|
Return to sender: USPS back
by Gregory R. Norfleet · News · December 10, 2008
Concerns expressed at a community meeting last Wednesday led the U.S. Postal Service to change its mind and cut a deal with the city to hand out mail and offer retail services for three hours a day at City Hall.
West Branch post office box customers were able to pick up their mail at City Hall starting Tuesday for limited hours, the City Administrator Kyle Soukup announced Friday.
Soukup said the post office contacted him Friday morning to find a way to provide at least a few hours a day of service to the town while workers remove asbestos from the Federal Building.
USPS workers began handing out post office box mail, selling stamps and accepting packages from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekdays starting Dec. 9.
After 2 p.m., the remaining mail will be taken back to Iowa City, where is will be available from 3:30 to 7 p.m. weekdays and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.
“They took the feedback from the town hall meeting the other night and (Postmaster) Jeri (Holbrook) and I worked out a system,” he said.
Soukup said splitting the time between West Branch and Iowa City will accommodate people who have worked out retrieving mail with someone who works in Iowa City.
Holbrook said the USPS is working to offer full services at the City Hall location.
“We’ll see how it works,” she said Monday. “Things aren’t in place yet, so I can’t be definite.”
She agreed that the community meeting impacted the USPS decision.
“It was a surprise to me when they decided to change it,” she said. “It was a discussion at the district level.”
Those who have forwarded their mail from a post office box will have to contact the post office if they want to make a change. Also, early morning pick up in Iowa City stopped Tuesday and will only be offered to customers who have made prior arrangements.
Soukup said he was glad to work out the deal, though a bit frustrated it happened after the West Branch post office closed temporarily starting Dec. 1 for asbestos removal work prior to the installation of a new heating and air conditioning system.
“Figuring this was similar to an idea we suggested a month or two ago, it’s a little frustrating it has taken so long,” he said. “I think it will help everybody here who is driving to Iowa city or unable to get over there somehow.”
Soukup predicts there will be some problems with traffic around city hall during those lunchtime hours.
“But it’s worth it,” he said.
The asbestos work, though set to begin Dec. 1, was delayed to Dec. 8. The USPS decided it was too late to notify West Branch residents of the change.
At a town hall meeting Dec. 3 at the high school, more than 80 residents, business owners, city officials and representatives from U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley and U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack attended.
Many questioned the reasons behind not setting up a temporary office in West Branch. The primary reason given was that it would cost between $15,000 to $20,000 to do so, according to USPS Post Office Manager of Operations Mark Allen.
USPS Office Review Investigator Sara Lindauer opened that meeting reassuring residents that there were no plans to permanently close the West Branch location.
“We’re only out as long as necessary,” she said, referring to the asbestos project. “We apologize for any inconvenience.”
At the time, she said that if the post office was going to be closed for longer than the expected two weeks, “we would have set up alternate means.”
“But it’s very costly to do that,” she said.
Allen said that setting up a “cluster box unit” would take at least three weeks and they would have to hire temporary staff to hand out mail, which the USPS cannot afford right now. He said that the buildings offered by the city were considered, but each had “a lot of problems.”
Mayor Sandy Hatfield said she felt the decision was more for the “convenience of the post office and not for the citizens.”
“That’s pretty shabby,” she said, eliciting applause from the audience.
Resident Dale Thomas, a former USPS letter-carrier, said he “failed to see the logic” of “asking me and hundreds of others to drive to Iowa City.”
Residents seemed more concerned about the USPS not setting up a temporary location than why the National Park Service chose the holiday season to close the building.
Allen said the West Branch office pays about $4,500 rent a month to the NPS and an annual $2,500 “common area maintenance” fee. NPS is not charging the USPS rent for the time it is displaced, however Allen said the post office is not having to pay more for staff time and mileage.
Allen said there would be a rebate for box customers who rent their boxes; there are also customers who have free boxes due to close proximity to the West Branch location.
Springdale resident Clara Oleson asked how much Allen made per year — $95,000 — and if he had ever dealt with a situation like this since taking the job in 1994 — no.
Residents asked Allen to funnel updates about the West Branch location to the West Branch Times for posting on its Web site, though Allen questioned whether that could reach everybody “universally.”
He said he would prefer to send letters and half-joked that he wished more people would.
“Our form of communication is the letter,” he said. “I would rather you got used to sending letters.”
This comment sparked an angry response from resident Rev. Richard Paulus.
“Do not use your sarcasm on us,” he shouted. “At $95,000 a year you can treat us with respect. Don’t talk down to us.”
Holbrook is carrying a USPS-owned cell phone for customers who are having difficulty getting through to her via the Iowa City office. The number is 515-707-1051.
There are some 283 post office box customers affected by the closing who have had to find alternate means for retrieving mail. More than 150 have forwarded their mail to residential mail boxes and about a dozen have asked to make it permanent.
One resident praised Holbrook as an “extraordinary postmaster” for working with customers, which prompted applause from the audience.
FYI
Visit the West Branch Times Web site at www.westbranchtimes.com for updates on the West Branch post office. We will post a notice of the location's reopening as soon as possible upon official notice.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
