Jackson County coroner has reason to hope for more room to deal with the dead
PASCAGOULA -- Jackson County's coroner, Vicki Broadus, is still dealing with the dead in cramped quarters.
Her office is in the far corner of a sprawling county building on Amonett Street, where she shares a desk with a secretary. Files on the dead fill one of her three small rooms. The other two are filled with desks for paperwork and answering the phone. There's no place to talk privately with distraught families who want to know more about how their loved ones died.
The coroner deals with many types of deaths, but always they are unexpected -- accidents, drug overdoses, shootings.
Because she has little space, sometimes she meets families in the lobby of Singing River Hospital, a very public place for such private business.
Things may be changing. She has been asking for room since before the new multimillion-dollar County Services Complex was built south of the courthouse. There's no room for her there, nor in the old courthouse, even though departments left for the new building.
But she came before the county Board of Supervisors earlier this month to ask for space, and County Administrator Brian Fulton heard her.
Fulton said this week he's looking at three options.
On Friday, he had it down to "a couple."
He's not giving details until he knows more about the feasibility. He said moving an office takes planning and time. And he wants to make sure Broadus gets what she needs.
How about the office former Supervisor Mike Mangum vacated near the new jail?
The county Maintenance Department will likely take it over. It needs the room and already occupies half of the building.
Besides, it wasn't much bigger than the Coroner's Office is now.
Fulton said they have looked at all the options in Pascagoula, which is the county seat -- county buildings, hospital-owned buildings, those for rent and for sale.
And finding the solution really may be close, because Broadus said county workers took her to see a prospect.
She said, "If anything comes of it, I'll let you know."
This story was originally published February 19, 2016 at 8:15 PM with the headline "Jackson County coroner has reason to hope for more room to deal with the dead ."