Dougherty County commissioners tour morgue as part of planning process for new facility

ALBANY — For Dougherty County Coroner Michael Fowler the surroundings were familiar. But for some county commissioners who took a field trip to visit the morgue on Monday, it was a first.

For the five commissioners — Gloria Gaines, Russell Gray, Clinton Johnson, Anthony Jones and Ed Newsome — the tour was intended to give them a look at conditions at the morgue, located at the Phoebe North facility on Palmyra Road.

There wasn’t much to see in the space the county rents from the hospital — a small room containing a table formerly used for autopsies, a metal rolling cadaver storage unit and a gurney that Dougherty County Emergency Medical Services personnel had rolled in. A metal door opens into a freezer used to store bodies.

The county has planned to build a new morgue facility, and has set aside $400,000 in sales tax funds for that purpose. But they got a bit of sticker shock last year when the lowest option for construction of the facility came in at $414,000. That estimate was the lowest of three that would keep the coroner’s office and personnel in the Dougherty County Judicial Building and provide a stand-alone morgue.

The fourth option is a morgue that includes administrative space, room for records and a conference room; that came with an estimated cost of $1.2 million.

After taking the tour, Gray said he would like the county to explore a less expensive option.

“I think what’s needed isn’t necessarily a completely new facility more than upgrading the current equipment and facilities or retrofitting an existing facility to accommodate both administrative and operational functions,” the District 4 commissioner said. “I think combining the coroner’s office and the morgue into one location is a good thing. The courthouse needs the (additional) space.”

During the tour, Fowler told commissioners that families come to the morgue to identify loved ones. Law enforcement officers also come to take fingerprints or collect blood samples from bodies, and the existing equipment is not suited for that purpose, he said.

A new morgue with office space would give office staff a space to work and allow for a viewing area to serve families as well as law enforcement.

“We haven’t talked about (using an) existing building,” Fowler said during a Tuesday telephone interview. “I don’t know of an existing building. If you’re going to do it, let’s do it right.

“The main thing (is) they want me to move out of the courthouse. In order to do that, we’ve got to have a bigger place. At the end of the day, it’s about the community, about the public.”

The tour was “informative,” Jones said, and it gave commissioners a chance to get a good view of the conditions in the facility.

“I was glad to go out there,” he said. “That’s the first time I’ve been to a morgue. We got a chance to look at it, and what we’ll do is come together as a board of commissioners and make a decision. I want to hear everybody’s thoughts on this.”

The commissioner said that he, like Gray, would be willing to consider an existing building, with an eye toward reducing the cost of constructing a new building. It will be up to staff to find the additional funding needed to cover the cost of whatever option is decided upon.

“That’s one of the things we discussed at our retreat,” Jones said. “I also thought that a way we should go is to repurpose another building. I don’t know if that’s where we are as a commission.”

Staff Photo: Alan MauldinAlanMauldin[email protected]
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