(March 17, 2015) The announcement came over three years ago. The United States Post Office made a final decision to close the processing plant in Pocatello.

Since then, postal employees and local officials have been appealing to the post office to take the closure off the table. Monday night, one last push was made to change the minds of the USPS.

With a month to go until the closure, Pocatello Mayor Brian Blad held a public meeting to discuss and address the fate of the Flandro Drive Mail Processing Center and the 59 people the center employs.

Around 50 people met in the Pocatello City Council chambers to talk about how the closure of the plant will affect over one third of the population of Idaho. Closing the plant would mean that a first class piece of mail sent from Pocatello to a Pocatello address would have to travel to Salt Lake City, a process that could take up to twelve days.

Bannock County Treasurer Radene Barker explained how the delayed delivery will affect every property owner in the county.

Radene Barker/Bannock County Treasurer, “Tax deeds. We are doing tax deeds right now. We have a calendar we have to follow and we have to send these out at a certain time, they have to be back to us at a certain time. Then we take another process that has a date, we send these out, they have to be back. That could be very, very critical.”

There is still a little time before the Flandro Drive Processing Plant closes for good. Mayor Blad listed the phone numbers and addresses that residents can call or write to appeal to them to change the post office’s mind.

Postal Board of Governors:
475 L’Enfant Plaza SW
Washington, DC 20260
Phone: 202-268-4800

Postmaster General:
475 L’Enfant Plaza SW
Washington, DC 20260
Phone: 202-268-4264

President of the United States:
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20500
Phone: 202-456-1414

Idaho Congressional Members:
Capital Hill Switchboard
Phone: 1-877-662-2889
Senator Mike Crapo: www.crapo.senate.gov
Senator James E. Risch: www.risch.senate.gov
Congressman Mike Simpson: Simpson.house.gov
Congressman Raul Labrador: Labrador.house.gov

Email addresses:
stopmaildelays@gmail.com

via Mayor Holds 11th Hour Town Hall to Reverse USPS Plant Closure – KPVI News 6 – Pocatello, ID.