BY SHERRY CONOHAN
Staff Writer
SEA BRIGHT — Mayor Jo-Ann Kalaka-Adams wants to know what’s happening to the mail — both that come into the borough and that go out.
In a letter to U.S. Postmaster Gen. John E. Potter, written on her behalf by borough clerk Maryann M. Smeltzer, Kalaka-Adams proposed that Sea Bright be given its own ZIP code in order to get better service.
Sea Bright currently shares the 07760 ZIP code with Rumson. The main post office is located in Rumson. There also is a post office branch in Sea Bright.
Kalaka-Adams said at the last council meeting the borough often has not been getting its mail at borough hall.
The mayor said whenever the regular postal person is off on vacation or a personal day, the borough has experienced problems receiving its mail.
"Not only am I not getting my mail at borough hall, but the bills I mail out are not getting there and I’m getting late charges," she complained.
In the letter to Potter, Smeltzer reported that on Thursday, July 1, her office had called the Rumson post office at 4 p.m. and asked for the postmaster to find out why the mail had not been delivered to borough hall.
"The call was forwarded to the person in charge of the carriers," she said. "He advised that the route had been split and since our office is only opened until 4:30 p.m. we may not receive a mail delivery. He promised that on the following day, July 2, we would receive our mail no later than 11 a.m. The next day we received the mail for July 1 and 2 after 2 p.m.
"Why," she asked, "can’t we get our mail every day even when our regular carrier is not working."
Kalaka-Adams cited at both the meeting and in the letter to Potter the delay she experienced in receiving an invitation from Fort Monmouth for a change of command ceremony there on July 2. She said the invitation bore a postmark of June 10, but she didn’t receive it at her home until July 7.
Fortunately, she said, she knew about the ceremony so she hadn’t relied on the invitation for notice of it.
"The question is why would a piece of mail take so long to be delivered?" Smeltzer asked in the letter to Potter.
Kalaka-Adams added after the council meeting, "I’ve had my parents send me a letter from Wappinger Falls [in New York] and it took 14 days."
Smeltzer said the mayor had been calling the Rumson police office since January, when she took office, seeking to speak to the postmaster, but to no avail.
"The postmaster has not taken her calls, nor has the postmaster returned any of the mayor’s calls," Smeltzer wrote.
Smeltzer asked if Sea Bright could obtain its own ZIP code instead of sharing one with its neighbor, Rumson.
In her final fusillade aimed at the post office, Kalaka-Adams pointed, as an example, to the invitations she sent out to a Fourth of July party she had.
"I sent them out to people in Sea Bright, from Sea Bright," she said, "and it took over a week to get to them."