A new headquarters building is in the works for the county coroner’s office.

  The Henry County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously at its May 5 regular meeting to approve a contract with SteelCo Buildings Inc. of Covington for the $402,415 project, with the stipulation that the money would come from fund balance, if necessary, to cover the construction cost. The company was one of four which submitted proposals to the purchasing department.

  The facility will be built at 92 Work Camp Road in McDonough on the county’s DOT complex, where utilities are already available, officials stated. It will be a “turnkey and ready-for-occupancy project,” according to a staff report.

  A rendering presented at the meeting showed a “modest” building with office, exam and storage space, deputy county manager Brad Johnson said. Coroner Donald Cleveland, who has held the office nearly 10 years, was slated to give the presentation to commissioners but responded to an emergency call just before the start of the meeting.

  Johnson said that the coroner’s office has never had its own morgue, having used space at Piedmont Henry Hospital for decades until that became impractical a few years ago because of the hospital’s own needs. In recent years the county has contracted with facilities in adjoining jurisdictions, and the commissioners approved an expenditure for a temporary morgue just last month, wanting to be prepared in case the COVID-19 pandemic created an extraordinary need.

  “There were 467 coroner cases in 2018 and 488 last year,” said Johnson. “We are trending up about five percent a year.”

  The new facility will have a capacity of about 10 bodies, on stretchers, in one large cooling unit rather than individual spaces. There will be a viewing area for identifications, an examination area for police and investigators, and a family room for those who must come for death notifications and identifications.

  The cooler space should last 10 years, Johnson said, and any part of the building can be expanded in the future as needed.

  “It will pay for itself over time,” he said. “But the biggest advantage is the service to our citizens.”