While Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has said that beginning May 1, some businesses will be able to reopen and life can begin to slowly get back to normal, Marysville city officials say it is not that simple.
“We are very interested in listening to the governor and bringing ourselves back, but doing it in a methodical manner that makes sense,” said City Manager Terry Emery.
He said the city has already made the decision to close parks and other facilities to mass gatherings through at least the end of May.
“We made that decision a couple weeks ago,” Emery said. “We are basically looking at things and taking it month by month, trying to make the best decisions.”
Local sports organizations have been contacted and told of the city plan. While team activities are prohibited, Emery said the parks remain open for exercise like walking, running, bicycling or skating. He said families can still use the parks to play together as well.
“What we don’t want is to see is group activities,” Emery said.
He said the hope is that on June 1, city parks and facilities are able to fully open, “while we will still need to keep our distancing.”
He said the city has already started talks about how events in June, July and possibly later could look, but those decisions will be made closer to the time.
“We don’t want to do something now and just make a blanket decision about all group activities,” the city manager said.
Emery said he and other officials are “working toward the hope we can open the city pool.”
The pool is scheduled to open May 23.
“Even if we aren’t able to open on time, we are still holding out hope that we would like to be open by June or as soon as possible after,” Emery said.
The city has extended the 15% discount on season passes through the summer. Usually the discount expires in April.
Emery said the city is taking a similar approach to City Hall.
“Will City Hall open May 1 to the public? Probably not,” Emery said. “But we want people to know that we are continuing to operate as we have.”
City officials are also asking residents who normally visit City Hall for services to “conduct their business online or over the telephone, if practicable.”
Emery stressed that city offices are not closed and officials will still meet with residents who choose to come into City Hall.
He said a night drop box, located behind City Hall, is also available for utility and income tax payments.
Emery said there is nothing that city government was doing or that citizens could do two months ago, they can’t do now.
“It’s not the same and we have to be creative about how we are meeting and how we are meeting with the public, but we are still able to get things done and provide services for the public,” Emery said.
He said officials are talking with the local health department and listening to state officials.
“We are going to evaluate how things are going and when we might be able to begin a gradual, slow implementation of what we are going to consider our new normal, at least for a while,” Emery said.