Social Security responds about Mansfield address on closure list
The Social Security Administration responded on Monday about a Mansfield address being included on a closure list around the USA as included in recent national media coverage.
"To use our space more efficiently, we provided GSA [General Services Administration] a list of leases for termination," the Social Security Administration press office said Monday via email in response to a question about a Diamond Street address in Mansfield. It was listed along with a May 17 closing date in multiple media reports late last week.
Most of these leases are for small remote hearing sites located within a Social Security office or other federal space, the statement on Monday from Social Security said.
"Since most hearings are held virtually, we no longer need as many in-person hearings locations," it added. "Social Security offices in which a small remote hearing site’s lease was terminated remain open to serve the public."
"Other lease terminations SSA provided to GSA are non-public facing, being consolidated into nearby locations, or we had already planned to close," the statement added.
Separately, in relation to the Mansfield site, total savings of $27,557 are specified with $15,031 in annual lease cost, per information on the "DOGE Wall of Receipts." DOGE is the acronym for the newly formed federal Department of Government Efficiency.
In Ohio, it is the only Social Security address on the closure list.
A second Social Security office in Mansfield is to remain open at 1287 S. Trimble Road.
Questions about the Diamond Street address in Mansfield surfaced over the weekend from retired Shelby City Councilman Garland Gates, a Shelby mayor in the 1980s. Gates checked Richland County land records for the Mansfield address listed. Gates determined that the North Diamond Street address is the location of Mansfield City Hall.
New information arrived Sunday on Social Security’s former use of that site, followed by the Social Security Administration statement on Monday.
For questions related to facilities not covered on the Social Security website, the press office referred further inquiries to the U.S. General Services Administration on Monday.
Separately, no information has been received yet on an unspecified Mansfield address linked to the Internal Revenue Service with $0 in total savings and $46,239 in annual lease cost and a reference to a lease termination on the "DOGE Wall of Receipts."