During a meeting Wednesday, the Schuylkill County Commissioners contracted with Dr. Wayne Ross, Dauphin County Coroner’s Office, for medical services and consultations, including forensic autopsies. The fee established for each autopsy is $2,150, with the contract term Jan. 1, 2020, through Dec. 31, 2020.

The Dauphin County Coroner’s Office is located in Harrisburg, on the east side of the Susquehanna River. Chairman George Halcovage said after the meeting that law enforcement personnel and the county coroner’s office are “to be credited for their professional working relationship.”

Ross has performed autopsies for and testified at high-profile criminal cases. He did the autopsy on Michael Deng, New York, who was killed during a hazing ritual in December 2013 at a rental home in Tunkhannock Township. He also performed an autopsy on Jewel Schirmer in 1999 and then investigated the death of Betty Schirmer nine years later, said the evidence clearly shows that both women were savagely beaten with a crowbar or some other heavy cylindrical object — key evidence and testimony in the conviction of Pennsylvania pastor Arthur Schirmer. Schirmer staged both crime scenes to make it appear as if they’d died in accidents.

During a meeting in December, the commissioners also renewed an agreement with the Reading Hospital for autopsy services at a rate of $2,500 each, with a contract term Jan. 1, 2020, through Dec. 31, 2020.

Schuylkill County Coroner David Moylan, re-elected to a third term in November, established in-depth CT scan autopsy protocols in 2012 — also called “virtual” autopsies. The cost of the CT scan autopsy is $50 for the technician deputy plus $30 each for assistant deputies to assist with moving a body from the morgue to the CT scan suite. During his first two terms Moylan interpreted approximately 1,500 post-mortem CT scans.

In other action the commissioners:

• Approved the certification of $58,635 in county funds for the purchase of agricultural easements.

• Accepted the resignation of Tony Prudenti, New Ringgold, from the county planning commission. Prudenti, who is a supervisor in West Penn Township, will serve on the county zoning hearing board. The commissioners appointed Travis Smeltz, of Hegins, to fill Prudenti’s unexpired term.

• Tamaqua’s Art Connely was appointed to the Schuylkill County Fire Chief’s Association advisory board.

• Approved an amendment to the county’s contract with Election System & Software, the vendor chosen to provide 363 new voting machines and software for $1.6 million. Director of Finance Paul Buber, in reviewing the contract, found a discrepancy which resulted in the need for an amendment. The amendment will save the county $25,900.