The two candidates vying for coroner have varying goals and ideas about what the next four years could be for the office.
But both have one primary focus for the role — compassion.
Incumbent Mike Pruitt and challenger Robert “Robbie” Williams, both Republicans, are squaring off for the coroner’s office in the May primary election.
The coroner’s office is in charge of investigating deaths in cases involving violence, suspicious circumstances or unknown causes, as well as issuing death certificates and overseeing autopsies.
Pruitt, who was elected as coroner in 2020, is a Bargersville resident and has lived in Johnson County all but four years of his life. He is deputy fire chief of the Bargersville Fire Department.
Williams is running for political office for the first time. The Bargersville resident works as a paramedic preceptor for the vascular access team for IU Health Methodist.
Whoever wins the May primary is currently unopposed in the general election, though a candidate could still file.
The Daily Journal asked both candidates a series of questions about the office, their experience and their vision if elected. Their answers have been lightly edited for space.
Pruitt
Why did you want to run for coroner?
I’ve spent my whole life doing some type of public service, working in some way for the community, whether that’s in the fire service, the coroner’s office, social organizations, being a 4-H leader. So I’m always very involved in the community and doing things. A little over four years ago, I was looking at running for an office in Johnson County. I talked to a few other elected officials who were close friends of mine, and they encouraged me to run for coroner. It was something I was probably most familiar with because, working in emergency services, you deal with a lot of things coroners have to deal with — that is, families having to deal with some of the worst times of their lives. I felt that was the best fit for me.
What was your focus in your first term?
When I got elected, the main focus was on how to take the coroner’s office of Johnson County, how to grow it, how do we expand it, to meet the demands of the county. That’s where we started. We put together a core group of people who brough compassion and professionalism to the office.
What accomplishments have you achieved in your term as coroner?
We’ve grown the office in three years, we’ve added more part-time personnel. We’re soon opening up a brand new coroner’s office, which is going to be a central location for all of our services. This is the first time it has been like this in probably over 20 years. I know it’s been a long-time dream of every coroner who served to have a facility like this.
If re-elected, what goals do you have moving forward?
Looking back at the last four years … we’ve had so much positive feedback from people, all of the changes we’ve made, the updates we’ve made. But over time, that becomes the status quo. So you have to ask yourself, what can we do better? The first part of this is getting the new facility up and running, streamlining that. We’ve hired our first full-time person in the history of the coroner’s office, which is huge, because it makes us much more responsive to families and any other agency that needs assistance from us — law enforcement, funeral homes, families.
I’ve always felt it was important for the coroner’s office to be involved in prevention. … We’re part of the overdose review board, and we helped build that up in the county. We go down that prevention road and work in prevention, to hopefully deter future deaths. We do that by studying what could have been done in the past, working with different agencies to give better services to the community.
That also expands to suicide prevention, so we’ve been involved in that, helping get involved in a team we have here now in the county that comes out and counsels families.
There may be some people in the community who don’t know what the coroner’s office does. Have there been any efforts you’ve taken up to make it more clear what the office is about?
That was one of the things when I ran for office the first time, a lot of people that I talked to asked me: What exactly does the coroner’s office do? They’ve seen it on TV, but we know how TV doesn’t necessarily match real life, so you have to clean that up. But once I started talking to people about what the coroner’s office does, even some of our elected officials, educating them about what the office does, that was a huge push for us in the beginning. We went to social media and created our Facebook page, we created our X, so we could educate and let people know what we were doing. It’s been very successful.
Why do you feel like you’re the best candidate for this office?
I’ve always had a lot of compassion for my community. I’ve seen this community deal with some very tragic events through the years, even when I was with the fire department, and I always felt like I was one of those people within the fire department who found a way to talk to the family, found a way to help them take the steps to get through the grieving process, or start the grieving process.
Williams
Why did you want to run for coroner?
I’ve done it in the past as a deputy, and enjoyed it. … I’ve talked to families who have dealt with coroners, whether that was in the past or across the board, that feel like they’ve been treated badly — that they weren’t cared for. This is their darkest day, and that’s not the way we should be treating anybody during their darkest moment. We should be helping you, walking you through. … It’s a dark time for them across the board. So let’s be that first step. Let’s guide them in the right direction. Let’s help them where they need help.
If you were elected, what improvements would you make to the office?
I think we need someone who is present in the county more. Right now, we don’t have that. Whether that’s disappearing because we’re doing jobs for different departments, different county jobs, whatever that reason is. You work for the county right now, and you should have that presence here for the people who chose you. We (also) need to make sure we’re being fiscally responsible, and I don’t know that is the case.
