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Last updated on Tuesday, May 8, 2012
(BEDFORD) - The Lawrence County Commissioners will advertise for the building of a new morgue.
Bids for labor and material will be advertised this week.
The plan is to renovate an existing space at Dunn Plaza into an office area, autopsy room and walk-in cooler with storage and work space.
The bids must be filed with the auditor's office by June 5th at 4:30 p.m. Commissioners will review the bids at 6:30 p.m.
Lawrence County Coroner John Sherrill informed the commissioners last month about the immediate need for a morgue.
Dunn Memorial Hospital once served as the county's morgue. But St. Vincent, which purchased the facility in 2010, decided not to maintain the facility.
Sherrill has been using a small unit at Indiana University Health Bedford Hospital on a temporary basis, but that arrangement is destined to expire soon.
Effective May 11th it's going to cost the county $200 per day for refrigeration and $500 per autopsy. Per case it will cost the county more than $900 a case. Sherrill estimates if an out of county facility is used it will cost the county an estimated $34,000 a year or more.
In other business:
* The commissioners approved the plat for a new subdivision Ridgeview Addition, on Ind. 37 east of Washboard Road and between the entrance of Fox Ridge Addition. The addition will be completed next year.
* Lawrence County Sheriff Sam Craig reported there were 96 inmates at the jail, 15 were women and 6 Department of Correction inmates.
* Highway Superintendent David Holmes reported crews are doing some hot mix road repairs, mowing, ditching and putting in culverts.
He says the department is getting several calls about missing or damaged signs throughout the county. Currently the county is in the process of doing a sign inventory with Butler, Fairman & Seufert Civil Engineers to correct the problem. The Federal Highway Administration set new standards for road signs, and the county received a $50,000 grant to undertake an inventory of its current signs.
Holmes says the department is having problems with residents calling asking for the health department. The phone book has the health departments phone number listed under their name in the phone book. The correct number for the health department is 275-3234. The correct number for the highway department is 275-2644.
* Bob Dillon, county projects director, updated Commissioners on the repair on Bridge 20, north of Needmore. He says the county's concrete work is complete and crews will be cleaning that bridge and several others and spraying to kill the brush.
Work on the William's Covered Bridge continues. Dillon says the siding has been taken down and work is beginning on some of the structural members that need replaced.
* The commissioners are looking at preliminary bids for cleaning, stone work and replacement of windows at the courthouse. Commissioner president Chris May says that the bids are just to give the commissioners an idea to see what repairs would cost and none of those bids will be awarded.
"It is just to give us an idea at what we are looking at," May added. "This is going to be an expensive process and we have pursued grant funding for the project in the past and not been successful. We will continue to do that, but this will give us an idea at what costs we will be looking at."
Commissioner Dave Flinn say replacing the windows in the courthouse will be expensive.
"We just can't go in and replace the windows," he says. "The courthouse is a historical building and there are guidelines we must follow."
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