Local Group Fighting To Save Hawleyville Post Office

By Nancy K. Crevier

Ann Marie Mitchell is pleased that her campaign to save Hawleyville Post Office on Route 25, scheduled to be shut down by the United States Postal Service (USPS) on February 14, has generated enough interest that more than a dozen people gathered on short notice at two meetings this past weekend to determine a course of action.

Box holders at Hawleyville Post Office were notified by a postcard Friday, January 9, that the popular post office facility in Hawleyville would close, after three years of assurances by the USPS that such action would not be taken while a search for a new or renovated facility took place. The action was a surprise not only to the people of Newtown and surrounding towns that utilize the Hawleyville Post Office, and its staff, but to the landlord of the building that presently houses the post office, the Housatonic Railroad (HRR).

HRR issued a statement on January 12 noting that it had “offered to assist the USPS in transition to a new facility or to rehabilitate the existing facility, even allowing the service to remain in place at a significantly below-market rent, as a show of faith.”

Ms Mitchell, a longtime customer of the Route 25 post office, was shocked to receive the USPS notice and decided late the week of January 19 to spearhead a campaign to stop the closure. “I think that it is important that this is not all personal and emotional. We love the Hawleyville Post Office, but let’s not mistake the community effort to maintain a small business in town. It is business,” stressed Ms Mitchell. “The Hawleyville Post Office, relative to larger surrounding post offices, is successful. And success is defined as quality service and efficiency,” Ms Mitchell added, “not just dollars and cents. My biggest hope is to get people to respond and sign the petitions,” said Ms Mitchell, referring to the signboard and petition posted at the Hawleyville Deli and the petition in M&G Cleaners, both on Route 25 near the post office.

“I think the most important thing we determined [at the meetings] is that we will be soliciting continued efforts by Congressman Christopher Murphy to get a representative from the USPS to come to a town meeting and help patrons understand why they need to close this post office, and answer questions,” said Ms Mitchell.

Her efforts are beginning to pay off. On Wednesday, January 28, Congressman Chris Murphy issued this statement from Washington, DC: “I am so glad the community has rallied around this important asset. I have been involved with this issue since taking office, and in the last several days, I have been on the phone with the USPS, the current landlord, and concerned Hawleyville residents to find a way to keep this post office. In the coming weeks, I am going to exert every last ounce of energy to get this done.”

Ms Mitchell went on to say that she does not believe the USPS fully understands how the discontinuation of services will impact the community and the small business owners who use Hawleyville.

Elizabeth Talian is one of the small business owners who will be impacted adversely, should the Hawleyville Post Office close. Ms Talian owns Communication Managers, LLC in Brookfield, a consulting business for direct marketing, as well as a small catalog business, Communications Managers DBA Home From Slovenia.

“The irony here for me is that I use the PO address on my website and stationery and everything, because I thought it was much more stable than using my two different street addresses. But now that plan has turned out to be a bad business decision,” said Ms Talian.

If the Hawleyville Post Office closes, she explained, she will have to hire someone to do a survey, redo artwork and advertising, make changes to her website, reprint all of her stationery, and reprint her catalogs at a cost of more than $1 each, as she most likely would change her address. “My office and home are in Brookfield, so to get on the Interstate and drive to Newtown is just not something I can even consider,” said Ms Talian.

Many of her catalog customers are not Internet savvy, so she would need to travel each day to the Newtown Commerce Road facility to check her mail. “We promise shipping in 24 to 48 hours, so that’s an everyday thing. I suppose I could hire someone, but this is time-consuming and an expense I don’t need right now,” she said, adding that her guess is that mailing changes could cost her businesses between $10,000 and $20,000.

“I just can’t afford to do that,” said Ms Talian. “I am certainly considering if I will be shutting down my catalog business. This notification has not given me much time to decide what I’m going to do. The USPS should have given at least two or three months notice. It seems like a terrible time for the government to be making it difficult for small businesses.”

As a lifelong resident of the area, Terry Laslo is fiercely committed to saving the Hawleyville Post Office. She also owns Wingcat Web Design, LLC, and uses the Route 25 post office near her Hawleyville home for business correspondence. “All of my business cards have my PO Box number. I’ll probably have to change my mailing address to my house, but I don’t really want to. I can’t see going to the Newtown office every day. That takes too much time from my side of town. The Hawleyville Post Office is on my way to a lot of places,” said Ms Laslo.

“I’ve been going to the Hawleyville Post Office since I was a kid. It’s a whole part of the community. Growing up in Hawleyville, I remember when the Lands End Schoolhouse was a little candy and antique store. We would walk to the post office and the candy store. [Closing the post office] would be one more thing that is taken away from the area,” Ms Laslo said.

Ms Laslo is responsible for the website savehawleyvillepo.com that went online January 24. The website outlines the efforts of the newly formed group and provides links to Congressman Christopher Murphy’s office, the USPS, and offers suggestions as to how individuals can help.

“Terry has really stepped up to help us,” said Ms Mitchell. “She put together this whole website after our meeting Friday night.”

“I’m thrilled to do whatever I can do,” Ms Laslo said. “It is important to gather all of the information into one place, so people can see it. If you have all of these people telling the USPS we don’t want the Hawleyville Post Office closed, maybe it will put some pressure on them to not go through with closing it,” she said.

In meeting with USPS officials, Ms Mitchell is hoping they can also clarify why, with a rental space that the USPS is actively considering located just a few hundred feet down the road from Hawleyville Post Office, the present location cannot remain open until negotiations are completed for the new space. “It would seem to me we have a growth potential at the new location for the Hawleyville Post Office that is undiscovered at this point,” she said. “How many weeks are we talking between February 14 and when this space could be available?” she asked.

Mick Consalvo, the listing agent with Tower Realty for that property being developed by Newtown contractor Steve Nicolosi, said on Wednesday, January 28, that Tower Realty remains in talks with the USPS. “I have spoken with representatives of the USPS frequently,” said Mr Consalvo, “and have told them that the space could be available for occupation as early as April or May of this year. They continue to request updates, but it is a bad economic time and a lot has been put on hold,” he said. The space in the building at 223 Barnabas Road has been built out to conform to USPS specifications supplied to date, said Mr Consalvo, and while the broker has had offers on that space, the space continues to be held open as long as the USPS shows good faith in leasing it.

While he said that he does not know the particulars of the failed negotiations between the USPS and present landlord HRR, Mr Consalvo said it seems unfortunate that some kind of agreement could not be reached to keep the post office open for the relatively few weeks between the proposed closing of the Hawleyville office on February 14 and a springtime move in date at 23 Barnabas.

“If we don’t try, it will never happen,” said Ms Laslo. “The Hawleyville Post Office is like Cheers in Hawleyville. We deserve to have the USPS come talk to us.”