New post office site subject of meeting

Officials have scheduled a meeting to provide information on its search for a new post office site.

U.S. Postal Service officials have scheduled a Feb. 21 meeting to provide the public with information on its search for a new post office site.

The session is scheduled for 6 p.m. in Town Hall at 284 Broadway.

Postal Service real estate specialist Kurtis Bullard wrote in a letter to the town that officials are seeking a location that is “reasonably” close to a previous facility.

“At the public meeting, the Postal Service will identify the need, identify the tentative decision to re-locate retail services, outline the proposal to meet the need for relocation, invite questions, solicit written input on the proposal, and provide an address to which the community and local officials may send written appeals of the tentative decision and comments on the proposal for a period of 30 days following the public meeting,” he said.

Postal service is conducted in a 45-foot long trailer that opened in September at the corner of Bowne Street and West Stout Avenue. It allowed service to resume within the hamlet, which had been without a post office for five months after a previous facility closed following a roof leak and dispute with the property owner over repairs.

“The ‘new space project’ will consist of procuring a suitable substitute location, preparing the new location for use as a post office and then transitioning the retail services to the new location,” Bullard wrote.

Mail for about 800 addresses during the closure had been delivered to the Ulster Park Post Office at 364 Union Center Road, which is 7 miles away.

U.S. Postal Service officials pay $1,800 per month to use of the town-owned lot, though Town Board members have asked that concerted effort be made for a permanent location.

“They weren’t going to do this but then we pushed,” town Supervisor Shannon Harris said.

“They wanted to renew our lease for the temporary trailer and we would not without having them take a step to find a permanent location,” she said. “So they said they pulled strings. There was a change in leadership as well at the new year, and the new leadership is more cooperative in expediting this process for our town.”