The August 25th, 2026 meeting of the
Human Services Committee will now come
to order.
Will the clerk please call the roll.
Mr.
>> Here.
>> Mr. Blankley is present. Ms. Bonner?
>> Here.
>> Ms. Bonner is present. Mr. Cruz?
>> Presente.
>> Mr. Cruz is present. Mr. Donderfer?
>> Here.
>> Mr. Donderfer is present. Ms. Hasman?
>> Here.
>> Ms. Hasman is present. Mr. McCabe? Mr.
McCabe is present. Mr. Milne?
>> Here.
>> Mr. Milne [music] is present. Ms. Smith?
is present. Ms. Vasquez
Simmons?
>> Here.
>> Ms. Vasquez Simmons is present.
Is there anyone signed up for the public
forum?
>> There is not.
>> Is there anyone present who has not
signed up to speak who would like to
address the committee at this time?
Seeing none.
The next item on the agenda is the
approval of minutes. You have the July
28th, [music] 2026 minutes before you.
They will stand approved unless the
clerk is notified of any changes by the
end of the day.
Next item on the agenda is new business.
Madam Clerk?
>> Referral number 26-0255, [music]
authorize contracts for the provision of
forensic pathology services to the
Monroe County Office of the Medical
Examiner.
>> Move it.
>> Second.
>> Moved by Legislator Vasquez Simmons,
seconded by Legislator Blankley. Is
there any discussion? Yes, Legislator
Milne.
>> Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. Just a
couple of questions through you to the
administration.
Um what are the current wait times or
backlog in the Medical Examiner's
Office?
» Uh good evening and through the chair,
Bob Zerby, Chief Investigator with the
Medical Examiner's Office. Uh the
current backlogs it varies at this
point. With our incumbent physicians,
there's two.
Theirs is approximately 11 months. There
were doctors that served basically solo
terms while we were trying to build up
staff. Uh we do have a third sitting
whose
times are amazing. She's essentially
completing 90% of her cases within 90
days, which is essentially the the
guidelines for the national standards by
the National Association of Medical
Examiners.
» Thank you. And a follow-up question if I
may, again through the chair to the
administration. Um
You know, it's
And I mean, I don't mean this in a
negative way. It seems like my years on
this legislature, we've been asking one
of these same questions every year and we understand you're working on it,
but through the chair, what steps is the
office of the medical examiner taking to
ensure that these additional forensic
pathology
positions are filled? And And do we feel
like we're making any progress? You
know, sometimes in business, right? All
of a sudden, there'll be a a rash of
people that are looking for work or have
passed a class or whatever. Are we
making any progress in your opinion?
>> Uh through the chair, absolutely.
Uh we again, Dr. Melito, our newest
doctor with um 90% of cases completed in
90 days is outstanding.
Um in October, we're set to seat a new
forensic pathologist. Um new [music] in
the sense of she's completing her
training and she'll be joining our team
in October. Um that leaves one vacant
spot
>> [music]
>> and we're we're hopeful. Uh universally,
you you probably noticed that no one
essentially is going into medicine
anymore. They're short physicians, even,
you know, everyday physicians,
hospitals, and whatnot. Um nurses, you
know, technical people, people just
aren't going into medicine. Um forensic
pathology experiences the same. And it's a national shortage. Uh roughly
1,200 doctor spots for forensic
pathologists, the doctors that are
medical examiners across the US with
anywhere between six to 800 people to
fill those seats. Um what makes it
really difficult for Monroe is because
we were short for so long. And it's not
just Monroe. I mean, this is Erie, this
is Onondaga, this is most offices. Um
you you want to be accredited.
Accreditation standards through NAME
call for doing no more than 325 cases
per doctor. Um with with three doctors
and 1,500 autopsy cases, that's 500.
We're well above the limit. So, when you
try to woo someone to come to your
office, it's like, "Hey, we're going to
pay you this much money, but you might
be doing 500 cases." They're going to go
to an accredited office where they know
the ceiling is 300 and a quarter. They
know what their salary is. They can do
basic math and figure out essentially
it's this much per case. So, once we get
the doctor four in here, it's going to
make it significantly better because our
other doctors can focus on their
backlogs, bringing their average time
down. The doctors that are new with no
backlog will be steaming along at good
speed. And if we can identify that third
doctor who does have no backlog, uh
we're we're going to be golden and look
only for improvement after that through
the chair.
>> Thank you very much. I I do appreciate
your candor with those answers. And and
I also want to say that I appreciate
[music] the work that you and your team
do. Thank you.
>> Through the chair, thank you.
>> Legislator McCabe.
>> Yes, ma'am. Chairman, through you to um
Chief Zerbe.
Some states, I know, have hired like
they're doing PAs or doing forensic
pathology. Now, is that
even allowable in New York State at the
current time?
>> So, so in in New York, the county law is
the New York law that covers medical
examiners and coroners.
Uh there's actually specific ruling that
a physician's assistant can't stand in
for the work of a medical examiner. Uh
county law as it relates to medical
examiners and coroners is wildly
archaic. Um it just it doesn't get
reviewed frequently, so it's it's very
old and
there wasn't such a thing when the law
was written. Um as times are tougher,
something has to give somewhere. Um if I may and and please do recognize
that New York is actually recognizing
death investigation as a significant
thing. Um as you may or may not know, um
Monroe County has a medical examiner
system. Most of the state enjoys a
coroner system. Um coroners are elected
official, and essentially if any of you
are over the age 18 and lived in one of
those counties, you could run for
coroner. Absolutely zero requirement for
any qualifications about death
investigation whatsoever. It's it's a
horribly weak system. Um so, what New
York recently did is they actually
recognized that, "Hey, you know
something? Going forward, this is
important." And they put a continuing
education requirement. So, even if you
don't know anything, through by your
third year and going forward, you have
to have at least I I think it's 30
credit hours um in in your term to
actually sustain your position as a
coroner. So, I mean, it's a start.
