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Residents seek voice in meeting with USPS officials |
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Thursday, 28 June 2007 |
 Patti Robinson
Heated arguments were exchanged between all parties. The exchanges reached the point that Mitchell stepped out of the complex briefly before returning and asking everyone to “cool down” and focus on the issues. The mayor also apologized to postal officials for the exchanges.
The city of Bryant had asked for several years for a new post office, citing safety, size and other problems related to the current facility. Thus far, supporters say, they have received little support from the U.S. Postal Service members who have been contacted.
“Our city is growing and all we are asking is please hear us and help us and give us a new post office,” Alderman Steve Gladden said. “We have a great community here and people will stand together ... we will fight for this ... we’ll try to work together to make this happen.”
Alderman Rick Meyer added: “We will build [a new post office].”
Patti E. Robinson, manager for marketing of the Arkansas district for the U.S. Postal Service, said officials there do care.
“That’s why we are here,” she said. “We are here to listen to your concerns and to address them as much as we can, but we have guidelines that we have to follow.
“I can’t stand here and promise you a new facility, but I can tell you that you bring your problems directly to me, and those problems will be addressed.
“I do not want you to leave this building thinking that we have plans to build a new facility. That is not what we have in mind.”
Mitchell then asked if there was another avenue the city could take to get a new postal facility.
“For years we have requested a new post office,” Mitchell said. “And year after year after year, we are turned down. The need is there whether y’all think the need is there or not.”
“We deserve a new post office, we want a new post office and we are not quitting until the postmaster general or whoever says that [Bryant] is not going to get one and that still is not going to be an acceptable answer.”
In 2006, Dr. Larry Smith, then president of the Bryant Chamber of Commerce, and Mayor Paul Halley, Mitchell’s predecessor, sent a letter to E. W. Waldenmayer, who was then the district manager of the USPS, noting the growth of the city and the insufficiencies of the current post office.
It stated, in part:
“We are served by the same postal office as in the 1980s, when the population was less than 3,000, with the same number of boxes and only three employees. Our population has more than quadrupled since this facility was built. Further, the parking lot is poorly laid out, with the room for cars backing up putting them into the path of the cars turning in. Many accidents have occurred.
“We have written the postal service twice in the past, beginning in 1999, to address our postal needs. We asked to be put on the 10-year growth planning radar. It is our understanding that there is still no plan ...”
Mary Nell Engel, a former manager of the consumer affairs department of the USPS, responded days later in a letter to Halley that said, “Bryant is not being considered for a new office and is not in the five-year plan for new facilities. “
The letter further stated: “The carrier operation has been moved to the Benton Post Office ... the workroom is definitely not crowded ... since Bryant is only three miles from Benton, an addition of a contract unit would greatly help in faster service and better parking for our customers.”
Debbie Broadway, a Bryant District Court employee who is heading the campaign for a new post office, said many more letters have been exchanged through the years, but the Postal Service seems to be not listening or taking the city’s concerns seriously.
Gigi Gilkerson, a facilities requirement specialist with USPS, said: “There are business rules that I have to follow. We have to examine space within a 10-mile radius. ... I have to look at all the alternatives, I have to weigh all of that and I have done that for your post office and it does not meet the criteria or qualify for new space.”
Gilkerson then said vehemently: “A gentleman earlier said we are located on [Arkansas] 183, where all these businesses are moving in that same area. What a perfect area for the post office to be, your most busiest area. Where else would you want us to be? Off on some back street somewhere?”
Gilkerson asked several times, “Where would you want us to be?” and “What problems?” Her remarks sparked heated comments from aldermen and Mitchell.
Gladden noted that Alexander had received a post office twice since Bryant has had one that is five times the size of Bryant’s [post office]. But even in that time, he said, Bryant had a higher population.
“Now why was Bryant overlooked?” Gladden asked. Gilkerson continuously replied that she did not have an answer for that question because she was not in the area then.
“Sir, let me just tell you that I have done requirements for your space OK,” Gilkerson said. “You currently have 2,784 square feet at the Bryant post office. Based on the current criteria, your current operations, you qualify for 1,890 square feet. That’s less square footage than you have now.”
Mitchell responded if that if the USPS was using such criteria, he can see why the agency is in trouble financially.
“I can see why UPS is doing such a good job ... and Federal Express,” Mitchell said to loud applause in the audience. “Because [USPS] does not listen to what the citizens want and what they need. You are not addressing the needs of the citizens.”
After leaving for a few minutes, the mayor came back in to heated exchanges and asked for everyone to “tone it down ... me included.”
Broadway suggested a possible reason for the heated exchanges with representatives of the USPS. “Y’all shake us off when you hear anything that we have to say ... your rolling your eyes ... and I’ve been watching you do it for the past hour and 45 minutes when anyone makes a comment. Well that’s not customer friendly ... the last time that I checked, you guys work for me [as a customer] ... Is that true?”
“No ma’am” Gilkerson said. “Your taxes do not pay my salary.”
Robinson stepped in and said, “I want you to know that because of customers, we are in business ... I deal with customer complaints. So for you to say that I don’t care, please don’t leave here thinking that, because it is [important].”
Robinson then referred to the national guidelines and said that, though she can’t say what Bryant residents wanted to hear, she would tell the truth. Based on those guidelines, she said, there are hundreds of towns and communities with a greater need. She said that she understood the frustration and that those facts were not going to be popular, but she wanted to tell the Postal Service side.
Bryant Fire Chief Randy Cox later said the building is not the major issue — that it is the problems in the parking lot and accessibility — that is why it is not a safe facility.
Mitchell pleaded with USPS officials to give the residents of Bryant hope and to not continuously turn down their requests for a new facility. Bryant officials also told Postal Service representatives that the city would be willing to work with real estate specialists to get a building for less or equal value to the current facility, and possibly the land for the building as well.
A request was made for building specifications so that the city could propose a building plan to the USPS. Preston McWhirter, facilities engineer, said he would get those to the Bryant City Council.
Marilyn Lee, a Bryant resident and former postmaster who worked the Bryant area from 1974-1992, stood up with her granddaughter and said she understands both sides of the issue.
“I kind of have a mixed loyalty here.” Lee said. “I understand all the guidelines ... I would like to see someone step up to the plate and solve this problem, even though the guidelines don’t let us do that.
“Lets make a good move for planning ... My take is bring back to Bryant what is owed to Bryant.. Long range, we have to look at these issues.”
USPS representatives said they would get aldermen the specification requirements based on the current square footage. They added that when a proposal is made from Bryant, they will take it to the Dallas USPS office and ask officials there to give it consideration.
Broadway said the next update will be at 7 p.m. July 12 at the Bryant City Council meeting at Boswell Municipal Complex.
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