TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

The Kern County grand jury recommends a new building for the coroner's office and pay raises for some staff members.

The recommendations issued Monday came after the grand jury's Law and Justice Committee visited the Kern County Sheriff's Office Coroner/Public Administrator offices in August.

No one returned a call to the grand jury's office seeking comment, but in the report, the grand jury called for addressing a disparity in pay between deputy sheriffs and deputy coroners, and noted that a civilian coroner manager position has been vacant for two years.

According to the Kern County personnel website, deputy sheriffs start at $3,695 a month, but can earn as much as $6,332 a month with experience, education and promotions.

Deputy coroner pay ranges from $4,334 a month to $5,291 a month.

The grand jury said deputy coroners are paid 20 percent less than deputy sheriffs even though both are peace officers who work for the Sheriff's Department.

The grand jury also found that the coroner's office facility is too small, and called it "antiquated."

The coroner's office at 1832 Flower St. is on the Kern Medical Center campus in a structure built in 1974.

The coroner has three contracted pathologists who perform about 750 autopsies per year, but only two autopsy rooms, the report said.

Of the roughly 5,300 deaths in Kern County each year, about half are coroner's cases.

The facility needs substantial infrastructure improvements, including repairs to two coolers and a freezer, new plumbing, and upgrades to heating and air conditioning systems, according to the report.

The air conditioning was mentioned in a previous grand jury report from four years ago and remains a "vital concern," the report said.

Cmdr. Dennis Smithson, who oversees the coroner's office, said some infrastructure problems are so bad that it's hard to comply with Cal-OSHA workplace mandates.

As an example, he noted that investigating a valley fever death is high-risk for employees because the infection can remain contagious even after death.

"The building just isn't designed for it," Smithson said.

He also said the receiving area is in plain view of an adjacent pharmacy, which presents privacy issues.

"We try very hard to protect the privacy and dignity of the decedents, but it's tough because of the layout of the building," Smithson said.

The grand jury recommended a "new building and/or location," but Smithson would like to stay at the Kern Medical Center campus.

There is a lot of synergy for the two institutions that saves taxpayer money, Smithson said.

The coroner's office doesn't have an X-ray, for instance, so it uses the hospital's. The hospital doesn't have a place to store bodies, so it uses the coroner's morgue.

Kern Medical Center CEO Paul Hensler said the age of the coroner's office building, which also houses the hospital's outpatient pharmacy, has occasionally disrupted pharmacy operations.

He recalled one time when odors from bodies in the corner's office could be smelled in the pharmacy.

Hensler said the hospital needs administrative office space, but he didn't know if it would be practical to remodel the coroner's office area should that agency leave.

"Often those extensive remodels end up costing as much or more than a new building," he said.

Hensler would prefer to level some of the aging outbuildings on the campus and use the land for parking until there is money to build an office tower.

Kern County Supervisor Jon McQuiston said supervisors didn't have enough information in July, when they passed a budget, to approve a new coroner's office.

And now, he said, is not the time to sink a lot of capital into a new building.

But he said he'd like to see more information about how the county might lease space for a new coroner's office. The monthly cost of leasing space, McQuiston said, would be partially offset by eliminating the cost of maintaining the current building.

It's not that the Board of Supervisors doesn't see the need, said Kern County Supervisor Karen Goh.

"I have visited the facility a couple of times, and yes, it's obviously in need of expansion and repair," she said.

The board has approved funding to deal with the air conditioning, Goh said, and would like to do more.

The problem is there isn't much money in the county's beleaguered budget, she said, so the board is doing the best it can with the current budget and "focusing on long-term solutions."

-- Californian staff writer James Burger contributed to this report.