USPS Plans Do Not Include Elimination Of Hawleyville PO

By Nancy K. Crevier

According to Carl Walton, spokesperson for the United States Postal Service out of the district office in Hartford, the postal service is actively working to rectify the poor condition of the Hawleyville Post Office.

In a conversation Friday, March 17, with The Newtown Bee, Mr Walton emphasized that the postal service has no plans to eliminate the post office in Hawleyville. “If we need to close down the building that houses the Hawleyville Post Office,” he said, “there will never be a time when Hawleyville will be without a post office. Folks would be notified and steps would be taken to see that there will be another post office building in Hawleyville.”

Although Mr Walton said that it is not possible to put a timeline on when changes would take place, he said that the USPS is in the phase of looking at several alternatives, including that of placing a temporary trailer on leased property in Hawleyville, should that be necessary.

The postal service has been in contact with representatives from the Housatonic Railroad, which owns the building the Hawleyville Post Office presently occupies, Mr Walton said. However, he added, the USPS will not necessarily wait for that company to make repairs before taking steps to correct the circumstances at that post office site.

“A post office is part of a landscape,” said Mr Walton. “It’s only good business to try to improve the situation [in Hawleyville]. We have to find a way to make it work.”