Hawaii County is making progress toward relieving the severely overcrowded Hilo Benioff Medical Center’s morgue of what are referred to as “HPD bodies,” according to Hawaii Police Department Chief Ben Moszkowicz.

“That ball is rolling with the new mayor,” said Moszkowicz, who under state law is the county coroner, with all other Big Island police officers serving as deputy coroners. “So, we are on track with what we’re calling the ‘temporary cold-storage facility.’ We’re hoping that we’ll be operational by March or April. That’s our new target. And to their credit, Hilo Benioff Medical Center has been very amenable to us working through our processes and us showing them our progress.

“If their facility fails, then the whole county is in big, big trouble.”

Police, as coroners, have used the hospital’s morgue as a holding facility for bodies in coroner’s inquest cases and in criminal investigations.

HBMC months ago requested that HPD remove by Sept. 1 the HPD bodies — that is, the remains of people whose death occurred anywhere other than in the hospital.

“We appreciate the progress HPD has made in their plans for completing their cold storage build,” said Kris Wilson, assistant administrator for the Hawaii Health Systems East Hawaii region. “After HPD opens their cold storage, HBMC will be able to proceed with repairs that will close our morgue completely for at least three days.”

“The morgue census is still high and well over our 16-body capacity on most days,” she continued. “We are hoping the County of Hawaii continues its momentum on this project that is crucial to our operations.”

The temporary cold- storage would be provided by two 40-foot refrigerated containers purchased by the county for “just under $80,000,” then-Managing Director Deanna Sako told the Tribune-Herald in September.

That same month, then-Mayor Mitch Roth, who left office Dec. 2 upon the inauguration of Mayor Kimo Alameda, signed into law Bill 180, introduced by Puna County Council member Matt Kaneali‘i-Kleinfelder.

The legislation adds $1.5 million for a permanent county morgue to HPD’s capital budget and authorizes the issuance of general obligation bonds to fund the project.

According to Moszkowicz, the temporarily facility with containers will be stationed “within the footprint of the new emergency call center” on Mohouli Street in Hilo, which has a target occupancy date of Feb. 5 for dispatchers.

“The permanent building spot (for the morgue) is, as yet, undetermined,” he added.

One factor contributing to the backlog of “HPD bodies” at HBMC’s morgue is the amount of time it sometimes takes funeral homes to claim the bodies after autopsies. Moszkowicz said those facilities will need to claim bodies in a more timely manner once the temporary facility is in operation.

“That’s going to be the expectation, and we’re going to communicate that very clearly and up front,” he said. We can’t not have any overflow storage capacity. It’s not a good situation.”

According to Moszkowicz, the number of bodies that can be accommodated in temporary cold storage is “in the area of 20 to 30 per container.”

“What we’re doing is purchasing racks for storage and drawers and sliding devices, so it’s going to be organized in an efficient manner,” he said.

Police have a contract with Clinical Labs of Hawaii to perform autopsies, and HBMC has a contract with Clinical Labs to manage and operate its morgue.

“The situation with autopsies is, we’ll transport the remains to Hilo Benioff, then our contractor will use their autopsy suite,” the chief said. “Once our pathologist is done, we’ll transport the remains back to cold storage.”