Effingham, Ill. – Earlier this afternoon Jim Niemann of the Effingham County Board shared details regarding the now vacant County Coroner position left after the tragic passing of Duane Guffey.
Niemann stated, “With that creating a vacancy the current following the statues is going to be the sheriff, and it will be on an interim basis.”
Niemann added that the board now has 3 days to contact the Republican Party, as Guffey was elected as a republican.
In that time the Party will respond with a nominee, the board will then vote on whether or not to accept the nominated individual.
Once there is an approval, then that person will be sworn in as coroner, and will hold the term until December 1st.
The process can not take longer than 60 days, however Niemann expressed that he expects it to happen at a much sooner date.
The Effingham County States’ Attorney, Bryan Kibler will be drafting a letter for Niemann to submit to the Party Chair in order to get started with the process.
Once that person is in place then both parties will go into Caucus, and they have until June 4 of next year, in order for there to be a special election to be held in conjunction with General Election in November to fill the 2 years that were left in Guffey’s Term.
Details Regarding Funeral Arrangements following Guffey’s passing have yet to be released.
The County Board, and Sheriff’s Department will be releasing more details regarding this situation as a whole later today.
We will continue to update this story as it develops.
UPDATE (1:19 p.m.) – We just received the full press release from the office of Jim Niemann:
