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Meeting to explain New Castle postal center proposal
Meeting to explain postal proposal
The number of jobs to be lost at the local postal facility has been reduced.
NEW CASTLE, Pa. — The United States Postal Service has set a meeting for 7 p.m. July 15 at New Castle High School to explain a proposal to transfer outgoing-mail-processing operations from the Cascade Street Processing and Distribution Facility here to the Pittsburgh Processing and Distribution Center.
That information was in a letter postal officials sent to the Lawrence County commissioners and received Thursday. According to the letter, the anticipated loss of jobs is now 17, down from projections two weeks ago of 23 to 25 jobs lost. The jobs are expected to be cut through attrition and transfers.
The letter confirms the assurance which Lawrence County commissioners received last month in a conference call with Gov. Ed Rendell, U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter and postal officials that the Cascade Street facility would remain open.
Lawrence County Commissioner Rick DeBlasio said Thursday, “This is much better news than we heard in April.”
Initial word in April had been that the Cascade Street facility would be closed and the 190 jobs there lost. A petition drive garnered more than 12,000 signatures, and many letters to the Postal Service, protesting the closing.
The letter that commissioners received Thursday was signed by New Castle Postmaster David Shaner and Mail Processing Manager Eileen Mills. It said the consolidation of the mail-processing operations would save about $1.3 million per year.
It also stated that the change will allow the same collection-box pickup times, retail services, business-mail acceptance, delivery to residences and businesses and local postmark for stamped first-class mail.
Comments may be sent to Manager Consumer Affairs, 1001 California Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15290-9631. Comments must be postmarked by July 30.
The agenda for the July 15 meeting will be posted on www.usps.com a week before the meeting.