Deadline for input on post office plans nears, final decision to be announced in coming months

Jana Wiersema, The News-Gazette, Champaign-Urbana, Ill.
Updated ·3 min read

Mar. 26—CHAMPAIGN — Wednesday is the final day to give public input on the U.S. Postal Service's proposed changes for the Mattis Avenue plant, said spokesman Tim Norman.

"After considering the collected comments, a final decision on the approval or disapproval of a specific MPFR (Mail Processing Facility Review) proposal will be made and shared in the next two to three months," Norman told The News-Gazette.

USPS officials also heard oral comments at a public meeting earlier this month.

The Postal Service told meeting attendees that the initial findings support turning the Mattis Avenue post office into a local processing center that is co-located with a sorting and delivery center. They also said the business case supports "transferring mail processing outgoing operations" to the South Suburban Processing and Distribution Center in Bedford Park and the Chicago South Regional Processing and Distribution Center.

Critics of the plan have expressed concerns about the potential impact on employees and mail delivery times.

The agency said that local mail from the Champaign area to the Champaign area will not be delayed under the plan. While such mail will be processed in Chicago before returning the local LPC, officials said that local mail will "continue to be processed and delivered in two days."

However, Brian Cunningham, president of the local American Postal Workers Union chapter, said in a previous interview that he expects the change to add a day or two to processing times.

USPS officials have said that the proposed changes will not affect local newspapers that are dropped off at local delivery units.

"Those periodicals do not go through the same sortation system as regular letters and would continue to be processed as they are today," the agency said. "Newspapers destined to other areas or not pre-sorted by ZIP code would be processed in Chicago and then directed to the appropriate LPC and local delivery unit."

The News-Gazette, which recently switched to mail delivery, has a staff member drop off papers at the Champaign distribution center on South Neil Street early in the morning, according to Publisher Paul Barrett. The bundles of pre-addressed papers are then delivered to about 70 local post offices in the circulation area.

The paper uses the Postal Service's "Exceptional Dispatch" program to guarantee same-day delivery.

As for worker impact, the Postal Service has repeatedly said that there will be no career employee layoffs as a result of its plans.

However, it is estimated that 70 craft career positions and four management career positions may be reassigned due to the changes, said Frank Veal, USPS senior director for the Westshores Division, at the agency's March 12 public meeting.

He added that all reassignments for bargaining employees will be done in accordance with their respective collective bargaining agreements.

The Postal Service's presentation also outlined planned improvements, with officials saying the agency plans to invest between $15 million and $20 million into the local post office.

Local U.S. congressmen have been skeptical of the agency's plan for the Champaign post office and other plants. Illinois Democrats Rep. Nikki Budzinski, Sen. Dick Durbin, Sen. Tammy Duckworth, Rep. Mike Quigley and Rep. Eric Sorenson sent a letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy last week about their questions and concerns regarding proposed changes for Champaign, Peoria, Milan and Springfield.

"The initial findings in these reviews support a shift from P&DC (Processing and Distribution Center) operations to smaller local processing centers (LPCs)," the congressmen wrote.

"We are concerned this may cause communities to lose both jobs and reliability of mail service."