When the body of any dead person who died in the county is to be cremated, whoever required the cremation shall secure a permit for the cremation from the county medical examiner or the medical examiner's deputy or the coroner or the deputy coroner, and a person who wilfully fails to secure a permit for cremation is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, must be fined not less than twenty dollars and not more than five hundred dollars. A permit for cremation promptly must be acted upon by the county medical examiner or the examiner's deputy or the coroner.