| Today's Feature Post Office Wanted Downtown.
There were no disagreements or
mixed opinions at City Hall Tuesday afternoon.
All citizens speaking during the public hearing
concerning plans for Carthage’s post office
wanted the same thing -- the post office to
remain where it is.
Representatives of the U.S.
Postal Service met with citizens during the
Public Works Committee meeting to explain the
process involved in determining the future of
Carthage’s post office and to hear public
opinion. Duane Bowen the new officer in charge at
the Carthage post office was in attendance along
with Norma Claspill the operations manager out of
Springfield and Tom Lewis a real estate
contractor with the postal service from Kansas
City.
Lewis explained that when a
post office needs more space there are usually
three possible choices: expand at the present
location, move to a larger existing building or
build at a new site. Lewis said another
possibility is to leave the retail portion of the
post office in its present location and to move
the carrier portion of the operation to a new
location.
"We’d like the input
of community leaders and of the customers
themselves," said Lewis, "so that we
are sensitive to the needs of the community and
do the things that you’d like to have done
in as many ways as possible."
The parking lot to the east of
the post office is owned by the City, and City
officials have indicated they are willing to sell
it in order to provide expansion room at the
current site.
If the post office looks for a
site to move the carrier operations or the entire
post office, Lewis said the preferred area would
be between Mound Street at the north, Fir Road at
the south, Baker Street on the west side and
River Street on the east side. He went on to say
those boundaries could change if nothing suitable
was found or if a good value for the post office
was found outside that area.
Public opinion at the meeting
was to have at least the retail aspect of the
post office to remain where it is. There were no
objections to moving the carrier operations.
"We would like to not move
the retail if at all possible," said Lewis.
Lewis said it is postal service
policy to stay close to or remain in an existing
facility if at all feasible.
"I definitely think that
it would be a tremendous blow to the City of
Carthage economically if the post office were to
leave the building that you’re in now,"
said Bill Putnam, local businessman and owner of
the Professional Building south of the post
office. "Tenants in my building and
professional people all around the Square depend
on the post office being where it is. I think an
acceptable compromise would be to have the
carriers someplace else. I don’t see the
carrier side of the business as generating
traffic into the downtown area, but the retail
certainly does, and I think the retail needs to
stay where it is."
Former Council member Donna
Harlan asked if any consideration had been given
to moving the carrier operation south of town and
establishing a second retail site with boxes at
that location in addition to maintaining the
current retail area. According to Claspill,
Carthage is not big enough at this time to
warrant a second retail location.
Claspill also said the box
shortage in the existing facility would be
alleviated if the carriers were moved to another
location allowing expansion into the current work
area.
Diane Sharits of Main Street
Carthage offered the statistic that the post
office generates approximately 80% of the trips
made downtown on a daily basis and said moving
the post office would have a detrimental effect
on the downtown revitalization program and the
City of Carthage as a whole.
Sharits questioned whether post
office officials were already leaning toward one
solution and whether the post office would
purchase the parking lot if the decision was to
keep the retail in the current location and move
the carrier operations. Lewis could not answer
those questions.
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