During Monday’s Marshall County Commissioners Meeting, County Coroner, John Grolich told the board he would like for them to consider building a morgue facility to hold bodies and be able to conduct autopsies.
Grolich explained that currently he is holding the body of a woman who lives outside the United States but passed away here on July 5th. He’s been able to hold her body in the cooler at the hospital but will need to move her to another location in the next day or two. He said the issue is dealing with foreign consulates. Grolich said, “This issue is only going to growing here.”
Currently the Coroner’s Office must transport bodies to various locations to have an autopsy conducted or to hold a body for an extended period of time. There is a cost associated with that including employee time, fuel costs and storage fees.
Grolich said he wasn’t looking for anything fancy but a building with city utilities and possibly a garage door to drive into the facility.
The County Commissioners suggested a location on the county owned property at the jail. They also suggested a multi-purpose facility that could offer secure storage for the prosecutor’s office and a garage storage portion for the maintenance department to keep equipment in.
The commissioners said they would consider the request for a facility and look at including the new facility in the 2020 budget.
