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Community Corner

Mail Service in North Haven Will Not Be Curtailed

At public hearing, postal authorities assure residents Washington Ave. and Middletown Ave. branches will stay open.

The prospect of not being able to buy a stamp or mail a letter in North Haven prompted a few hundred town residents to attend the Post Office’s public hearing last night at the Rec Center.

The hearing was held amidst talk of projected service cuts due to the USPS' loss of $8 billion in revenue. The Post Office sent a letter to local residents early this month that was unclear about plans that the local post office would be closed as operations are consolidated with other towns.

But Jodi Heslin, the manager of post office operations for the 064 district, stated no changes will be made to local postal service in North Haven. The main post office at 74 Washington Ave. and the branch office at 10 Middletown Ave. will remain open. The retail operations and mail carrier service will also stay intact.

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The main change that will be made is that the New Haven post master will serve as North Haven’s post master. She said this is an administrative change that will have no impact on North Haven mail service.

But Anthony Pisanelli, North Haven’s former post master who retired in 2000, argued that it is important to have a local post master who can attend to local mail problems personally.

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“If you call Brewery St. you’ll never get an answer,” he said.

His comments on this and other postal issues received cheers and strong support from the audience, which consisted of residents, town leaders and postal carriers.

Third Selectman Steve Fontana spoke out about the letter residents received along with a survey that was poorly written and confusing.

“You couldn’t really tell whether they were planning to close the post office or not,” he said.

Barbara Mastroianni, the post office review coordinator, whose name appeared at the bottom of the letter, explained that it was a postal form letter, approved by the USPS, but not carefully written to pertain to North Haven.

Fontana noted he was happy to learn that postal service would be retained but suggested the post office should do a better job at informing residents of its plans.

First Selectman Michael Freda opened the meeting with a brief review of the town’s attempts to address the problem of local mail service. Discussions have been held with post office officials for the past ten months to identify a new location for the Washington Ave. post office.

He told Heslin the lease on the Washington Ave. post office will expire in a month and asked her about the renewal plans. She said new two year leases have been signed on the Washington Ave. and Middletown Ave. locations, but that the post office is still interested in moving the Washington Ave. location.

Heslin added that a new location, and not curtailed service “is the only change you will ever see coming down the path.”

During public comments, John Parisi, a local resident, also spoke about a new location.

“I don’t understand why everyone is so supportive of the post office at 74 Washington Ave.,” he said. “It’s an antiquated facility and we should relocate it to a location that is more traffic and pedestrian friendly.”

That may happen someday, but in the meantime most residents will be satisfied North Haven will keep its local mail service.

The post office is holding similar town meetings across the state and may close some small town post offices and consolidate service with larger towns. The post office is looking to offset a loss in revenue and decline in mail volume. Freda mentioned the $8 billion revenue loss and Heslin said there’s been a decline in mail volume of 43.1 billion pieces over the past five years.

But Pisanelli said volume in North Haven remains high and there are always lines to wait in when he seeks service on Washington Ave.

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