BY ROGER BROWN
BRISTOL HERALD COURIER
BRISTOL, Tenn. – The United States Postal Service announced Wednesday that it’s no longer actively looking at moving some work from its Sixth Street mail-processing and distribution plant to a similar facility in Bluefield, W. Va.
But the Postal Service said it will take another look at its original plan to switch much of Bristol’s mail-sorting to Johnson City – an idea the USPS put on hold a few months ago while studying the Bluefield option.
“We’re going to start fresh and look at it all over again,” Cathy Yarosky, a Postal Service spokeswoman based in Philadelphia, said of moving Sixth Street duties to Johnson City.
“We’ll see where that leads us, but the big picture remains the same,” Yarosky said. “We’re looking for ways to save money and reduce costs, while also giving our customers the best service.”
In June, the Postal Service decided to study the prospect of sending Bristol’s mail work to Bluefield, which is some 70 miles north. That review came only months after the Postal Service held a highly emotional January meeting at Tennessee High School on its desire to direct the Sixth Street mail processing to Johnson City – a move that Postal Service officials acknowledged would eliminate 14 positions at the Bristol distribution plant, which sits behind the main Post Office building at 111 Sixth St.
The Bristol mail-processing plant currently has some 50 employees, including clerks, mail handlers, supervisors and electrical technicians.
On Wednesday, Yarosky said she had no details on why the Postal Service has apparently ruled out Bluefield as a site for Bristol’s mail work, or why it’s decided to re-examine sending it to Johnson City.
But during January’s meeting at Tennessee High, Postal Service executive Joseph Meimann told spectators that Bristol’s mail-processing duties could be moved to Johnson City without hurting the quality of area mail service – and while also saving the Postal Service an estimated $750,000 a year.
Meimann also noted that Bristol’s main Post Office building, which is the facility largely used by the general public, wouldn’t be affected by the change.
“It’s all about the best use of our facilities,” Meimann told the Tennessee High crowd, which frequently hooted and hissed at his remarks.
If the Postal Service once again decides that the Johnson City plan is worth carrying out, it’ll hold another public hearing in Bristol. But Yarosky noted that any decision is likely months away.
“This is just the beginning,” she said.
Bristol city officials, postal employees and other residents have consistently criticized the Postal Service’s interest in moving work from the Sixth Street mail plant – and Mayor Margaret Feierabend said Wednesday she remained opposed to the idea.
“I believe Bristol is an excellent location for the mail processing and that, if anything, the Postal Service should be bringing more work here,” Feierabend said.
The mayor also said she was annoyed that the Postal Service appeared to be “wasting a considerable amount of time and money” conducting review after review of the Sixth Street facility, while plant employees remain unsure about their job security.
“They’re just jerking around the lives of a lot of people,” Feierabend said. “And this isn’t enhancing the image of the USPS, either. It just makes them look like they don’t know what they’re doing.”
rbrown@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2512
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