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Question: What are Richland County and the City of Mansfield’s plans for their buildings and services (outside of public safety) for the April 8 eclipse? Will everything be open or will the proposed shelter-in-place order apply?
MANSFIELD — Here is the short answer to the query: No decisions have been made yet regarding what will be done with local government offices on the day the darkness arrives.
But Richland County Commissioner Tony Vero and Mansfield Mayor Jodie Perry both acknowledged this week that decisions need to be made about how the county courthouse and city Municipal Building will function on April 8.
That’s the day an estimated 250,000 out-of-town visitors may descend on Richland County during a total solar eclipse, assuming it’s a sunny day in Ohio.
The eclipse will begin locally around 3:12 p.m. on a Monday when local government offices are normally open.
It will offer three minutes and 12 seconds of daytime darkness when the moon passes between the sun and the Earth, completely blocking the face of the sun around most of Ohio.
Weather permitting, people in the path of a total solar eclipse can see the sun’s corona, the outer atmosphere, which is otherwise usually obscured by the bright face of the sun.
A total solar eclipse is considered a rare and spectacular event. On average, one happens somewhere on the Earth only once every 1.5 years. Only 21 total solar eclipses have crossed the lower 48 states in the entire existence of the United States.
Regardless of your age, if you remain in Ohio, this will be your one chance to “see” one of these.
The last total solar eclipse visible in Ohio was in 1806. The next total solar eclipse in Ohio will be in 2099.
(Below is a PDF trifold produced by the Richland County Emergency Management Agency about the upcoming April 8 solar eclipse.)
“There isn’t much to say at this time,” Vero said. “We haven’t made a decision yet (on county offices being open). We probably will in the next month or so.”
“We are monitoring traffic in terms of (lodging) reservations that will show us numbers as to how busy the county may get. As of now, the Richland County Fairgrounds has not had one overnight reservation for the eclipse,” Vero said, adding that local hotels and motels still have many rooms available.
Perry, who took office just a month ago, said her administration will be making and making a decision soon.
“We actually have not made a decision on that yet,” Perry said. “But I know I need to very soon. We will be discussing it in the next week or two.”
Perry is scheduled to meet Monday with Richland County EMA Director Rebecca Owens, who has led the county’s preparations and planning for the eclipse, including public educational sessions and sessions with community partners.
Owens has scheduled another meeting with those community partners on Friday morning.
“In a recent call with fellow EMA directors, those in the path of the eclipse are reporting an increase in hotel bookings. We are reaching out to hotels, Airbnbs, etc., in the near future,” Owens said.
She encouraged groups, businesses and organizations that may be planning events around the eclipse to contact her office.
“More events are starting to pop up throughout the county and it is important for the event planners to reach out to the EMA office.
“We are in frequent communication with officials and safety/emergency personnel and want to be able to keep them updated on events being planned,” Owens said.
A resource page for locals and visitors has been created on the Richland County website www.richlandcountyoh.gov/departments/eclipse 2024.
One cautionary note: Do not look at the sun during the eclipse unless you have approved eye ware.)
“The worst thing we can do is to ever look directly at the eclipse,” Ronald Benner, an optometrist and president of the American Optometric Association, told CNBC. “Even a split second.”
“Looking at [an] eclipse, the amount of solar radiation that comes off can actually burn the inside of the eyeball. Kind of like a sunburn, but not really a sunburn,” Benner told the network. “This actually affects the neuro-tissue in the back of the eye which is brain tissue.”
But unlike a sunburn, “once that tissue has been damaged, it may or may never recover,” he adds.
Many outlets are offering protective eye ware, which can also be ordered on Amazon.com.
