Slope County, USPS reach agreement in post office closure.
By COLE BENZ
For The Pioneer | [email protected]
A potential compromise has been reached between Amidon and the United States Postal Service over the city’s post office, which had been set to close.
With the lease on the current USPS building in Amidon set to expire, a public meeting was held Aug. 30 to discuss the fate of the city’s mail service. The consensus from the meeting was to adopt a Neighborhood Distribution Collection Box (NDCBU), which is essentially an exterior post office box setup, allowing access to mail 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Residents had 30 days from the date of the initial public meeting to suggest other options and either voice their support or protest the NDCBU. With that time now passed and the post office not receiving further input, the USPS decided to move forward with the new boxes.
Though this did come with some uncertainty.
Last week Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., released statements concerning post offices in Amidon and Halliday.
Heitkamp has been a staunch supporter of the rural postal services through her Fix My Mail initiative, and has encouraged U.S. Postmaster Gen. Megan Brennan to take action in protecting quality service to those towns.
Slope County Auditor Lorrie Buzalsky said the county thought it was a done deal, but then they weren’t quite sure when Heitkamp started to discuss the situation last week.
Prior to Heitkamp’s communication, Buzalsky said Slope County commissioners had already given approval to house the NDCBU on courthouse property. The new concrete slab had reportedly been poured and ready for the unit.
Amidon Mayor Lois Merkel said that she received a call from Heitkamp’s representatives on Oct. 20, the same day she received a confirmation letter regarding the NDCBU. Merkel said the representatives wanted to know about the town.
Merkel said the problem Amidon faces — and something she communicated with Heitkamp’s office — is two-fold.
First, the limited amount of real estate, or land for lease, makes it difficult to place a building. The second issue is trying to find someone to work the desk.
“There’s nobody that’s going to work,” Merkel said of the limited workforce in Amidon.
As Amidon moves forward with the boxed units, the projected timeline, according to sources out of the Bowman Post Office — where operations had been temporarily been relocated — residents could have access to their mail at the NDCBU as soon as Nov. 5.
Initial plans were to place the unit just outside of the front door of the courthouse in Amidon, in a space where the county currently has a bench. But the commissioners decided to have it moved to the west side of the building near garages for easier access with a nearby handicap ramp.
Buzalsky said the commissioners approved that location at a prior meeting, but said that they will approve the final, paper agreement with the USPS at its November meeting.
