New Botsford PO Could Open By Christmas

By Steve Bigham

The new post office in Botsford could be back in business in time for the Christmas rush.

This week, First Selectman Herb Rosenthal and US Congressman Jim Maloney met with US postal officials and owners of the nearly complete facility at the corner of Route 25 and Botsford Hill Road. Their mission was to iron out a yearlong dispute between the two parties that had left the building’s future in doubt.

“Our goal as we left it is to have this post office open to the public by the beginning of the Christmas mail rush. Like the first of December,” explained Congressman Maloney. “Both the postal service and [property owners] John and Nancy Kalas confirmed to me and to each other that they were committed to the Botsford post office and would work in good faith to get the facility open. Up until today everything was at a standstill. They had been shooting letters at each other.”

The new post office was supposed to have already opened, but the project has been marred by delays, work order changes, and an all-out work stoppage that has delayed its completion for nearly a year. The problems were followed by lawsuits and arguments back and forth between both sides. Meanwhile, Botsford postal workers have been working out of the Newtown Post Office on Commerce Road.

The post office claims the owners made errors in not following the specs for the project. Mr Kalas maintains there were major changes in work orders that he was never properly compensated for. In addition, the contractor (Ron-Al, LLC), in the owner’s opinion,  has defaulted on the agreement and the bond company has been brought in to supervise the completion of the job.

However, past disputes appear to have been set aside and both sides have made good progress in recent months.

“And today the post office agreed it would go and conduct a new and final inspection this summer,” Mr Maloney said.

The post office and Mr Kalas (represented by Attorney Bill Denlinger) have also reportedly agreed to make every effort to negotiate the various claims (totaling about $100,000) they have against each other.

“We expect, by end of summer, the post office will take possession of the premises. Then, the post office would need to bring in its equipment, which needs to be installed in the building. That would take through early fall. At that point, they would formally accept the building; and then they [would] start moving people in. Orientation and training would take another month or so,” Mr Maloney projected.

Last July, Botsford postal workers were forced out of the old building which once housed them after the building was sold to Connecticut Countertops. Since then, Botsford residents have had to make the cross-town trip to get to their mailboxes.