Moving coroner’s office comes with steep price increase
Staff Photo: Alan Mauldin
By Alan Mauldin
alan.mauldin
@albanyherald.com
ALBANY — To move or not to move the Dougherty County coroner’s office is the choice before the Dougherty County Commission, but integral in that decision is how to pay for a project that is massively more than the amount budgeted.
The difference could mean as much as an $800,000 difference in price for the project for which about $400,000 was budgeted out of tax dollars.
During a Monday commission work session, staff presented four options, ranging in price from about $414,000 to $1.2 million.
The first three options would keep the coroner’s office in the Dougherty County Judicial Building, while the most expensive choice would include administrative space, storage for records and a conference room.
“The other options have no added space for his administrative offices,” Albany architect David Maschke, who designed the plans, told commissioners. “One, two and three are not to move his whole operation out. (They include) a small coroner’s office only, because it was going to be a satellite office.”
If the intention is to move the entire operation to county-owned land near the Dougherty County Police Department office, the additional space will be needed, said Coroner Michael Fowler, who described keeping some files in boxes in the courthouse because of a lack of filing space.
He also defended features like a laboratory. Law enforcement needs an area in which to take fingerprints and photos from bodies, for instance.
“The lab is essential,” the coroner said. “We’ve got to draw blood; we’ve got to draw urine, whatever we need to do.”
The fourth option also provides sufficient space to meet with families and additional security features that are not available in the space at the courthouse.
Fowler’s preference is the option that moves the entire operation out of the courthouse, he said during an interview following the commission’s discussion.
Commission Chairman Chris Cohilas instructed staff to bring information on how the county can pay for the extra cost the construction would entail beyond the amount included in the current special-purpose local-option sales tax, which is the funding source.
“We’re confident we’re going to be able to come up with the budget shortfall,” County Administrator Michael McCoy said.
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