Woman petitions for Saturday post office hours in Bella Vista
Posted on Wednesday, August 20, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/bvwv/News/6902/
One Bella Vista woman is spearheading a crusade she hopes will lead to Saturday hours at the city’s two post offices.
The post offices — one located east of Town Center and the other in the Highlands — are not open on Saturdays. Kay Strickland, a Realtor with Hutchinson Realty, kicked off a petition-signing campaign last Thursday to try to change that.
The event, at the monthly meeting of the Bentonville-Bella Vista Board of Realtors at the Bella Vista Country Club, resulted in nearly five dozen signatures, including Mayor Frank Anderson.
In order to sign the document, a person need only be a Bella Vista resident, Strickland said.
“ I’m just trying to get people who would appreciate service on the weekend, ” she said. “ The postmaster told me he is willing to work with me on this. ”
The postmaster, Jeremiah Coffey, is waiting to see Strickland’s results.
“ I’ll definitely look at what she’s got, ” he said.
Before he makes any decision on additional hours, Coffey said he needs to be sure that enough people will take advantage of it.
“ The peition let’s us know there is a need. But just because they sign the petition doesn’t mean they’ll (take advantage of the new hours ), ” he said.
Coffey said he already has one employee in each of the buildings on Saturdays, but they are busy working with the mail in the back rooms. As a result, he would have to add a counter person and somebody to transport the mail if this becomes a reality.
Strickland didn’t stop with just the postmaster. She has even talked to Rep. John Boozman’s office about it. Stacey Mattingly, from Boozman’s northwest Arkansas office, was in attendance at the luncheon meeting last week.
“ He supports it, ” Strickland said of Boozman.
In a statement released Friday by the congressman’s office, Boozman said, “ I will encourage the post office to provide the highest level of service that they possibly can with the resources they have. I hope Saturday service will be possible. ”
Strickland also extended invitations to Arkansas Sens. Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor, neither of whom could attend because of prior commitments. Sen. Ken Hendren also declined because he was to attend a funeral that day.
Most people who need weekend service drive to either Hiwasse or Bentonville, Strickland said, but that doesn’t help those who need to pick up packages in the local facilities. It can also be an inconvenience for people to travel to those more distant offices, she added.
Coffey said he has done two surveys, on consecutive Saturdays, at the Bentonville Post Office and asked customers to provide their Zip codes. The result was only 16 people from Bella Vista, eight from each of the city’s two Zip codes, using the Bentonville facility.
The petition drive will continue through Aug. 29, at which time the documents will be presented to Coffey.
Strickland said there is no minimum number of signatures needed. The more they have the better, she said.
A copy of the petition is available at Hutchinson Realty. Anybody can take a piece of paper and begin gathering signatures and add them to her list later, she said.
For more information, call Strickland at 855-9037.