NORTHWEST
PRESS
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2013
Former hospital could be crime lab Gannett News Service
H
amilton County commissioners have known for more than two years that the county needs a new crime lab. But the county’s shrinking budget has made the $56 million renovation impossible. Hamilton County Coroner Dr. Lakshmi Kode Sammarco is pitching a new plan, one with a price tag that’s a third of what it once was. She wants to take over vacated Mercy Mount Airy Hospital and renovate the first floor. The estimated cost: $21.5 million. Commissioners would likely have to borrow at least some of the money. There is no specific plan on where to get the money, but county leaders are hoping the University of Cincinnati buys the current lab in Corryville, which could help pay for the new crime lab. The new plan is a scaleddown version of a previous Mercy Mount Airy plan that included space for the sheriff’s office and Cincinnati Police Department. Commissioners have until the end of January to make a decision. Catholic Health Partners had wanted an answer this week, but county administrators pushed for more time. Every month the building sits vacant costs the hospital $100,000. “This is our best chance in the near future to get a new
coroner’s office and crime lab,” Sammarco said. “This is something we cannot afford to lose.” Without the gift of the hospital building – valued at $11.4 million, according the Hamilton County Auditor’s Office – the project wouldn’t be possible for at least five or 10 years, Sammarco said. Hamilton County Commissioner Greg Hartmann said: “This is as close to a deal as we’ve ever had.” Hamilton County Board of Commissioners President Chris Monzel said the county is looking at what it will need in the future. “The question is: Do we need a county crime lab?” said Monzel, a Republican like Hartmann. Other options: letting the state handle local lab work or forming a regional lab, as other Ohio counties have done. Any decision, Monzel said, will include a cost analysis that looks at whether the move is in the best interest of the citizens. Todd Portune, the board’s only Democrat, called it a “very good plan.” But, he added, the conversation must include law enforcement agencies. The recession ravaged Hamilton County’s operating budget. Adjusted for inflation, the county’s budget is a third the size it was a decade ago. Next year will be the first since 2008 most departments won’t have to make cuts, but that’s partly because commis-
Dr. Lakshmi Kode Sammarco, Hamilton County coroner, sits in the cramped firearms section of the crime lab. CARA OWSLEY/THE COMMUNITY PRESS
LIFE
PEOPLE | IDEAS | RECIPES
Dana Greely, left, and Emily Weber, trace evidence examiners in the DNA section of the Hamilton County Crime Lab, do a ignitable liquid anaylisis. Two years after experts derided Hamilton County’s Crime Lab as so cramped and outdated it put criminal cases at risk, Coroner Dr. Lakshmi Kode Sammarco has a plan to solve all the lab’s woes for $21 million – a bargain compared to past plans.CARA OWSLEY/THE COMMUNITY PRESS
sioners took $6.6 million from the county’s indigent care levy to cover some sheriff’s office expenses. At the end of the year the county’s rainy day fund is projected at $23.5 million – 12 percent of this year’s $195 million operations budget. No money has been set aside for large capital projects. When the current crime lab was built in 1972 it was meant to house half the number of people working there now – 50 people. DNA testing didn’t exist then. A 2011 investigation by the Cincinnati Enquirer revealed the county’s crime lab was cramped and understaffed, putting criminal convictions at risk. Evidence that could be used in trials was stored in open corridors, leaving it vulnerable to contamination. The lab was so understaffed that some cases were never investigated. Sammarco says that all remains true. A 2012 study by Detroitbased Crime Lab Design, a consulting firm brought in by the county, warned overcrowding was “jeopardizing the integrity” of evidence. The study’s authors suggested three options: a $16.5 million renovation to the current lab; a $35 million addition; or a new $56 million crime lab that would be double the size of the current Corryville facility. “The best thing Hamilton County can do is get a new lab, which they urgently need,” Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said then. The new plan would give the coroner’s office a new morgue, crime lab and autopsy suites. The coroner’s office would take over 200,000 square feet, half of which would be renovated and be used immediately. The other half would be saved for future growth. The current Corryville office is 35,000 square feet. The county, Sammarco said, could sell its current building to neighbor University of Cincinnati. There have been no concrete discussions about sale price, but the university is interested, Sammarco said. University spokesman Greg Hand said there have been “some discussions” with the
Kelly Ashton-Hand, forensic analyst, works in the DNA section of the Hamilton County's Crime Lab. When the current crime lab was built in 1972 it was meant to house half the number of people working there now – 50 people. DNA testing didn’t exist.CARA OWSLEY/THE COMMUNITY PRESS
county about facilities and service swaps in relation to the coroner’s office. But there is no firm plan, he said. The university owns the land the office sits on, which it leases to the county. That lease doesn’t end for 58 more years. The county owns the building. Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters, whose office relies on the crime lab’s testing, said, “A new crime lab would be great. If we had the money for it, I’d support it.” Michele Young, who lives in the county, founded the Hamil-
ton County Committee to Keep the Public Safe to help Sammarco sell the $21.5 million plan. “Nobody has said they don’t want this,” Young said. “Our goal is to bring the support together.” The group is reaching out to law enforcement agencies and business leaders. “The crime lab is essential to good law enforcement,” Young said. “Dr. Sammarco came up with a win-win plan. We’ll never see a gift like this again.”
The old Mercy Mount Airy Hospital could become Hamilton County's new crime lab under a proposal by county Coroner Dr. Lakshmi Kode Sammarco. The estimated cost of this project would be $21.5 million.TONY JONES/THE COMMUNITY PRESS