“This has been a long time coming.”
Johnson County Commissioner Kevin Walls said those words during a groundbreaking ceremony for the new joint Johnson County Coroner’s Office and Health Department building Friday morning in Franklin. Local, county and state officials gathered under the hot July sun at the 1.8-acre site near Drake Road and Hospital Road to mark a milestone for the two departments.
Both departments have needed larger spaces for a number of years. Currently, the coroner’s office operates out of three different locations across the county: the Johnson County Courthouse North Annex and Johnson Memorial Hospital, both in Franklin, and Jessen and Keller Funeral Home in Whiteland.
The health department operates out of a rented space at 460 N. Morton St. in Franklin. File cabinets line the hallways, boxes are stacked on whatever counter space is available and employees share small office spaces.
The Johnson County government has owned the 1.8-acre site for several years but officials did not originally know what to do with it. However, over the last year, plans were drawn up for a combined coroner’s office and health department building to occupy the site.
For the coroner’s office, the space will have a morgue with the ability to store 10 decedents. Another upgrade is a private sally-port at the back of the building to pull in cars to privately transport decedents in and out of the office. There will also be two offices, a secure evidence room, a dedicated family meeting room and an autopsy suite with a viewing window.
The health department’s new office will be almost double the current space. The current plans include eight employee offices, two exam rooms and plenty of storage rooms for vaccines, medical supplies and records.
The project is made possible through funds the county received from the American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA, which is a multi-trillion dollar federal COVID-19 relief bill. About $6.5 million, all funded through ARPA, is allocated for the building, including furnishings.
“We really are in great need of this as our recent events of the world have shown us,” Walls said during Friday’s event. “I am so glad that we are in a position to be able to do this today, to start this project today.”
Franklin Mayor Steve Barnett said the city welcomes the new building, which is designed by Franklin resident Terry Lancer, of Lancer Associates Architecture.
“I just appreciate the county and what they’re trying to do in making the county better for everybody, not just the city of Franklin,” he said.
The joint building is a unique opportunity for the county and is the result of a unique collaborative agreement between the two departments, said Dr. Jefferson Qualls, the county’s health officer.
“Not only is this going to be a real blessing for the people of Johnson County, I feel like it’s also going to be a blessing for south-central Indiana,” Qualls said. “It’s going to give us the opportunity to be leaders in public health and coroner work. We’ll be able to have conferences here and educational opportunities that people would not otherwise get — at least that’s one of our goals in the future.”
Coroner Mike Pruitt, along with Johnson County Health Department Director Betsy Swearingen, also recognized past and present county health department and coroner officials who were in the audience, thanking them for their efforts to help plan for their respective departments’ futures. Among those recognized were Dr. John Bonsett, former county health officer Dr. Craig Moorman, and former coroners Dr. Chuck Shufflebarger, Forrest “Tug” Sutton, David Lutz and Craig Lutz.
“This has always been a goal of everybody that served in that office,” Pruitt said.
The last major project involving the coroner’s office happened in 1969 under the guidance of Dr. Harley Palmer. This project took place at Johnson Memorial Hospital, which was where the autopsy suite and officers for the coroner were at the time, Pruitt said.
“That’s 54 years ago, so that’s how big of a deal this is, especially for the coroner’s office, as we consolidate all of our efforts into one location and getting to work with our partners here at the Johnson County Health Department,” he said.
Officials also thanked Wes Harrison, the county’s project manager, who Walls called a “great blessing” to the county. Pruitt said Harrison has been a guiding light for officials as the new building was planned.
“Wes would look at you and go, ‘I don’t know about that,’” Pruitt said. “But he was always supportive and always there to guide us in the right direction.”
With the new building, officials hope to lay the foundation for a healthier, safer and more vibrant Johnson County.
“May these facilities stand as a symbol of unwavering commitment to the well-being of our community and the generations to come,” Pruitt said.
