Powder River Examiner -

We reported last week about the car wreck at the post office in Broadus; the wreck set off a chain of events which has frustrated many members of the community. For several days last week the post office operated out of the community center, until a decision was made at echelons of the USPS above the local level that the community center as it was currently configured was not secure enough to be used as a postal facility.

On Friday, mail service for Broadus began at the Volborg post office, necessitating a 33-mile one-way drive for Broadus residents to pick up their mail or mail a package, making for a time consuming and expensive journey to reach a post office. For those looking to pick up mail for others, a copy of the box holder’s ID was needed.

Frustration was voiced from around the community, and aired out especially on social media. Meanwhile, the fine ladies of the relocated Broadus post office worked diligently, moving the mail between locations, continuing to work through ongoing changes, and fielding questions from curious customers about the state of their mail and the facility.

On Monday of this week, we spoke with the PR County Commissioners, who had that morning signed a memorandum of understanding with the USPS to once again transfer use of the community center, but this time around the locks will be changed and the USPS would maintain exclusive use of the facility, until which time the original building is repaired.

On Tuesday, the USPS sent an inspector to the community center to ensure it met their security protocols. The move was approved, and plans are to set up in the community center by late this week.

As an aside, the level of security needed for a USPS facility is a bit peculiar, since there are rural post offices operating out of annexes on people’s homes, and thousands of mailboxes holding mail along county roads, totally unlocked.

Additionally, a “Postal Mobile Retail Unit” was spotted in Broadus over the weekend, with plans for it to be operational in the future. This is basically a bus which may be parked outside a facility that allows folks to conduct retail business with USPS – purchasing money orders or stamps, and so on. A food truck where you buy stamps instead of street tacos, if you will.

These units are often seen in areas where some sort of situation has affected mail service, such as after a hurricane. The precise location where this bus will be set up was not yet clear as of Tuesday, from the higher ups we spoke to at USPS.

We were informed that the original post office building will not only need to have the wall repaired, but will also need to have asbestos abatement performed due to the construction materials used at the time of building construction, and the subsequent release of asbestos fibers within the building when the wall was driven through. This process may take up to 9 weeks, according to what the commissioners had been briefed.

We spoke with David Rupert, Manager of Strategic Communications for the Western US on Monday, and asked him why it had taken so long to come put out any sort of information on the post office predicament, noting that it had been over a week since the incident, and the only semi-official news on the predicament was what we reported, as well as what local employees had put out on local Facebook pages – not a scrap of official press releases from the USPS. David replied that there was no excuse for the lack of information, and he planned to get on the phone and make that happen.

For those who may have concerns or complaints about the way the situation was handled, the Montana congressional delegation would be happy to hear of your plight – Senator Tester’s office may be reached at 202-224-2644, Senator Daines office number is 202-224-2651, and Representative Rosendale’s number is 202-225-3211.

To summarize the plan, the community center will serve as a mail facility, and a mobile bus will conduct business in Broadus. Additionally, as of Monday the drop box at the original Broadus post office was open for mail drop-offs. As of now, hours at the community center will remain limited.

Of course, these plans may all change by the time that you, our faithful reader, reads this very article. If you have any concerns about our receipt of payment for a subscription or advertising, please drop off payment at the drop box on the door of our office, or you may shoot us an email at [email protected], and we’ll email an invoice, which you may pay with a credit card.