Rutherford County committee advances plan for regional forensic center after lengthy debate

The Rutherford County Public Safety Committee voted 4-2 on Feb. 24 to give a favorable recommendation to planning a regional forensic center in Rutherford County, advancing the proposal to the Health & Education Committee, property management and the county budget office.

The proposal presented to the committee would build an initial, approximately 15,000-square-foot facility with space for autopsy suites, administrative offices and limited body storage, with room planned for future expansion to roughly the 20,000-square-foot size suggested in an earlier feasibility study. Proponents said the center would reduce travel and turnaround time for autopsies, relieve strain on local emergency services and produce long-term cost savings compared with paying an outside vendor for autopsy services.

Eric Hensley, chief of staff to the mayor, framed the project as a countywide need and said it had broad public-safety support. "The state of Tennessee Department of Health has identified this as a ... great need," Hensley said. Denise Martin, supervisor of death investigations for the Rutherford County medical examiner's office, cited a Tennessee Department of Health–commissioned feasibility report and read portions of its findings, including that "the assessment team strongly believes that Tennessee urgently…