Although Dr. Warren Keene and his staff deal mostly with dead people, their office is an increasingly busy place to work.

That’s why Keene, Kootenai County’s coroner, is eager to move forward with plans for a lab facility with a full mortuary and pathology services. For years, the medical doctor has approached county commissioners with his desire for the lab. But he’s always been turned away.

On Tuesday, county commissioners gave Keene a glimmer of hope when they voted 2-1 to allow the coroner to draft a letter of intent to seek a federal grant to help make the lab a reality.

Make no mistake, Keene said, the letter is a very small step in his laboratory mission.

“I’m just making my intent known that I’m interested in the grant — that’s all I’m committing to do,” he said.

In the long haul, a lab would save local taxpayers, Keene said.

Currently, bodies requiring an autopsy (usually due to an unattended or suspicious death) are taken to Spokane County, where a pathologist working under contract with Kootenai County performs the services.

Keene said his office is responsible for 50-60 autopsies a year. Those numbers are steadily rising every year as the population grows.

The coroner says he worries that as the entire region continues to grow, it will be more difficult to contract with the Spokane County coroner.

A local lab with pathology services would allow Keene to keep the bodies in Kootenai County. A local pathologist would be contracted to perform autopsies and other services such as DNA testing and X-rays.

“It’s just a more efficient way to do business,” Keene said.

“I’ve been proposing a lab facility in my budget for a good number of years, but it’s always been cut,” he said. “So I provided stats on how busy we are getting and the need to strategically plan ahead and be ready if Spokane (County) decides they’re not going to contract with us anymore.”

A couple years ago, the coroner estimated construction of a lab would cost about $545,000. Through increased efficiencies, Keene estimates it would pay for itself in five years.

While Commissioners Chris Fillios and Bill Brooks voted in favor of allowing Keene to draft a letter of intent to seek the federal grant, they emphasized it was not an endorsement of the project.

“A letter of intent preserves flexibility for the project,” Fillios said. “I’m willing to entertain a motion to write the letter but that does not commit (commissioners) to anything.”

Meanwhile, plans are moving forward to move the coroner’s office from its current locale on North Third Street to northern Coeur d’Alene on Dalton Avenue near the sheriff’s office.

The sole bid opened last month to remodel office space for the coroner at the Pierce Clegg Work Release Center came in at $95,000, considerably higher than anticipated, said county consultant and project manager Shawn Riley.

The project has been re-bid. New bids will be opened later this month, Riley said.