By David Fenker
david@nmpaper.com
WABASH COUNTY, Ind. – With the upcoming closing of the old Parkview Wabash Hospital facility, the county’s morgue is in need of a new home.
As a temporary fix, the county commissioners signed a memorandum of understanding with Grandstaff-Hentgen Funeral Service Monday, June 25. County Attorney Steve Downs originally presented the memorandum at the commissioners’ June 18 meeting.
“You’re aware that the hospital is closing the morgue at the end of the month, and arrangements have been made with Grandstaff-Hentgen to store and autopsy bodies at their facility,” Downs said at the June 18 meeting … that will be effective when the morgue closes in the hospital, and will last until we find a permanent replacement location for the morgue.”
Per the memorandum, the county will pay Grandstaff-Hentgen $400 for a body stored and autopsied at the funeral service’s Manchester Avenue location in Wabash. Bodies stored but not autopsied will incur a $200 per body cost.
The agreement requires that Grandstaff-Hentgen to provide refrigeration equipment for storage of dead bodies, and that the county provides supplies and other equipment to “store, autopsy, and dispose of the dead bodies.”
The county is also responsible for cleaning the space used by the coroner, and making repairs for any damage done to the property by county employees.
The commissioners unanimously approved the memorandum at their June 25 meeting.
Also at that meeting, the board approved a three-year contract with Maximus for the county’s cost allocation plan.
The contract – for years 2018, 2019 and 2020 – will cost the county $5,250 per year, an increase of $250 per year from the previous three-year contract.
“They usually find at least that much,” Chairman Brian Haupert said regarding the contract.
The commissioners unanimously approved that contract as well.
The commissioners also opened bids for a 2006 Chevrolet Blazer, owned by the Sheriff’s Department. Two bids, one for $330 and one for $425, were taken under advisement.