Akron box holders get their mail at a mobile unit until Oct. 31, then at M’ville post office
U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell and Akron Mayor Chris Rollins met with Akron residents about the town’s post office Tuesday, Oct. 20, and the owner of the post office building, reached by phone during the meeting, said the owners never gave the Postal Service notice to vacate.
The Postal Service announced Monday, Oct. 19, that operations at the Akron office will be “permanently suspended” effective Oct. 31 “due to non-renewal of the lease.” It had also cited a notice from the lessor to vacate the property by Oct. 30, Sewell wrote in an Oct. 16 letter asking the Postal Service to reopen the Akron office immediately.
Until Oct. 31, Akron box holders can pick up their mail, with proper identification, at a Postal Service mobile retail unit at the Akron post office. Customers can also mail letters, pick up packages and do other retail business there.
The unit’s hours, for retail business and box mail, are 8:30 a.m. to noon and 1 to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. Saturday. There is no Sunday service.
All postal operations, box mail included, move to the Moundville post office, 259 Second Ave., on Nov. 1. Its retail hours will be 8:30 to 11 a.m. and 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 9 a.m. to noon Saturday.
During the meeting, Rollins called the building’s owner, Brian De Rousseau. De Rousseau said the Postal Service asked about six months ago to extend the lease at the current flat rate, and the owners countered with about $200 a month more to cover their costs for the next five years, including any increases in insurance, maintenance and taxes.
The Postal Service declined, and the lease went into holdover status Aug. 31, he said. In September, he said, a Postal Service real estate specialist emailed that the Postal Service would be leaving the Akron office shortly.
He asked whether the reason was financial or operational, and she told him it was both. He offered to keep the rent at the current flat rate for the next five years, he said, but she later told him the decision had been made to leave for good.
Sewell asked De Rousseau whether he had issued the Postal Service an eviction notice. “We did not. We never issued a notice to vacate,” he said.
The Postal Service had said negotiations to renew the five-year lease, which expired in August, had failed, Sewell wrote. Her letter says her office has documentation showing that the lessor, after extended negotiations, agreed in writing to the Postal Service’s demand to keep the rent at the August 2021 rate for five more years, through 2031.
Asked by a reporter for the reason behind the Postal Service’s move, Rollins said, “They said it was because the lease was terminated, but we know that’s not true.”
The Postal Service chained the doors of the Akron office Wednesday, Oct. 14, began moving its mail to Moundville and dismantled its P.O. boxes, Sewell wrote. It had told residents and the news media the office would stay open until at least Oct. 30, she wrote.
The Postal Service had described the office’s operations as temporarily suspended and told her office it acted early to allow enough time to vacate the building, according to the letter.
“I would say the rhetoric has changed in their letters. Because the first letter said this would be a temporary suspension. Now they’re saying it’s going to be a permanent closure. So that changed in just two weeks. We just want whoever’s making decisions to be accountable,” Rollins said.
“And while we’re excited that they’ve brought in a mobile unit, the fact of the matter is that they haven’t widely disseminated when it’s going to be open, when it’s going to be closed, or how long it will be here,” Sewell told reporters before the meeting.
Rollins said directing Akron residents to Moundville has strained that office, whose own customers complain they cannot get their mail.
One woman said she went to Moundville for her mail and was told to drive back because it was at the mobile unit in Akron. When she got there, she was told the unit was not open and she could not get her mail until the next day.
“I’ve been telling people to get their absentee ballots at the Greensboro Registrar’s Office,” Sewell said. “That’s the only way you can be sure you will receive your absentee ballot, you will be able to fill out your absentee ballot, and you will be able to turn in your absentee ballot.”
Sewell said Oct. 27 is the last day to request a mail-in ballot and have it mailed out. Under the Secretary of State’s schedule for the Nov. 3 general election, Tuesday, Oct. 27, is the deadline for absentee ballot applications sent by mail, and Thursday, Oct. 29, for applications delivered in person.
Completed absentee ballots returned in person are due by close of business Monday, Nov. 2. Ballots returned by mail must arrive by noon on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3.
In Hale County, absentee ballot applications and completed ballots go to the absentee election manager, Circuit Clerk Catrinna Perry, 1001 Main St., Greensboro, 334-624-4334.
The Postal Service’s actions may amount to a de facto discontinuance of the Akron office in violation of 39 CFR 241.3, Sewell wrote in her letter. That rule requires advance public notice and a chance for community input before postal service is permanently discontinued, she wrote.
“I also know that according to the regulations, there’s a process by which if you’re going to make a permanent discontinuance of the mail, it requires a notice, I think it’s 60 days, it requires a public hearing. So, if they’re going to do that, they have to follow the law,” Sewell said. “I just want people to do right by the people I represent. We have for so long been disinvested in the Black Belt. We deserve to be heard. We just want a fair opportunity to get our services back.”
“The Postal Service communicates directly with elected officials and does not publicly share information on those interactions. We will provide a written response directly to the Congresswoman, per our established process,” the Postal Service said in a statement to WBRC 6 News on Oct. 16. Sewell said Tuesday she had not received an answer to her letter, which asked for a written response by Oct. 19. She told residents her office will demand a response, publish it and follow up on their questions.
