Only then will the job of chief medical examiner attract the very best applicants, rather than whatever mediocrity is willing to take the job.

Who wants to oversee a morgue in which bodies have piled up, cleanliness and safety were not always a priority and some workers loafed despite critical staffing and budget shortages?

These glaring management problems, we are told, fortunately did not detract from the quality of medical work done at the morgue. Outgoing Chief Medical Examiner Nancy Jones has been praised as a fine pathologist who does excellent work and maintains a quality medical staff. She has been on the job for five years.

But Jones works in an outdated office that, on the administrative side, was understaffed with quality workers and overstaffed with folks who treated work like one big coffee break. When people talk about the sins of political patronage, the county morgue is Exhibit A.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, first made aware of the depth of the problems by reading the Chicago Sun-Times, has been making changes since January, including the replacement last week of the morgue’s chief executive officer. Four other employees have been fired, eight vacant positions filled, seven employees disciplined and training and safety precautions upgraded.