MANSFIELD — The Richland County Board of Commissioners said Tuesday it plans to close county buildings on April 8, the day north central Ohio will experience a complete solar eclipse.
“We’ll have an announcement soon. We’re most likely going to close,” Commissioner Tony Vero said.
The once-in-a-lifetime astronomical event has created widespread interest in the area with as many as 250,000 visitors expected to descend into Richland County if the skies are clear, according to county EMA Director Rebecca Owens.
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.
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Elected and appointed leaders from around Richland County, including law enforcement and fire department officials, have been preparing for the once-in-a-lifetime event since 2022. The last local total solar eclipse was in 1806 and the next one is not until 2444.
Commissioners said they would likely close county offices under their purview, though other elected officials would have to make their own decisions, such as judges who operate in the courthouse.
“I would imagine all the other offices will follow suit,” Vero said.
County administrator Andrew Keller said if commissioners voted to close offices that they would send out a notice identifying which buildings that would directly affect.
“There is sometimes confusion as to what constitutes a county building under the umbrella of the commissioners. So we want to make that clear when the time comes,” Keller said.
The Richland County website has a section devoted to local eclipse information, including safety details (wear approved eclipse eye ware if you plan to look at the sun during the event) and details on sites designated for viewing.
Also on Tuesday, commissioners approved a request from county JFS executive director Lori Bedson to extend for three months a grant contract with Catalyst Life Services for its Fresh Start Opioid Grant.
Bedson said the current agreement ends March 31 and more time is needed to pay any invoices that come in beyond the deadline.
JFS awarded the the $112,400 grant to Catalyst to provide a myriad of services related to opioid addiction, including training for healthcare workers or mental health professionals who deal with individuals or families dealing with addiction.
“They have done some trauma-informed type training, they’ve done some recovery training,” Bedson said. “They have done some motivational interviewing trainings for those individuals.
“Plus, with those funds, we were also able to place individuals who had had some difficulty being employed or staying employed as a result of an opioid addiction or a family member that had an addiction.
“We’ve had what the state called transitional employment and certain types of positions such as case manager aides working with Children Services or in a mental health facility. We’ve also placed some individuals in rehabilitation centers to act as aides to the counselors,” she said.
