Mail switch reaction mixed

U.S. Postal Service officials and Central New York Area postal union representatives have differing views on how the relocation of the Watertown post office's mail processing operations has gone.

Postal officials contend that the move to the Syracuse Processing and Distribution Center mostly has been a smooth process, while union representatives counter that the mail processing relocation "has not gone well."

The relocation was completed Nov. 7. Maureen P. Marion, public affairs specialist for the Postal Service's Albany District, said the process was nearly a seamless transition, but "was told there have been a couple of burps since."

She did not specify what those burps were, but Bernard C. Timmerman, president of the Central New York Area postal union, alleged some mail trucks were more than an hour late for most of the offices. He said mail in Syracuse was delayed because "people weren't prepared to do the job when they turned the switch."

Ms. Marion said she didn't know how many of the 50 Watertown employees took an early retirement incentive. Some employees took jobs with other federal agencies and some moved to the Ogdensburg and Pulaski post offices.

Mr. Timmerman also claimed that some mail has taken two or three days to be sent "overnight," and that there's a concern that some mail isn't getting delivered in a timely fashion.

Ms. Marion was adamant that mail delivery from a 136- ZIP code to another 136- ZIP code should not take more than one day. She said that if there have been significant issues associated with the relocation effort, the Postal Service was not aware of them.

"If there are pockets of issues, people need to let us know," she said. "If there's a delay because of something in sorting of mail, we'd need more specifics to address it."

Ms. Marion said upstate New York residents can expect to see additional consolidation efforts, but specific locations have yet to be identified.

She previously mentioned the possibility of the Postal Service leasing the empty space at the Commerce Park Drive post office site to another business.

Watertown City Manager Mary M. Corriveau said she sent a letter Sept. 29 to Watertown Postmaster Jeffrey A. Sands requesting a meeting to discuss the future of Watertown postal operations.

Mrs. Corriveau said the city doesn't want to find itself in the same situation it did when the Postal Service decided 20 years ago to move from its 163 Arsenal St. location to Commerce Park Drive.

"We wanted to make sure this time if the post office was having any thought about changing facilities or relocating that we have an opportunity to talk to them in advance of that," she said.

As of Thursday night, Mrs. Corriveau said she has not received a response from Mr. Sands or any Postal Service official. She said she has not pushed the issue recently because she knew the relocation of mail processing operations to Syracuse was taking up postal officials' time.

She said the city would offer its assistance in finding businesses to rent available space at the Watertown post office if that is an option. The city also could help the Postal Service find a smaller facility to house the remainder of its Watertown operations.

"The Army Reserve Center is a facility that will be available, and I'm not positive on the timing — I think either spring or summer — the reserves will be moving out of that facility and there at the city we're looking at what are some of the potential uses," Mrs. Corriveau said.

"We've been through the process before with the Naval Reserve Center that Bernier and Carr ended up purchasing, and it has definitely improved that neighborhood."

The city's biggest concern, she said, is if the Postal Service decided to move postal operations outside of Watertown, leaving many residents without jobs.