Plans for medical examiner's office in Brazos County officially underway

The newly purchased tract by Brazos County is outlined in this rendering visible via Google Maps.

A future medical examiner’s office for the county is on the way after the Brazos County Commissioners Court approved a contract for $1.8 million with St. Joseph Regional Health Center on Tuesday for 11 acres of land.

While there was no discussion among the commissioners during the Tuesday morning meeting, Brazos County Judge Duane Peters, a member of the court, expanded on details of the plan.

“The primary need is a medical examiner’s office, because we have ARPA funds that need to be spent by 2026,” he told The Eagle following the meeting.

The recently purchased property is located in the St. Joseph Professional Park at the intersection of East 29th Street between Broadmoor and Camelot Drive in Bryan.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the county received an influx of $44.5 million in funds through the American Rescue Plan Act. Per the grant, the county can only spend the money on efforts for broadband, revenue replacement, water and public health.

The commissioners previously identified a need for a medical examiner’s office in the county and set aside $24 million of ARPA funds. Peters said Tuesday he has been in discussions with Texas A&M University which wants to play a part in the process.

“We have been talking with Texas A&M a good bit and we are still talking with them,” he said. “I am confident we will move forward with this collaboration between A&M and adding that educational component [where students can learn on site] at the medical examiner’s office.”

Peters previously said discussions took place about building the office near the Texas A&M Health Science Center, but found that the area was not feasible.

“Anybody that is familiar with that area out there, there are a lot of deep ravines; and so we were trying to place it there, but we were pushing into a ravine,” he said. “And we were going to have to build a retaining wall, so I could see that we might have problems trying to get that done.”

When the land proved to be the wrong fit, Peters said he was made aware that an 11-acre tract of land in Bryan was about to go on the market. Peters said St. Joseph’s did an appraisal on the property and told him the area already was zoned commercial.

“It fits what we need and it is 11 acres there, so we have plenty of room to be able to put the medical examiner’s office,” he said. “We have had a lot of discussion about 911. And 911 has pretty much outgrown the area that they are in, and we have had the discussion about how College Station is interested in contracting with 911 for their dispatch, [considering] Brazos County and Bryan both already dispatch with [College Station].”

Peters said the idea of having a central dispatch/emergency operations center is something he wants to see through, and that the center would fit right next to the medical examiner’s office.

“I know there have been times in the past where the 911 dispatch had something going on in College Station or in Bryan, and the dispatchers have to call somebody on the phone and find out what is going on. With a central dispatch, you know everything that is going on there in the community,” he said. “It is very important for public safety. … We don’t have the money to build that right now, but with these 11 acres, we would have the room to be able to add that there on that same location.”

The commissioners pulled the $1.8 million out of the county’s general fund budget rather than using ARPA funds, so they wouldn’t be restricted on how they could use the land, Peters said.

“My concern with purchasing the property with those funds is there are a lot of rules that you can spend ARPA funds on,” he said. “What I wouldn’t want to happen, is deciding we need something else that might not fall under ARPA guidelines, and so the best thing to do is purchase the property with general funds.”

The road to a medical examiner’s office has been in discussion since 2014 and Peters said at that time, there wasn’t enough money for it.

“The ARPA money was really the game changer, that allowed us to have the funding to actually build the building,” he said. “We are fixing to move forward to find an architect. There are a few things we need to just check, just to make sure that everything is OK. We have to have a study period of about 60 days, but I don’t expect us to have any hitches. I expect us to move forward.”

Commissioner Chuck Konderla abstained from the vote as he serves as the director of development for the St. Joseph Health Foundation.

According to Katie Conner, Brazos County auditor and budget officer, the ARPA funds have to be obligated or committed by Dec. 31, 2024, and they must be spent by Dec. 31, 2026.