MONTPELIER, Vt. (WCAX) – U.S. Post Office officials say they are in negotiations on a property in downtown Montpelier to replace the post office in the federal building destroyed by flooding last summer. It couldn’t come soon enough for Capital City area residents who have been going without basic services for seven months.
“We’ve had a rally, we’ve written letters, we’ve written emails. We have done everything that we can and we can’t seem to get anybody’s attention,” said Martha Smyrski of Montpelier. She says without a post office, she’s had to drive all over the place to get mail service. “We have to go either to Barre or to East Montpelier. Barre is so crowded right now that they actually have difficulty dealing with people coming in and out. East Montpelier is wonderful, they are so accommodating, ut they have very limited hours. So, if we want to mail anything other than a letter, you have to make an hour-long trip.”
USPS officials say they are getting ready to set up shop back in Montpelier and have been in negotiations. “This is a better situation for the carriers. And we hope to be announcing in the next week a location in downtown Montpelier for retail operations and post office boxes that will bring postal service back to the downtown area,” said USPS’ Steve Doherty.
He says for the time being, current customers will have to keep using the postal services in Barre and that if a package is delivered to someone’s house and can’t be signed for, it will be taken to the Berlin location.
Montpelier not having a post office has also caused problems for residents from neighboring towns. “It’s inconvenient to have to go into downtown Barre. Parking is minimal there. If you have larger items that you have to deal with a postal clerk on, the Barre workers cannot handle it. You have to be there when the Montpelier post office person is there,” said Berlin Town Administrator Ture Nelson.
Berlin will be voting on Town Meeting Day to ask USPS to put their own post office in town.
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