New post office planned for Fernley

By CHRISTY LATTIN

Nevada Appeal News Service

Plans are already underway for a new, larger post office in Fernley, but the project probably won't be complete until late 2009.

Garry Mattox, a real estate specialist with the U.S. Postal Service, met with Fernley Mayor Todd and several residents to discuss the steps necessary to bring the growing city a bigger post office.

Several years ago a project for a new post office in Fernley was begun, but plans were scuttled after Hurricane Katrina hit and diverted federal funds.

Mattox said when federal funds were available again last October, he grabbed them and ear marked them for the Fernley project. The money will be available until Sept. 30, the last day of the government's fiscal year.

By that time, a suitable site should be selected and purchased for the facility, which will be advertised for up to an 8,000-square-foot building on a 2-acre parcel.

Mattox said the postal service will work closely with the city during site selection to ensure an appropriate site is chosen.

The postal service and city will swap letters, leaving a paper trail to pave the way for the project, which technically started Monday night with the public meeting.

The service will soon advertise for buildings and sites in the city suitable for the project. If a vacant lot or a building above 6,500 square-feet is found, the service will buy it outright. If a smaller building is found, the postal service may simply lease the facility.

Mattox said when faced with growing demand in a growing city, the postal service considers four options: Making do with what they have, expanding the facility, looking for an existing building in town or locating vacant ground to build on.

"We want to speed this project along," Mattox said. "We together have to find a place to put it."

If it's determined a new facility is needed, design plans take three to four months and construction usually takes eight months. While citizens are invited to give their input on the exterior design, the interior remains the domain of the postal service.

Mattox said the postal service can pay fair market value for any offer of land or a building they receive and sellers will have the opportunity to revise their offer one time.

Tom Gatz, postmaster at the Fernley post office, said the facility is crammed and there is no place to put portable trailers up.

"We keep trying to sandwich more in," Gatz said. "We're at capacity now.

Mattox dismissed the idea of building a second post office in Fernley, like there are in Fallon and Yerington, and said the new building will be big enough for Fernley's needs.

Information packages for land or building offers will be available at the Fernley Post Office, 305 Highway 95A South.