More than just an office for the Coroner

The project that will move Karl Addis from Walhalla to Seneca is taking on more than building new headquarters for the man who tends to Oconee County’s dead. The new building envisioned on the grounds of Oconee Medical Center, besides housing a coroner’s office and a morgue, will double as a substation for the Oconee Sheriff’s Office. At next week’s meeting, Oconee County Council will consider the award of a $315 thousand dollar contract to Roebuck Buildings Company to construct the coroner/substation building. According to Tuesday’s agenda item, “A new building for the Coroner was included in this year’s budget, to be constructed on the grounds of Oconee Medical Center. In negotiating the building site, OMC requested that we also include the Sheriff’s substation, which is currently housed in a mobile home near the front of the hospital grounds. This increased the size and requirements of the original building. In an effort to keep construction costs as low as possible, the County’s Facilities Maintenance Department completed the design development phase, by obtaining the survey, civil site drawings and design and construction documents….”