Bannock County to select contractor to take up Forensic Pathology Center project
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POCATELLO — An eastern Idaho county has received five bids for a contractor to take up a project that could have a long-term impact in eastern Idaho.
Bannock County put out a bid on Feb. 3 for the Eastern Idaho Forensic Pathology Center, a proposed forensic lab that would serve 17 counties in eastern Idaho. The commissioners received five bids from contractors and evaluated them at a March 14 meeting, finding that four of them were within their budget.
“We wanted to use the funds for generational type projects and this is one of the generational type projects,” said Commissioner Jeff Hough, who has spearheaded the project.
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This project is planned to be completed in two phases. The first phase is the construction of a prefabricated steel structure and the second will be completing the building’s interior.
The current bid being evaluated by the county is only for the first phase of the project. It had to stay at or under $550,000 to meet the project budget.
The county has committed $3.5 million in funds from the American Rescue Plan Act to the whole project. Hough said if they hadn’t gotten a bid that allows them to stay within that budget, it could’ve ended the project.
“If the bids come in at a spot where we think they will exceed our budget, the project most likely dies, because I committed a hard line of $3.5 million,” Hough said, before the March 14 meeting.
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Hough is also working to raise funds from outside sources. Two entities he has talked to about the project is the Idaho legislature as well as an Oregon donation company.
“I am knocking on as many doors I can find,” Hough said.
The commissioners hope to schedule a meeting to discuss selecting a contractor next week.
Hough said east Idaho in particular is in need of this facility. He referenced a report from the Idaho Office of Performance Evaluations that ranked Idaho last in the United States in almost every category for death investigation.
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The commissioner said they’ve received positive responses about the project from the surrounding counties. After doing a test run of two autopsies at the Portneuf Medical Center morgue, the county received requests for five more that they had to turn down.
“That shows the need in our area,” Hough said.
Hough said that people would benefit from this facility for a long time after it’s construction as it would remove distance and budgetary restrictions that limit the amount of autopsies that can be done.
“That’s why I felt like this was a generational project,” Hough said.