Marietta, GA  - This is a big weekend for Cobb County.  The Medical Examiner is officially operating out of a new facility on County Services Parkway.  The new $11 million, 19-thousand square foot building replaces a facility built in the late 1970s that could no longer serve the needs of a growing suburban county.

“The original Medical Examiner’s office was built in 1978 when Cobb County only had 200-thousand people, and it has not significantly been expanded since then,” said Dr. Christopher Gulledge, Cobb County’s Medical Examiner.  “Today Cobb County has 750-thousand people and we needed significant expansion to meet the need for the county.”

The Medical Examiner’s office is more often known for its role in helping to investigate criminal cases.  Dr. Gulledge notes the ME’s office works in tandem with the police and the judicial system but does not work for those entities, only the residents of Cobb County. 

Gulledge says the current COVID-19 pandemic highlights an equally important role.  

“The current situation surrounding the coronavirus pandemic shows a clear need for constant disease surveillance.  We can provide real-time data to the Public Health Department to help them track where the coronavirus is in our county,” Dr. Gulledge said.

Croft and Associates provided the architectural and engineering services for the building, which was largely funded from the 2016 SPLOST program.  Voters in Cobb will be asked to renew the one-cent SPLOST (Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax) program in November.  For more information, visit www.CobbSPLOST2022.org.