MANSFIELD — A conference table loaded with sanitizing wipes, paper towels, sterile gloves and more cleaning supplies on Friday morning was the first indication this was a different kind of Richland County commissioners meeting.
Acknowledging issues and information surrounding the coronavirus were fluid, commissioners shared an updated protocol with department heads during a special meeting in a packed meeting chamber.
How fluid is the situation?
On Thursday, commissioners Darrell Banks, Marilyn John and Tony Vero briefly discussed what could happen if the state closed schools due to COVID-19 concerns.
Less than three hours later, that quick discussion became reality as Gov. Mike DeWine announced all schools in Ohio — public, private and charter — would close for three weeks at the end of the school day on Monday.
“You couldn’t even get the ink dry on a piece of paper (about) a decision that had been made before another decision was made,” John said.
During a discussion on the impact of the school closure on county employees with children, Human Resources Director Kelly Christiansen said she had already begun work on what options departments may have available for workers.
Christiansen pointed out the county has 13 different collective bargaining agreements with employees that could impact what can be offered in terms of flexible scheduling, working from home, etc.
Commissioners urged the department heads, and other county leaders who joined the session, to be careful what information they disseminate with the public.
“Be very careful where you get the information from,” John said. “I would also (caution) you that words matter. We don’t want to be alarming when we don’t need to be alarming. When talking to the public, i feel we need to be careful of the words we use so that we do not encourage panic.”
Commissioners said the county’s website would have updated information and also told department heads that information could be submitted on the Richland Source COVID-19 bulletin board.
Richland County Domestic Relations Court Judge Heather Cockley discussed with commissioners the possibility of rearranging some of her court sessions to reduce the number of people gathering in the third-floor hallways.
No decisions were made, though Cockley said the county’s judges planned to meet to discuss COVID-19 issues.
During the 51-minute session, commissioners shared an updated version of the one-page protocol they developed on Thursday. It includes:
— the county seeking seek extra cleaning services for the county courthouse, focusing in public areas.
— distributing Clorox wipes, spray bottles and protective, disposable gloves to each county department. Commissioners urged at least daily cleaning of high-touch areas in each department. When cleaning computer keyboards, employees should off the computer first.
— purchase and distribute hand sanitizer when it becomes available to each department and place dispensers of the sanitizers throughout the halls of county buildings.
— encouraging each department to assess their individual functions and provide a list of options that would allow the public to interact with county government operations remotely where possible. Commissioners pointed to an announcement produced by Job & Family Services on the agency’s Facebook page.
— asking each department to assess outside meetings requiring travel and pursue video conferencing where possible.
— asking departments to host meetings in a large-enough space to allow social distancing. Six feet is suggested by Richland Public Health.
