Post Office hours of retail operation Resolution that was passed at the 11/13/12 Town Board Meeting.

Whereas: The USPS has announced that the hours of operation for the 12838 Hartford Post Office Retail Counter will be reduced from 7.5 hours to 4 hours per week day with Saturday operation remaining unaffected;

Whereas: The USPS has announced that the determination of which particular hours per weekdays has not yet been determined;

Whereas: Numerous Hartford citizens made their opinions known at the USPS meeting of 11/1/12 that they would prefer afternoon Retail Counter hours;

Whereas: A large majority of the Town’s citizens are employed outside of the town at typical weekday 9am-5pm jobs, therefore they would not be able to avail themselves to the Retail Counter until after 5pm;

Whereas: The largest single employer within the town is the Hartford Central School District which does not dismiss students until 2:30pm, therefore school staff would not be able to avail themselves to the Retail Counter until after dismissal;

Whereas: Any hours of weekday Retail Counter Operations, that do not take these facts into account will only serve to guarantee that the Retail business load will dramatically drop off and further encourage the USPS to look at closing the facility in the future;

Resolve: That the Town of Hartford Town Board feels that retaining the local USPS Hartford Post Office with Retail Counter is vital to the identity of the community;

Resolve: That the Town of Hartford Town Board encourages the USPS to use a Time Clock Lock to the exterior door of the PO Box room so that opening and access will be unaffected by the hours of manning;

Resolve: The Town of Hartford Town Board requests that the USPS set the reduced hours of weekday manned Retail Operation for 2pm-6pm with Saturdays remaining unaffected at 8am-11:30am

Witness an important piece of history when Hartford’s Earl Morrow will tell his story on Sunday 11/11/12 Veteran’s Day at the Hartford Yoked Parish (brick Baptist Church on Main Street County Route 23) at 1pm.  Earl will speak of his WWII experiences including his time as a B-17 Bomber Pilot and being shot down over Germany,  spending the end of the war as a German POW.   Sponsored by Boy Scout Troop #40 of Hartford. There is no cost and refreshments will be served.  Dana

The United States Postal Service (USPS) held a public meeting Thursday night at the school to discuss the proposed reduction of operation for the 12838 Hartford Post Office.

The reduction of the retail counter where you would mail packages, buy stamps, money orders, etc is written in stone.  It is going to happen regardless of public input.  The retail counter will be open for 4 hours Monday through Friday. The Saturday retail counter will remain open as it is now 8am – 1130am.

The room where the PO boxes are will have a time clock lock on the outside door so it will open and close automatically as per current hours.  If you happen to be inside checking your mail when the door automatically locks behind you in the evening, there will be a push bar that will let you escape.

The only question now remains what 4 hours per weekday the retail counter will be open.  The USPS felt that 8am to 12pm would be good but I informed them that much of Hartford is a bedroom community where citizens travel outside of the town for employment.  8am-12pm will only guarantee a self fulfilling prophesy where the retail volume will dramatically drop off and in 2 years they will use that excuse to close the office.  The retail counter needs to be open with a time that commuters returning home from work can still mail a package or buy stamps .  Something like 2:30pm to 6:30pm.

It remains to be seen how the USPS will decide on the hours.  I suggested that they mail out another survey but this time include all of Hartford, not just 12838.  I already know they will not do that because I think they really don’t care what all of Hartford’s citizens in the 4 other zip codes think. They automatically rejected that request for the first survey and I do not expect them to reconsider this time around either.  If they do send out another survey,  they need to list 4 options of hours in order to gather a concensus, not just say “fill in the blank”.

Article I section 8 of the US Constitution says that Congress shall have the power to establish Post Offices and post Roads. Only the Congress can effect real changes to the USPS. The USPS has currently pre-funded its pension and health plan for the next 75 years. That means that future employees of the USPS that have not even been born yet have their pension already covered. The USPS is $15 Billion in debt and must reduce their operations in the smaller PostOffices but yet they have the next 75 years worth of pension already paid into? This is like a fat cow starving to death and is crazy!

Mr. Matt Doheny, who is running to be our Congressman, prepared a Hartford statement and had it read by Andy Trombley who was present.  Andy is helping to run Matt’s campaign.  Matt feels that any decision the USPS makes about the Hartford Post Office should be reflective of input from the entire town, not just the 12838 zipcode.  Since Mr. Doheny has a good chance of being out next Congressman, I am thankful he made the effort to be represented at the meeting.

Dana