City, Postal Service act to upgrade mail service in Somerton subdivision

the city has purchased cluster mailboxes that will be installed in four phases

SOMERTON – It’s not the same as home delivery, but residents of a subdivision on the city’s south side no longer will have to go to Somerton’s post office to collect their mail.

As part of an agreement with the U.S. Postal Service, the city has purchased cluster mailboxes that will be installed in four phases in central locations in the Valle del Sol subdivision. Mail carriers will then drop letters in the boxes.

“Residents of Somerton mostly have the disadvantage of not receiving mail service to the home,” Mayor Geraldo Anaya said.

The Postal Service’s commitment to deliver mail to the cluster boxes, he said, comes in response to recurring appeals by the city for home delivery.

Somerton City Administrator Jerry Cabrera said the city is awaiting the delivery of boxes slated to be installed in the subdivision later this year or beginning in early 2022.

“We agreed with the Postal Service (to do this project),” Cabrera said. “We invested (money) in the purchase the boxes, and they will provide service to the residents. We ordered the postal boxes awhile ago, but the delivery of them has been held up by the pandemic.”

The city earmarked $40,000 this fiscal year for the project. It anticipates being reimbursed by the residents for the purchase of the boxes, although those terms have yet to be worked out.

Nearly 98 percent of Somerton residents don’t get mail delivered to their homes, instead picking it up at the Post Office at Main Street and Columbia Avenue.

Cabrera said it has been proposed in the past that the city require developers to install cluster boxes in future subdivisions in Somerton.