The Lowndes County Coroner’s Office may have a new home soon.
The board of supervisors voted unanimously at its Monday morning meeting to make an offer on one of the former Ecolab buildings on Lehmberg Road with the intention of moving the coroner’s office there.
According to Board Attorney Tim Hudson, the county is offering $400,000 for the building, which sits adjacent to and slightly behind the glass Microtek Medical building at 602 Lehmberg Road.
Ecolab acquired Microtek Medical in 2007. In 2015 the company downsized the Columbus facility, which manufactured surgical instruments and equipment, and moved some of its operations to Florida.
Ecolab announced in 2021 that it would close the Columbus facility by mid-2022.
Realtor Royce Hudspeth of Rhett Real Estate, who is handling the property, said the building was a former warehouse space and contained about 20,000 square feet. About 6,000 square feet of that is office space.
Hudspeth said it’s been on the market for about 18 months.
The county plans to use the building to house the coroner’s office and as a backup E-911 headquarters, Board of Supervisors President Trip Hairston told The Dispatch after the meeting.
Coroner Greg Merchant’s office is currently housed in the old Maxxim Medical building, which was jointly owned by the county and city of Columbus. In December those entities agreed to sell it to Apex Ammunition for $200,000, and since then the county has been looking for a place to move the coroner’s office.
“The coroner has to have a certain amount of space for his operations,” Hairston said. “We felt like this building would be perfect for the coroner. It’s got plenty of space, it’s got storage areas and it’s in good shape. It’s been well-maintained.”
Although manufacturing operations have ceased at the site, Hairston said Ecolab information technology workers have been working in the building removing equipment and old servers, and so it has remained heated and cooled.
Hudspeth estimated workers were in the building within the past 30 days.
Merchant told The Dispatch that he was excited to move into the new space.
“It gives us ample room for supplies and equipment,” Merchant said. “I’m commander of the state mortuary response team, and we’ve got a couple of trailers that need inside storage. That building would give us that area.”
Merchant said the building has a natural gas-powered generator on site, as well.
“It’s already wired into the building, so we don’t have to worry about losing power during storms and so forth,” he said. “(The generator) would keep the cooler up and going.”
Hairston said part of the building will also be used for a fallback site for the E-911 office, which is housed adjacent to the courthouse.
“We’re also considering putting in an alternative emergency management war room, so to speak,” Hairston said. “If something happens to the courthouse, there needs to be an alternative site for them. There’s plenty of space in there to also do that.”
Emergency Management Agency Director Cindy Lawrence, speaking to The Dispatch Monday morning, said she doesn’t know a lot about the building, but said she would need space for three dispatchers plus representatives from emergency response agencies to set up.
Hairston said if the offer is accepted he hoped the transition to the new space would take place “as soon as possible.”
Brian Jones is the local government reporter for Columbus and Lowndes County.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 45 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
