James Garner - Government in the United States, National, State and Local

The Coroner. – Next to the sheriff among county officers in point of origin is the coroner, whose principal duty is to hold inquests upon the bodies of persons who are supposed to have died from violence or other unlawful means. In such cases it is the duty of the coroner to impanel a jury, usually of six persons, who from the testimony of witnesses, if there are such, and with the aid of a physician or other expert, decide the facts as to how the deceased met his death. A coroner's inquest, however, is not a trial but merely an inquiry into the circumstances of the death. By an old common-law rule, the coroner usually succeeds to the office of sheriff in case the latter dies or for any other reason is disqualified from acting.

County Clerk. – Usually in every county there is an official called the county clerk, who in most states serves both as the clerk of the county board of commissioners, and as clerk of the county court and of the circuit court. In the former capacity he keeps a record of the proceedings of the meeting of the board. His books must contain a record of all bids for the erection of county buildings, of all contracts let, notices of elections ordered, licenses granted, roads laid out or changed, and indeed of all transactions of the board. As clerk of the court he must prepare and keep the docket of all cases for trial and of the judgments entered, issue processes and writs, certify to the accuracy of transcripts from the records of the court, and keep all papers and records of the court. In Pennsylvania and Delaware the clerk of the common pleas court is known as a "prothonotary"; in Massachusetts the clerks of the probate courts are styled "registers of probate."

In a few states these two sets of duties are intrusted to different officials, one of whom is styled the county clerk and the other the clerk of the court. Usually the county clerk is also an election officer, being charged with the giving of notices of elections, the preparation of ballots, and the keeping of election records. County clerks are usually elected by the people of the county for a period ranging from one to four years, and reëlection is much more frequent than is the case with other county officials, because of the greater need of experience and familiarity with the duties of the office. 4 4 In Vermont and Connecticut, however, they are appointed by the judges and hold during their pleasure, while in Rhode Island they are elected by the legislature annually.

County Treasurer. – An important county officer is the treasurer, who receives and has custody of the state and county taxes, though in a few states having the county system of local government there are special tax collectors, and, as we have seen, in some of them these duties are performed by the sheriff. 5 5 Rhode Island is the only state in which there is no such official as the county treasurer, the custody of local funds being intrusted to the town treasurers. Nearly everywhere the office is filled by popular election, though in a few states treasurers are chosen by the county board or appointed by the governor. On account of the large sums of money often intrusted to their keeping, they are usually placed under heavy bond to insure the state and county against loss in case of defalcation or other misapplication of the funds in their charge. County treasurers frequently deposit the public funds in local banks and retain for themselves the interest which they receive therefrom. Recently the treasurer of Cook county, Illinois, agreed before his election to turn over to the county all interest received by him on county funds deposited in banks, and in 1904 nearly half a million dollars was thus paid into the county treasury by him.

County Auditor. – In a number of states the office of county auditor has been provided. Generally he keeps the accounts of the county, so as to show the receipts and expenditures of the public moneys, and issues warrants upon the treasurer for the payment of bills authorized by the county board. In some states his duties are limited merely to an examination of the accounts of county officers to see that they have been properly kept and that there has been no misapplication of public funds.

Recorder of Deeds. – In all the states there are officials charged with keeping records of certain legal documents such as deeds, mortgages, and leases. They are designated by different names, the most usual being register of deeds or recorder of deeds. They make exact copies of the instruments to be recorded, enter them in large books, and keep indexes by which such instruments can be readily found. In some states these duties are performed by the county clerk. The importance of the office is evident because upon the careful preservation and accuracy of the records must depend in many cases our rights to property.

School Officers. – In the states outside New England there is usually a county superintendent or commissioner of schools and in most of the Southern states a county school board. In a large majority of the states the county superintendent is elected by the people, though in a few he is appointed by the governor, elected by the local school boards, or chosen in other ways. The principal duties of the superintendent of schools are to examine teachers, issue certificates to teach, visit the schools, organize teachers' institutes, give advice on educational matters to teachers and school trustees, make reports to the state superintendent of public education, sometimes decide questions appealed to him from the district trustees, and in general watch over and promote the educational interests of the county. County school boards in the South establish schools as do the town school committees and school district boards in other states.

Other County Officials are the surveyor, who makes surveys of land upon the application of private owners, prepares plats, and keeps records of the same; superintendent or overseers of the poor, who have charge of almshouses, hospitals, and poor farms where they belong to the county; health officers or boards of health, whose duties are indicated by their titles; and occasionally other minor officials with varying titles and duties. 6 6 The county court and the justices of the peace are discussed in the chapter on the state judiciary (chapter vi).

In most states the general type of local government is that which we have designated as the county-township system. It is a system in which there is a more nearly equal division of local governmental functions between the county and township than is found either in New England or in the Southern states.

The Two Types.– Growing out of the fact that the county-township system has two sources it has developed into two different types: the New York or supervisor type and the Pennsylvania or commissioner type.

A. New York Type. – In New York the town with its annual meeting early made its appearance, though the town meeting there never exhibited the vigor and vitality that it did in New England. Early in the eighteenth century a law was enacted in New York providing that each township in the county should elect an officer called a supervisor , and that the supervisors of the several towns should form a county board and when assembled at the county seat should "supervise and examine the public and necessary charge of each county." In time the management of most of the affairs of the county was devolved upon the board of supervisors, and the system has continued to the present. This board is now composed of not only the supervisors of the townships but also the representatives of the various villages and wards of the cities within the county. The county board thus represents the minor civil divisions of the county rather than the county as a whole. It has charge of various matters that in New England are managed by the towns. The town meeting exists but it is not largely attended, and does not play the important rôle in local government that it does in New England. This system in time spread to those states, like Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin, which were largely settled by immigrants from New York.