Missouri funeral home board ousted amid inspections conflict
Gov. Mike Parson’s office appointed four new members to a state board that oversees funeral homes amid complaints that the previous members had beefed up inspections too much after one crematory was found in such disrepair that body fluids were leaking onto the floor.
In their first meeting in October, Parson’s new appointees fired two top officials, according to an audio recording of the meeting obtained by The Associated Press. An attorney for the board had been terminated months earlier and an inspector was fired in the days that followed, leaving the board with very few experienced employees.
The firings came as board members openly discussed suing the state to settle a dispute over whether they could hire and retain their own staff to conduct inspections.
The six-member Board of Embalmers & Funeral Directors had strengthened inspections last fall after they found that the previous system, which relied partially on nonspecialist inspectors, had failed to cite homes for problems that included record-keeping snags and fire hazards. But a state official with authority over the board ordered the members to halt some of their efforts.
https://krcgtv.com/news/local/missouri-funeral-home-board-ousted-amid-inspections-conflict-12-10-2021