HOWLAND — The Trumbull County Council of Governments received an update about efforts to relocate one of the county’s essential services from its shared home.

John Hickey, executive director of the county’s Emergency Management Agency, concluded his report to members last week that they’ve been working “very, very hard” to get the county coroner’s office out of his building.

“I’m not even worried about moving anymore. I just want them out; we’ve got to find a home,” Hickey said. “I don’t know what the answer is.”

County commissioners have been looking for new homes for the Trumbull County 911 Center and the coroner’s office since 2024.

Howland Trustee James LaPolla said he thought the coroner’s office wanted out, too. Hickey agreed, detailing the conditions Trumbull County Coroner Dr. Lawrence D’Amico and his staff were dealing with there.

“It’s so horrible; it’s so hot out in that bay right now. They had a decomp on Monday. I went in there, and it just reeks,” Hickey said. “It’s not fair to anyone involved.”

Hickey said the EMA hasn’t moved to the Trumbull County Fairgrounds, adding that the commissioners couldn’t make up their minds as to what they were doing.

“I’m okay — I’ve said that from the beginning. I don’t care, I don’t have to move, I’m happy where I’m at,” he said. “All that I was saying, an alternative to help them, but they’re no closer today than they were a year ago when they moved in; just find them a home — even if temporary.”

LaPolla said he knew D’Amico was trying to convince commissioners it was too hot in the building, joking that the smell was the equivalent of putting a chicken and a fish in a trash can, leaving it outside for 10 days, then taking a whiff.

“The bacteria grow, and that throws their evidence off; the body deteriorates,” LaPolla said.

“I don’t know the actual mathematical calculation, but it’s like the logarithmic curve; the hotter it gets, it spikes.”

For that reason, they have a $500,000 piece of equipment sitting outside, Hickey said, referring to the $617,045 Emergency Command Vehicle from LDV Custom Specialty that made its debut at the Trumbull County Fair earlier this month.

Hickey considered the equipment to be a “group effort”, crediting the past board for approving it and the new one for pushing it through.

Hickey said they were working harder to come up with something for the coroner’s office, even if they’d have to rent something temporarily.

“I really need to get my building back; it’s a shame, it really is, because a fairground facility would have been perfect for me,” Hickey said. “But it all came down to money; and they don’t want to spend money whatsoever. I’m not a politician, I don’t get involved with that stuff, but it seems like, to me, that’s the problem.”