Trustees standardize policy on mailboxes

Trustees will pay $25 to any township resident whose mailbox is destroyed.

By ED RUNYAN

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

CANFIELD — For many years, township officials have tried to do all they could to fix damage to the half-dozen or so mailboxes their township snowplows knock down each winter.

But in recent years that has become increasingly difficult because of the advent of the luxury mailbox.

Township Trustee William D. Reese explained that over the past couple of winters, officials have had to pay as much as $700 to repair or replace a couple of the more elaborate mailboxes owned by township residents.

For example, some mailboxes are made of fabricated aluminum and built to imitate the style of the house. Some are large brick structures.

In the case of the aluminum kind, township officials paid about $200 last year to weld a mailbox that was damaged by snow that was plowed into it, Reese said.

A couple years before that, the township paid about $700 — $500 of it from the township’s insurance — to replace a brick mailbox that was struck by accident when a township vehicle backed into it, Reese said.

As a result of the mounting costs, trustees decided they needed to make a change.

Legally, government bodies don’t have any obligation to replace mailboxes damaged by government vehicles, because mailboxes are located in the public right of way.

Even the mailbox damaged by the driver’s mistake isn’t the township’s legal responsibility, Reese said.

To standardize Canfield Township’s cost for knocked-down mailboxes, trustees have adopted a resolution calling for payment of $25 for its replacement — no matter what its replacement will cost.

Reese said the message the legislation is sending to township residents is that they can spend as much as they want on their mailboxes, but the township’s responsibility ends at the $25 level.

He said it is his understanding that most homeowner’s insurance policies will also cover the cost of replacing a mailbox that is damaged by snowplows.

The policies of government bodies differ by location.

“Mahoning County gives you a $10 mailbox,” Trustee Randy Brashen noted. Some roads in the township are plowed by the county engineer’s office.

Bill Gibson, an employee at the Mahoning County engineer’s office, said the department’s policy is to repair or replace any mailbox damaged by snowplows, as a courtesy. No matter what style of mailbox is damaged, the owner receives a standard replacement. He said he didn’t know the cost for such a mailbox.

In Boardman Township, the road department is willing to replace a downed mailbox with a $50 Step2-style mailbox.

In Poland Township, the township road superviser evaluates what to do on a case-by-case basis.

Howland Township’s road department replaces mailboxes with a standard $10 box.

runyan@vindy.com