Daniel Buglio has replaced Eric Minnich, who resigned, as Lehigh County coroner.

At the Lehigh County Board of Commissioners April 13, Buglio described his role and praised his staff.

“Our office is a 24/7 operation,” Buglio said. “We have a staff of about 25 investigators. We have morgue technicians, X-ray technicians and administrative staff. We also have several contract agreements.”

Buglio named forensic pathologists, transport personnel, dental personnel and counselors as contractors.

“I have built a solid relationship with law enforcement and other county offices,” Buglio continued. “Our office is completely blessed with a group of passionate and dedicated investigators. They’re devoted to the public they serve.

“Our office investigates more than 9,000 cases a year. And those numbers continue to climb, especially over the last two years through the COVID-19 pandemic. We work together as a team to thoroughly investigate every case. We do so with dignity, understanding and respect and passion,” Buglio said.

The appointment was a unanimous decision by county commissioners at the regular meeting, held at the Lehigh Government County Center, 17 S. Seventh St., Allentown.

Buglio, until his appointment April 13, served as Lehigh County Coroner’s Office first deputy coroner and operations manager.

In an interview, Buglio said he is a South Whitehall Township resident and has been with the Lehigh County Coroner’s Office since 2000.

“We are a very well-oiled machine,” Buglio said.

He added in the future he would like to get more grants to get additional equipment for what he called a “state-of-the-art facility.”

Buglio said he wants the public to understand more about the coroner’s office’s mission.

“I want to get more involved with the community and let [it] see what [coroner’s office] does,” Buglio said.

He said he would perhaps have an open house of the facilities.

“Just be more available in that aspect,” he said. As to goals, “I want to keep the operation going. We have some amazing people.”

Buglio also said he wants to keep the coroner’s office accredited.

He said the accreditation agency is the International Association of Coroners and Medical Examiners, which, according to its website, “has more than 85 years of experience in the presentation of educational seminars for the purpose of assisting coroners and medical examiners and other forensic specialists in the performance of their duties.”

When asked if Lehigh County is still having a spike in deaths by prescription drugs, Buglio said, “We still have heroin and fentanyl deaths. We try and educate people here in Lehigh County. The numbers are still too high.”

He said COVID-19 deaths are down.

“We’ve leveled out pretty good. We had to deal with a lot COVID issues, a lot of COVID deaths. I think we’re going to be OK now. It’s not completely gone, but it’s leveled out.”

“We want to keep quality [high], keep running,” Buglio said. “We haven’t had any negative issues.”

Commissioner Zach Cole-Borghi said, “Thank you for your service to Lehigh County for all these years. You will be a great leader in the coroner’s office.”

Responding to a question from Commissioner Jeffery Dutt about any proposed changes, Buglio said he has been thinking of ways to reduce some costs to the county. For example, he thought there may be more economical ways to handle unclaimed [bodies].

He said he thinks there may be ways to bring down autopsy costs. While past policy has been to do a full autopsy on every death, he doesn’t think that a full autopsy is necessary; for instance, if the investigation indicates the death was by toxicology, then a toxicology examination might be sufficient rather than a full autopsy.