They're actually seeing that this is
something and they're paying attention
to it. That may turn things around for
us through the chair.
>> All right. Thank you. I appreciate I
yield. Thank you.
>> Any other discussion?
All those in favor, please signify by
saying I.
>> I.
>> Any opposed?
>> [music]
>> Item carries. Next item, please.
>> Referral number 26-0256.
Authorize a contract with UR Medicine
Home Care Licensed Services Inc. DBA
Visiting Nursing Nurse Signature Care
for support of the Nurse Family
Partnership Program.
>> Move it.
>> Second.
>> Moved by Legislator Askew-Simmons,
seconded by Legislator Blakely. Is there
any discussion?
Legislator Askew-Simmons.
>> Thank you. Through you to the
administration,
is this contract uh funded via grant or
is it part of the 2026 operating budget?
» Through the chair, this is grant-funded.
» Okay, great. Thank you. I yield.
>> Um I wait, Madam Clerk. I would like to
declare my interest in this.
>> Noted. Thank you.
>> Thank you. And I have a question as
well. Um this is such a wonderful
program. I was wondering if you have a
list of accomplishments, outcomes that
you can share with us to date.
>> I can pull together a list of
accomplishments and have that ready
within the next day or so.
>> That would be wonderful. Thank you. Any
other discussion?
All those in favor, please signify by
saying I.
>> I.
Any opposed?
Item carries. Next item, please.
>> Referral number 26-0257.
Acceptance of a grant from Health
Research Inc. for the Public Health
Emergency Preparedness Program.
>> Move it.
>> Second.
>> Moved by Legislator Askew-Simmons,
seconded Blankly. Is there any
discussion?
Seeing none, all those in favor please
signify by saying I.
>> I.
>> Any opposed? Item carries.
Are there any other matters to come
before this committee?
>> Madam
>> Oh, yes, Legislator
Cruz.
>> Um, yes, Madam Chair, do you and uh
please correct me um if I'm wrong,
through our parliamentarian.
I just I'm I'm seeing the subject of the
uh renewal of the contract with item
26-0256.
Seeing how we kind of just
have had conversation about these sort
of contracts not coming back to the
legislative body if there is some sort
of issue with the agency that we're
contracting with.
Is there any Is this too late to put any
sort of stipulations to these sort of
contracts?
Um especially with this being a Visiting
Nurse Signature [music] Care
organization.
Similar to what we kind of experienced,
something wrong happens, but we don't
get to see the renewal of the contract
when it comes up. It doesn't go through
the legislative body.
Should I rephrase?
>> I'm sorry, I'm unclear what the question
is, actually.
>> Yeah,
>> [music]
>> me too. I'm sorry. I'm making it up,
that's how it goes.
There is a renewal of contract for item
26-0256,
right? We've had similar conversations
in the past recently where the renewal
of these contracts don't come back to
the legislative body. They just renew
when the time for renewal was up. In
this particular case,
uh
where is it?
>> Point of order.
>> Uh this says
uh authorized contract in amount
Sorry.
>> You have the floor. You put a point of
order. What was the point of order?
>> The point of order is we've we should do
a motion to reconsider. We've already
voted on this matter.
>> That's why I'm asking if I'm
>> And we should do a point of order, do a
motion to reconsider to bring it back to
the table if we're going to do that.
>> on a second. Is that what you're asking?
>> Is that what you're asking? To bring it
back to the table?
>> Yes, if I'm able to to discuss it. I was
going to ask the question, but
everything flew so fast.
>> Well, you you could we could vote to
or you could allow him to ask a question
of the administration
just as a matter of
without it being associated with the
motion. It's up to you.
>> Um
I will allow the question.
>> All right, so I guess my question is
just seeing how there is a renewal of
contract um for 1 year for a 1 year
period.
Does that get Does that come back to the
legislative body at all? Or is it just
when that year is up, they renew? Does
this um
agency get to automatically renew?
Like in past practice.
>> Through the chair.
I apologize.
>> asking if
>> Does the contract renew without it
having to come back to the legislative
body?
>> You're asking if we vote on this
annually?
>> I guess so, yeah.
On the renewal of contract.
» Yes.
>> Uh through the chair. No, the the way
that this uh proposed legislation is
written, it is a uh 1-year contract uh
with four additional 1-year renewals
uh up to four additional 1-year
renewals.
Um those renewals uh would not need to
come back to the legislature um
to to be accomplished.
>> Thank you. Um sorry for the butchering
of the question. I was I was trying to
piece it together. [music]
Um I just wanted to voice that
due to in lieu of recent events that is concerning and just looking
forward to be able to amend some
language in the future concerning
[music] the the the construct of these
contracts of renewal in case something
happens with the provider so we could at
least review it prior for them getting
another year of renewal.
>> satisfied with that or do you want to
bring it up again?
>> I'm satisfied with that answer. Thank
[music] you.
>> Okay.
So, there being no other So, close
it now? Okay, thank you. Thank you to
our parliamentarian. There being no
other matters, the August 25th, 2026
meeting of the Human Services Committee
stands adjourned. The next meeting of
the Human Services Committee will be
held on Tuesday, September 29th, 2026 at
5:00 p.m.