Bureaucracy and funding slows post office cleanup, landscaping and maintenance

A power wash on Wednesday began a new era of maintenance at the Dayton post office, a U.S. Postal Service supervisor assured the Dayton Regional Advisory Council this week.

Cleaning and maintenance of the Dayton post office has been delayed due to a restructuring of the postal service's regions, said John Morgan.

He is working with Dayton postmistress Toni Passot to address complaints about poor maintenance at the post office off Highway 50.

"The Postal Service is not supported by tax dollars," he reminded the council. "It is supported by its own revenue and that revenue has been dropping."

Morgan said the U.S. Postal Service has lost business to private parcel carriers and that first-class mail is down as well, thanks to the Internet and availability of cell phone service.

Because of that loss of business, the postal service has had to restructure its regions, and Nevada, which used to be in the Pacific region with California, Hawaii and Arizona is now in the Western region with Washington, Oregon, Montana, Idaho, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, Utah and Arizona.

"All the post offices in this region are requesting more and more funding for projects," he said, adding that Dayton has to get in line to request work be approved.

Morgan also said that federal rules require the post office to put major projects out for bid, and to follow a time-consuming bidding process.

He said Passot put in the required work order about three months ago to replace the landscaping around the post office.

William Boyd Lynch Jr., of Dayton, said he believed there was more that the post office could do.

"Right now, I could heat my house with the heat that is lost from the doors that won't close," he said. "And the trees, I prefer the trees, but they're in the wrong places.

Though the power wash was done quickly, Morgan said it would take about three months to complete the rest of the needed work, including the landscaping.

"We have a long-standing history of being the pride of every community we are in, especially smaller communities," Morgan said.

Residents last month complained to the advisory council about the condition of the building and grounds at the post office. The council then asked the post office to address residents' concerns at its April meeting.

• Contact reporter Karen Woodmansee at kwoodmansee@nevadaappeal.com or 882-2111 ext. 351.