OTTOSEN - Many Ottosen residents have one collective thought about possibly losing their post office - why us?
It's a small post office, yes, but it suits the town and is an important part of business for businesses in town, not to mention the convenience for the city, according to several attendees of an informational meeting Monday.
Thirty-five people, both from the city and the rural areas, attended the meeting at the Commercial Club in Ottosen - population 55.
"This elevator does 100 percent of our postal business in town," said Kevin Walker, manager of the Farmers Cooperative Elevator in Ottosen, which is located in northern Humboldt County.
"No decision has been made to discontinue the Ottosen Post Office," said Angie Green, a post office review investigator out of Cedar Rapids. "We're required to look at all options at every level."
Green and JaNan O'Brion, postmaster in Fort Dodge and acting manager of post office operations for area 2 - all the 505 zip code towns - led the meeting.
"You need to let us know your concerns and your needs," O'Brion said. "The U.S. Post Office is losing $23 million a day. The Hawkeye District - all of Iowa and a sliver of Illinois - has already lost 20 percent of its jobs."
She said two offices in Des Moines and two in Sioux City are likely to be closed.
"Everybody has to take a share," she added.
"The post office is the link of the community," she said. "We don't discount that at all. But the job of the post office is to deliver your mail."
A survey made of the Ottosen Post Office starts a nine-month process, Green said. The survey looks at the growth of the community, revenue generated over the past three years and the volume of mail into and out of the Humboldt County town, among other things.
Once information is gathered, a proposal is submitted and the residents of Ottosen have 60 days for input, Green said. "After those 60 days, the proposal is sent to headquarters" to decide if discontinuation of the post office is justified. When a decision has been made, residents have 30 days to appeal, if a decision to close has been made.
"That's why we all have to write letters," said Ronna Lounsbery, who retired as postmaster three years ago. "The point is, everybody has to write in."
The postal regulartory board in Washington, D.C. look at all 56 steps of the process before any decision is made, Green said. And no decision is made without that scrutiny.
The question is simple for Tom Bennett, of Ottosen, who asked, "Wasn't there something in that questionnaire about inconvenience?"
Contact Sandy Mickelson at (515) 573-2141 or smickelson@messengernews.net
