Principals Start Communicating—

Lease Negotiations For Hawleyville PO Point Toward A Resolution

By Nancy K. Crevier

Hawleyville Post Office Postmaster Mark Favale said Friday, October 31, that he was very happy to receive notice from the district office of the United States Postal Service the day before, that the Route 25 branch of the postal service would remain open, for now. The local office had been issued an eviction notice September 30 by the Housatonic Railroad (HRR), which owns the building in which the post office is housed, ordering the USPS to vacate the premises by October 31.

In a statement issued October 30 by Edward F. Phelan, Jr, postal service district manager for the Connecticut District, Mr Phelan said, “Since that time, we have been in continuous discussions with the Housatonic Railroad to extend our occupancy until a plan to provide service to our customers in Hawleyville is finalized. We appreciate the business decisions that they face at this time. We equally appreciate the strong support by our customers for this facility and its staff. 

“The Housatonic Railroad has indicated a willingness to withdraw its request to vacate as our discussions progress. As a result, we will continue operating from the Hawleyville Post Office for the present time. We appreciate the railroad’s willingness to extend this courtesy to our customers as we work towards a final arrangement together.”

The issue over the renovation, replacement, or move of the Hawleyville Post Office has been ongoing for over seven years, said Edward Rodriguez, executive vice president and general counsel for the Housatonic Railroad.

“The lease [for the building occupied by the Hawleyville Post Office] expired in 2001, and the Postal Service has been occupying the space without a lease since then,” said Mr Rodriguez on Friday, October 31.

Continued attempts to negotiate a long-term lease or come to some agreement as to the Postal Service’s definitive plans for the space occupied by the Route 25 post office were on again, off again over the years, Mr Rodriguez said, emphasizing that they have been trying to accommodate the USPS in any possible way.

“Our goal for that property is to put it to a use that would benefit the community. It is not a commercial venture for the HRR. In fact, we’re losing money on it,” he said. Nonetheless, the HRR feels a commitment to the community in which the company has “a lot of activity.”

In 2002, the railroad notified the USPS that the building required rehabilitation and that they needed a long-term commitment in order to do that work, but continued to allow the post office to utilize the space, hoping to work out an agreement.

Then in 2005, said Mr Rodriguez, the USPS asked the railroad company to consider building a new facility on the property for them. The Housatonic Railroad engaged the services of an architect and a contractor who specialized in building post office facilities, recommended by the USPS, in January 2006.

“We expected that to culminate in a new facility that would have been open by now,” said Mr Rodriguez. “We weren’t kept informed, though, and our inquiries were never fully responded to by the Postal Service,” he said.

The USPS continued to pay based on the terms of the expired lease during this period, Mr Rodriguez said, but did not negotiate a new lease or keep the railroad informed as to future plans by the USPS for the Hawleyville branch.

“Before starting this whole eviction procedure, the Housatonic Railroad sent a message to the real estate office of the USPS asking for the status of the property and received no response. On August 8 of this year, we wrote a letter to the USPS saying they must vacate the space by September 30, and stating that the railroad remains receptive to the building of a new facility on the HRR property or any interim arrangement necessary,” said Mr Rodriguez. Again, the railroad received no response from the USPS, he said.

It was not until HRR issued a notice to quit by October 31 to the USPS on September 30 that the Postal Service finally indicated that they wanted to negotiate, said Mr Rodriguez.

“We have reached an agreement in principle and are at the point of clarifying the language of the lease,” said Mr Rodriguez on Friday morning. He expected the final negotiations to result in a month-to-month lease satisfactory to both the railroad and the postal service.

“At this point we have talked to the USPS and have asked if they would be interested in having the Housatonic Railroad do a study for the rehabilitation of the present structure. They indicated they would be very interested in that. It’s an option they would like to have available,” Mr Rodriguez said.

 Local developer Steve Nicolosi said October 31 that he has sent papers outlining accommodations, per the request of the USPS, that he has made to the building he is erecting at 23 Barnabas Road. The accommodations meet specifications for a post office to go into one of the units in the Barnabas Road structure, but Mr Nicolosi said that he was told the papers were now in the hands of the Washington, D.C., USPS office, and he has been unable to get a commitment as to whether the USPS will occupy the space, or not.

“We know it is difficult for our customers,” said USPS spokesperson Maureen Marion on Friday, “but at least there is no disruption in service and everyone is still talking.”

While noting that it was premature to speculate the final outcome of negotiations at the time, Mr Phelan’s statement also assured that, “As details are finalized, we will alert our employees and our customers.”

“We want to be open. We just want to be here doing our job,” said Mr Favale.