Public meeting set for Postal Service consolidation proposal
BRISTOL, Tenn. – The U.S. Postal Service will hold a Jan.13 public meeting
on a proposal to move some mail-processing work from its Sixth Street
distribution plant to one in Johnson City – a step that could affect jobs
at the Bristol facility.
In a statement released Tuesday, the postal service announced that the
meeting will be held at 7 p.m. at Tennessee High School.
During the past three months, the postal service conducted a study on
consolidating the Bristol mail-distribution plant with its Johnson City
building, in an effort to save money in a slow economy. The study concluded
that the postal service should shift Sixth Street’s mail-processing work to
Johnson City, suggesting that while the move might lead to 14 jobs being
cut, it would save $750,000 without dramatically changing postal service
for Bristol residents.
“We would still have a strong customer-service and postal presence for
Bristol residents,” Cathy Yarosky, a postal service spokeswoman, said
Tuesday. “In fact, they’d likely find their mail service would be even more
efficient.”
But Yarosky stressed that the postal service hasn’t made a final decision,
and she called the Jan. 13 public meeting “a perfect forum for [Bristol]
residents to offer opinions, questions and other feedback” on the
consolidation proposal.
After that meeting, Yarosky said, residents would have another 15 days to
submit written comments on the plan. But she could not say Tuesday when the
postal service might reach a final decision – nor how soon changes might
occur at the Bristol plant.
If the postal service does move mail-processing work from that building, it
wouldn’t affect the local postal facility that most Bristol residents
actually use – a post-office building also located on Sixth Street. But it
would likely mean job cuts among the estimated 50 employees who work in
Bristol’s distribution plant, which include clerks, mail handlers,
supervisors and electrical technicians.
That prospect has stirred Bristol officials to criticize the consolidation
proposal – and Councilwoman Margaret Feierabend said Tuesday she remained
opposed to scaling back the Sixth Street plant.
“The consensus I’ve gotten from people is that our plant has actually been
a very efficient one, and that it should stay as it is,” Feierabend said.
“We’d all hate to see any changes or cuts take place. And we feel pretty
strongly that they shouldn’t.”
In an October letter to postal service officials, Bristol Mayor Fred Testa
wrote that moving any of the city’s mail-distribution work to Johnson City
would hurt Bristol’s business and residential communities.
Testa also wrote that “[mail] delivery standards in Johnson City are among
the lowest of the USPS facilities in the Tennessee District.” Because of
that, Testa added, there was “little reason” for the postal service to
think it would save money by consolidating Bristol’s mail-handling work
with Johnson City’s.
“We believe that your customers and our citizens will be negatively
impacted by any change to mail operations at the Bristol facility, and
request that none of the Bristol operations transfer to Johnson City or to
any other USPS facility,” Testa wrote.
Yarosky noted that Bristol residents could send written comments on the
proposal to: Consumer Affairs Manager, Appalachian District, P.O. Box
59631, Charleston, W. Va. 25350-9631. She said written comments would be
accepted through Jan. 28.
rbrown@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2512
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