MANSFIELD — It appears the COVID-19 pandemic has hastened the demise of the Ocie Hill Neighborhood Center.
Mayor Tim Theaker and and Parks and Recreation Manager Mark Abrams announced Monday the facility at 445 Bowman St. on the city’s north side will not re-open.
The century-old building, scheduled to be closed permanently Sept. 1, has been closed since March 12, according to Abrams.
Theaker declared a state of emergency in the city during the pandemic, closing the city’s municipal building on March 20.
Even as Gov. Mike DeWine has gradually re-opened the state’s economy in the last several weeks, some of the restrictions make opening Ocie Hill impossible, according to Abrams.
“The big one is the requirement to clean the restrooms and the common areas every two hours,” Abrams said. “We laid off two part-time parks and recreation employees and one of them was tasked with cleaning Ocie Hill. We just can’t do it.”
Abrams said if the governor relaxes the restrictions before Sept. 1, the city would consider re-opening Ocie Hill.
Abrams said the non-profit agencies and others utilizing space inside the center have been allowed to get into their offices during the pandemic to get needed materials.
Theaker was criticized by north end residents in February when he announced the long-time community center was being closed this fall. Residents filled City Council chambers on Feb. 18 to speak against the city’s plans to close Ocie Hill.
Theaker has discussed possibly replacing Ocie Hill with a different facility, conversations that been slowed by COVID-19, according to Abrams.
“I know it’s something Mayor Theaker is really pushing for and will find a way to replace Ocie Hill,” Abrams said.
In February, Theaker said estimates to replace the boiler, windows, doors and other required work could cost several million dollars.
“Just to replace the boiler is $1.4 million. That doesn’t include anything else. Then you got windows. Then you got doors. As soon as you start playing with that, you got asbestos. It could be millions and millions and millions,” Theaker said aftet the February council meeting.
Hill was the first Black resident to be elected to Mansfield City Council and the longest serving individual on council in the history of Mansfield, serving from 1961 to 1991.
Throughout the years the building has been known as the old Creveling School, the Mansfield Opportunities Industrial Center, the Human Resource Bureau and the Neighborhood Youth Corps. In 1996, it was renamed for Hill, whose photo still hangs in council chambers.
The city purchased the building in 1988 and it’s home to more than a dozen non-profit and government agencies, as well as a gymnasium used by children and after school-programs like the Culliver Reading Center.
Fourth Ward Councilman Alomar Davenport, then in just in his second month in office, spoke passionately in February about the facility that is in his ward, saying Hill’s legacy must continue.
“Anyone who has spoken to me for the last eight months knows my feelings on Ocie Hill. Ocie Hill is a staple of our community. Not so much the building, but what the building represents,” said Davenport, offering a lengthy list of officials elected from the north end.
“Without Ocie Hill, there would be no Don Culliver. Without Don Culliver, there would be no Butch Jefferson. Without Butch Jefferson, there would be no Sam Dunn and without Sam Dunn, there absolutely would be no Alomar Davenport.
“We cannot continue to lose things in the north. We cannot continue to lose resources in the north, and they not be replenished. I will spend the remaining three years and 10 months of my term making sure that building is replaced,” Davenport said.
Davenport said Monday, “All talk in regard to a replacement building stopped when the state shut down. This move was to be expected based on the building being shuttered in March.”
