The Fayette County Board Tuesday night approved the letter of resignation from Coroner Bruce Bowen by a vote of 10-1 that will be effective December 31, 2017. Bowen last week had sent Chairman Jeff Beckman his letter of resignation expressing disappointment with his office’s budget being drafted by the outside consulting firm, Bellwether, without any input from himself. Bowen said he hoped an appointment would be made quickly as he would train the new coroner over his remaining time in the position saying that there will be a lot of info to cover for whomever takes over the position.
As for the remaining time left on Bowen’s term due to his just being reelected to a new term last November, the county board will now appoint someone from the Republican party to assume the position of coroner until the November 2018 election. And with Bowen’s resignation occurring before November 27, individuals may file to run for the two-year unexpired term by filing petitions during the normal filing term of November 27th through December 4th in order to be put on the March primary ballot. The primary winners of each party should there more than one candidate in each party would then go on to face each other in the November General Election.