HOT SPRINGS — Garland County moved one step closer Tuesday night to joining the handful of other Arkansas counties that have dedicated morgues.
The Garland County Quorum Court Public Health, Welfare and Safety Committee approved a request from Garland County Coroner Stuart Smedley for space in a county building to set up a cooling unit and exam room for bodies. Smedley currently uses space at Hot Springs funeral homes, which allow him to perform minor exams, draw blood and take evidence photos when necessary.
The request for dedicated morgue space has been batted around for several months, but it became more urgent after the funeral home owners sent a letter to the county saying they did not want to continue the current arrangement.
“The funeral homes have graciously provided a service to this county as long as I can remember, for nothing,” Smedley told the committee Tuesday night. “They have graciously asked that we make other arrangements.”
The proposal, which asks for $21,200 and the use of part of the current maintenance building across the street from the county court house on Ouachita Street, will also have to go to the Quorum Court’s finance committee and then before the full Quorum Court for approval. The city would also have to grant a zoning variance.
Smedley said only two other counties had more coroner calls last year: Washington and Pulaski counties, both of which have dedicated morgues. Pulaski County opened its new morgue in May. Smedley said he had 1,261 calls last year.
“Benton County is the second largest in population, but we had about 100 more calls than they did this year,” he said.
Leonard Krout, president of the Arkansas Coroner’s Association and Pope County coroner, said he responds to about 470 calls a year. Pope County dedicated space for a morgue 10 years ago because of a similar situation and went through a similar process, he said.
“Anyone handling 400 or more deaths a year should probably have their own cooling unit,” Krout said in an interview. “Having your own unit strengthens the legal chain of evidence because the bodies are never in a place where the possibility of evidence being contaminated could be argued in court.
“It also puts a tighter hold on confidential matters or evidence in general since there are no outside employees around during the exams.”
He said less than a dozen counties have dedicated morgue spaces in Arkansas, including most class 6 or class 7 counties - those with more than 70,000 residents.
Several funeral home presidents and owners from the Hot Springs area came Tuesday to show their support for the proposal. Under the current arrangement, a staff member has to be available whenever the coroner needs to bring in a body and has to stay at the funeral home until the coroner is finished. They are also providing their refrigeration system and space free of charge.
The committee voted against an alternate proposal from local business owner, Christina Sykes, who had agreed to give the county space in her mortuary services building she plans to locate in Hot Springs. Several Quorum Court members said they appreciated the offer, but had concerns about the viability of the business, which would have to be contracted through a funeral home. Many of the funeral home owners said they would continue to pick up bodies and embalm them on their own.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 12 on 03/03/2011