Approve agreement with Dr. Jiemin Zhou for the provision of specialized forensic services for the time period of October 1, 2023, through June 30, 2025, in a not to exceed amount of $700,000 for the entire term of the agreement. (No general fund impact) (Lopez/Davis)

Approve the Sheriff's Office agreement with Dr. Jiemin Zhou for the provision of specialized forensic services for the time period of October 1, 2023, through June 30, 2025, in a not-to-exceed amount of $700,000 for the entire term of the agreement.

Pursuant to Government Code Sections 27491 and 27520, the Sheriff’s Office Coroner’s Section is responsible for conducting autopsies and postmortem examinations in order to determine the cause of death in cases where there are sudden, unusual, and violent circumstances. The Coroner’s Section utilizes a contracted forensic pathology vendor to obtain these services as part of their mandated law enforcement duties. From 1997 to 2015 forensic pathology services were exclusively contracted through Forensic Medical Group (FMG). In 2015, an inquiry was made into contracting with Sacramento County to provide the same scope of services that FMG did. Once the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office was authorized to negotiate agreements for their employees to perform forensic pathology for surrounding counties, the Yolo County Coroner moved forward with a contract as an alternative to FMG, with all work being executed by Sacramento County employees at the Yolo County Morgue Facility. This arrangement was successful until December 2021, when Sacramento County indicated it could no longer fulfill its contract duties due to lack of staff and advised Yolo County to begin to search for another provider. Sheriff’s Office staff have been able to contract with three independent forensic pathologists so that service to Yolo County citizens remains uninterrupted.

Forensic pathologists require the presence of medical assistant staff while providing services at the Yolo County Morgue Facility. The Sheriff's Office has been able to hire extra help positions to fulfill this need. However, the hours they are available to work has been limited to the weekends. Therefore, the majority of autopsies and external examinations have been performed by Dr. Jiemin Zhou, the pathologist who is available during these times. This necessitates a professional services agreement with a larger, not-to-exceed dollar amount, than his previous agreement, and one that is larger than the other vendors. Based on historical usage, the contract limit amount is set at $350,000 per fiscal year. Board of Supervisors approval is now requested. 

County Counsel has approved the Agreement as to form. 

The pool of vendors qualified to provide specialized forensic services is extremely limited; however, the Yolo County Sheriff's Office has been able to contract with three independent providers. While these vendors all have varied availability, each vendor charges the same rate for services.