County staff preview ninth-grade career expo, opening of second community sales facility

County staff on Wednesday previewed a ninth-grade career expo slated for Tuesday at the Fairgrounds and announced the opening of a second county sales facility at 417 West Marion. Staff said the career expo will bring approximately 400 to 500 ninth graders from county schools and partner programs to the Fairgrounds for hands-on career demonstrations.

Staff emphasized the event is an educational expo rather than a hiring fair. "This isn't a career fair. They're not being offered jobs at this. They're just getting an opportunity in this expo to see what the jobs are and introduce them to these ideas," a staff member said during the meeting.

The county stated that the expo includes partners such as OSU Extension and a number of local businesses and government organizations; staff said about 100 volunteers or partners help run the event. Staff also said Randy Smith has worked on the event and that county engineers will bring equipment for hands-on demonstrations in areas such as maintenance and roofing.

Separately, staff announced a second county facility at 417 West Marion will open on Monday at 5 p.m. (the record gives the sequence as "Monday, the 20 ninth at 5PM"). Staff described the facility as an additional location for county sales of donated items to support county programs.

Staff also noted that the county’s mobile command post will be brought in for maintenance and service, including changing shocks and fluids and servicing the generator; the record indicates the vehicle had last been serviced in 2018. Staff said the repair vendor would provide transportation after the work is complete.

Commissioners were invited to attend the expo and to visit the new facility; no formal action was required or taken on these announcements during the meeting.