With strong backing, Jason Parish appointed interim coroner in Butte-Silver Bow

Butte-Silver Bow commissioners appointed Jason Parish as the county’s interim coroner Wednesday night with resounding support over numerous other candidates.

Parish, a public information officer and computer specialist for Butte-Silver Bow who is also a deputy coroner, was a clear top choice after he and seven other candidates answered a series of questions individually before council.

Thirteen people applied for the post but five didn’t show for the brief public interviews.

Parish will replace Lori Durkin, who was re-elected to a second term as coroner last year but is retiring this week with more than three years left in her four-year term.

Durkin went on paid leave in late January because of a pending negligence lawsuit against her office and the county. She recently announced she was retiring effective Nov. 7.

Parish gave very detailed answers about the duties of the coroner, ethical obligations, emotionally sensitive considerations and training, among other things.

He and other candidates were also asked if there was anything that would prohibit them from responding to a situation 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“I’m already in IT. I already work 24-7,” Parish said with a smile. “It’s no big deal. We’ve got this.”

Commissioners were first asked to write down the names of their top two choices. Parish made almost everyone’s list and registered nurse Kelly Anne Hovan and deputy coroner Marcee Cameron also got support.

In a second vote between Parish and Hovan, 10 commissioners chose Parish and Dan Callahan voted for Hovan. Commissioner Trudy Healy was not at Wednesday night’s meeting.

Parish will serve as interim coroner through at least the general election in November 2026. The person who wins that election will serve the final two years of Durkin’s term but will have to run and win again in 2028 to keep the job.

A family sued Butte-Silver Bow County and Durkin in January, alleging among other things that her office allowed a loved one’s body to decompose to the point it compromised a medical exam. The county has denied many of the claims, but the lawsuit is still pending.

When Durkin went on paid leave, the council appointed former county coroner Dan Hollis as acting coroner. Hollis is a former Butte police officer who later spent years as a state District Court bailiff. He was coroner from 1993 to 1996.

Hollis had kept his knowledge and skills as a coroner updated even in recent years and served with the federal National Disaster Medical Service and the Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team during floods, hurricanes and other disasters.

Hollis said he didn’t want to continue in the job so he wasn’t among the 13 people who applied to be interim coroner. But he drew high praise Wednesday night for agreeing to be acting coroner.

“I thank you and I would like to thank Dan Hollis personally,” Parish said after the vote and his formal appointment. “He’s been a tremendous mentor and a wonderful public servant.”

County Chief Executive J.P. Gallagher and Council Chairman John Morgan also thanked Hollis, who was at the meeting.

“We asked you to step up, yet once again, to come and help this community and you did that without even hesitation and I really do personally thank you for that, very much,” Morgan told him.