Volusia Medical Examiner Getting New $16 Million Facility

Daytona Beach, FL – By next year, Volusia County expects to open the doors on a brand new $16 million medical examiner facility. At Tuesday’s (April 19) Volusia County Council meeting, council members voted unanimously to approve the $16.1 million contract with the Sanford-based construction company, Wharton-Smith, Inc. The current facility is a 6,700 square foot building that sits on Indian Lake Road, not far from the Volusia County Correctional Facility and the Juvenile Detention Center. In February 2021, the council gave approval to build a new medical examiner’s office. The new facility will be located just a mile away from the current building—near the Volusia Sheriff’s Office evidence facility and the Volusia Fire Rescue Training Center, which is also undergoing its own change—but it’ll see some substantial improvements. For one, the size is going to increase tremendously; the building will be just shy of 20,000 square feet once it’s completed. They’ll also get new state-of-the-art autopsy systems, a family meeting room, and generally more space to work in. The design of the building cost the county $993,000. Now, Wharton-Smith just has to bring the plan to fruition. When Dr. James Fulcher became the new medical examiner for Volusia County, he noted a number of “operational deficiencies,” which have since been addressed, including the officer’s turn-around time. But at the time, it was bad enough for the serving medical examiner to resign in protest to the overcrowded and understaffed morgue. Once the medical examiner’s office vacates the old building, another county agency is expected to take over.