There’s not really a way to have an income with (the coroner’s office), but I think we can make a change, make it fiscally responsible for the community. And definitely be present in the community, instead of having someone else do the job you’re being paid to do.
What other goals would you have if elected?
People either know about it, or they don’t know about it. I think (what the coroner’s office does) is one of those things people should know about the office. We can flip it to a positive; everything does not have to be a negative. Why are we not out, at the coroner’s office, educating people … Don’t come see me, let’s do things to fix this problem. Let’s get involved in education.
I know and understand the drug count has gone down, but I know Sheriff (Duane) Burgess and state police and local law enforcement have been busting a lot of drug-type stuff throughout the community. That’s part of it, but why are we not also educating? For example, working in a hospital, we have patients who come in all the time saying, “I don’t want you to give me fentanyl, I don’t want pain meds, because it’s going to kill me.” If we’re getting it from the streets, where it’s not controlled, sure. But when you’re in a controlled environment and health care providers are doing what health care providers do, then we’re looking at a different story. Why isn’t the coroner’s office part of that education — this is how you don’t see me, this is how you keep your family members alive. Let’s make this office a visible office, but a positive office, instead of just death and gloom.
…There is so many areas in this community you can partner with and do things with that makes a big difference for people. Mental health, figuring out how we can decrease that suicide rate, reaching our young people.
Do you feel the coroner’s office needs to upgrade or use more modern methods, in doing the day-to-day job they do?
To be able to answer you honestly, I’d need to be in Johnson County’s office. To do the job efficiently, yes, we need to be sure we’re at least not doing things archaically. … But with that being stated, do you need to necessarily go out and spend millions of dollars when maybe we look at what resources we have in the surrounding counties, to work with them to use what they have. Again, it becomes a partnership around the area, where we’re not totally increasing budgets, and we work together as one and still get what we can get done efficiently and effectively, and with the most up-to-date technology.
What makes you the ideal candidate for this office?
The ideal candidate is someone who is going to be respectful to both the family and the decedent, and the public in general. Which I’m going to be. You need definitely to have that integrity. You’re obviously dealing with death and dying, and people have to be able to trust us. We’re also dealing with legal action, so we have to make sure that is also the case. My integrity is going to be there for the decendent as well as for the family. Being generous, being humble, both with my time and me. There’s obviously going to be time when you’re going to shed tears with that family because you’re just as humbled as they are. In 29 years of being a paramedic and a firefighter, I have told families about their loved ones being dead. It hasn’t gotten any easier over that time. Keeping yourself humble and keeping yourself where you need to be is going to make you that great candidate.
Is there anything else you’d like to say to the voters?
The biggest thing for the voters to think about is, even as a voter, there is time when we need to look at if things are really, truly being done the right way, vs. the way things have always been done, and if it’s time for change. We, across the board in the United States, definitely need a change. If we truly look at the way this office is being run … I’m sure change is needed. And I think it’s time we make sure that occurs.
About the job
What: Johnson County Coroner
Duties: Investigate deaths in cases involving violence, suspicious circumstances or unknown causes; issue death certificates; oversee autopsies.
Salary: $34,923 (2024)
Term: 4 years
The Pruitt File
Mike Pruitt
Age: 58
Family: Wife Angela; son Morgan
Occupation: Deputy chief/paramedic for Bargersville Fire Department
Education: Graduate of Franklin Community High School, 1985; currently enrolled with Purdue Global earning bachelor’s degree in fire service/emergency management
Memberships: National Information Officers Association, Indiana Coroners Association, Franklin Elks Lodge No. 1818, Johnson County Professional Firefighters 4252, 4-H leader, member of Indiana Task Force 1 Urban Search and Rescue Team, FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Public Affairs subgroup chairman, and SWAT medic for the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office.
The Williams File
Robert “Robbie” Williams
Age: 49
Family: Wife Nicole; children Xavier, Zander and Yael (deceased), stepchildren David, Sena, Sara, Stevie and Danielle.
Occupation: Paramedic preceptor/vascular access team for IU Health Methodist
Education: Graduate of Southport High School in 1992; advanced education in pre-medicine majoring in biology at IUPUI, emergency medical training and paramedic science at Franciscan Health, firefighter I/II, fire investigator, National Fire Academy Leadership I/II/III, and business management and certificate in criminal justice at Indiana Wesleyan University. Currently in the process of starting a bachelor’s degree in nursing.
Memberships: Emmanuel Church, Greenwood; Center Grove Ambassador Program; Masonic Lodge No. 746; Murat Shriners; Murat Shrine Circus Clowns; Johnson County Shriners; Sahara Grotto, and Sahara Grotto Clowns. Volunteer for Emmanuel Church’s Impact Team and children’s camp, and head coach for Center Grove boys basketball league and baseball league.
