Boxes of case files are stacked nearly to the hallway ceiling and have taken over an office in the El Paso County coroner’s office.

Two offices, one occupied by Dr. Leon Kelly, have flooded several times.

Four toxicologists try not to trip over each other in their tiny lab. And the whole office tries to ignore smells from decomposed bodies and the autopsy area.

As for the coroner’s six investigators, they’re housed next door in a trailer.

So county coroner Dr. Robert Bux can’t wait to move about 100 feet into a bigger, better building.

“I don’t think I’m going to miss anything about the old building,” Bux said. “The new building gives us a lot more space, three ventilation systems, and will increase our efficiency significantly.”

Without the move, Bux said, his office — which does more autopsies than any other in the state and serves 20 other counties plus the south half of Park County — would have “zero chance” of keeping its accreditation.

The coroner’s office move, accompanied by the consolidation of Sheriff Terry Maketa’s forces in a renovated five-story building in downtown Colorado Springs, are the final phase of the county’s Strategic Moves initiative started in 2010.

The changes included closing several outdated and inefficient county buildings and moving offices into the Citizens Service Center on West Garden of the Gods Road. Department of Human Services was the first to move in March 2011, followed six months later by the treasurer, assessor, public health, Pikes Peak Workforce Center and the clerk and recorder.

Citizens Service Center, formerly part of the Intel complex, was purchased and remodeled for about $36 million, which included an accompanying parking garage and nearby building that will house county records storage when it’s remodeled.

That cost was covered by a $50 million Certificate of Participation (COP) — similar to a lease-purchase agreement — payable over 26 years at $3.1 million annually.

County commissioners were criticized for creating that debt without voter approval, though it’s legal with COPs.

“I’m completely convinced we made the right move,” commission chairman Dennis Hisey said recently. “We had about $385 million in infrastructure needs in our county buildings. We lopped off about half of that need with the COP.”

The COP included money for several renovations, including:

• Centennial Hall, 200 S. Cascade Ave., the new home for commissioners and county administration;

• Office of the Sheriff, 27 E. Vermijo Ave., formerly the county administration building;

• Coroner’s new office, moving from 2743 E. Las Vegas St. next door to the sheriff’s former training academy.

The sheriff’s training academy, canine unit and dispatch center all moved from East Las Vegas Street to downtown.

The sheriff’s civil division and work release program remain at the Metro Detention Facility, 210 S. Tejon St., while records, finance, personnel and internal affairs moved a half-block to the refurbished offices.

Maketa moved from 101 W. Costilla, along with the patrol and investigative divisions, to the new digs. Still on West Costilla is the emergency services division.

Maketa said he’s “tickled to death” to have most of his operations under one roof. Not having to drive to the training academy is especially time saving, he said.

Construction to enlarge the old training academy building should be completed in April, with part of Bux’s operation moving then and the rest in June, ahead of the summer accreditation exam.

Bux said his office only passed that five-year accreditation in 2008 because it added the trailer for office space. That wouldn’t work again, he said.

Only about 23 percent of coroner’s offices in the United States are accredited, Bux said. Two other Colorado counties, Denver and Larimer, also have accredited coroner’s offices.

Bux’s office performed 967 autopsies in 2012, and the coroner said that total increases by about 30 every year. Bux’s office did 114 autopsies in January, compared to 71 in January 2012.

“We’ll soon have four functioning (autopsy) stations and be twice as fast,” Bux said. “We’ll give better service in a lot of ways.”

When Bux moves his office, the sheriff’s defensive tactics training program will move into the coroner’s old building, after some walls are removed. Included will be a shooting simulator and a small fitness area for El Paso County jail employees — who work across the street at 2739 E. Las Vegas.

“It’s nice to see progress made,” Maketa said. “It helps everyone if we can be more efficient.”

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Contact Bob Stephens: 636-0276 Twitter @bobgstephens

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