- September 20, 2024
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Volusia County held a groundbreaking ceremony for its new $18.4 million medical examiner facility on Friday, Sept. 7, a project that the county said is the final piece needed to achieve accreditation from the National Association of Medical Examiners.
Once built, the facility will span 20,000 square feet, and Volusia County reported in a past news release that it will improve operations in the areas of personnel safety, storage capacity, air quality, flexibility for additional forensic pathologists and investigators, facilities for the families of the deceased, community outreach, as well as education for law enforcement and health professionals. The facility will be located on a 3.3-acre parcel near the Volusia Sheriff's Office Evidence Facility at 3891 Tiger Bay Road.
"The time to build this facility is now, and as your representative, I've been a strong proponent since day one and I pride myself on being an advocate and ally to our entire Public Protection division," said Volusia County Councilwoman Heather Post. "Once complete — very soon, I hope — this new building will have an immediate and lasting impact on our community. It will allow our medical exam In our office to increase efficiency, increase the caseload and increase the ability to educate medical professionals and law enforcement."
The need for a new facility was made prevalent in 2018 when the county's former medical examiner resigned after one month on the job due to what she described as "dangerous conditions" at the facility in a letter to the Florida Medical Examiners Commission.
Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood was on the search committee that hired Chief Medical Examiner Dr. James Fulcher, and he said that when Fulcher came in for the interview, he exhibited the "bold, innovative and passionate" qualities he, County Manager George Recktenwald and the rest of the committee were looking for.
"Volusia County, once again, is cutting edge," Chitwood said, and pointed to the evidence facility nearby. "Remember, several years ago, that building behind us was opened. It is a state of the art facility that other sheriffs and police chiefs from around the country come to visit. That's a testimony to the leadership in Volusia County when you have other people coming around trying to emulate what you're doing."
Funding for the project is coming from the county's general fund. County Councilwoman Barb Girtman said the county has saved over $11 million over the last seven years for the construction of the building. Additionally, in 2021, the council voted to allocate $7 million from the federal coronavirus relief dollars to cover the remainder of the cost.
"We put the money away every year, and then a lot of hardworking people behind the scenes made sure that we got the stuff done, and then in the end to allocate the ARPA money really was, I think, a great boon to get us where we're at today," County Manager George Recktenwald said.
Fulcher said the groundbreaking ceremony was a "day of great gratitude" for himself and his office.
"This is really the final piece of the puzzle, to propel this office to the ultimate level of efficiency, organization, and basically professionalism," Fulcher said. "Operationally, we've done what we needed to do — there is no backlog. There is no delay in turnaround time. But I will tell you even to this day, this old building inhibits us."
He said that the new building will provide the educational facilities needed to provide the local scientific and student community with opportunities to see their field in action.
The construction manager and general contractor for the project is Wharton-Smith Inc., of Sanford. Construction is scheduled to be completed in fall 2023.
