MILLTOWN — Though the U.S. Postal Service’s hearing last week was set up to discuss the consolidation of its mail processing operations in Edison and Kearny, many in attendance had another question in mind:
Whatwill happen to the Milltown post office?
The Washington Avenue facility has been closed sinceAugust after suffering severe flood damage during Hurricane Irene. Since then, the town’s postal operations, including carriers, have operated out of East Brunswick, and a trailer has been set up at the Milltown post office site for residents to access post office boxes.
Carol Aboussleman, of New Brunswick, said during the Jan. 10 hearing at the Milltown American Legion that she uses the Milltown post office because of the convenience and the abundance of parking.
“We need this post office,” she said. “[Going elsewhere] has been a huge inconvenience, and the Milltown post office has the nicest people of all the post offices. They know your name and they are missed. Yes, there are post offices in East Brunswick, but how far do you want us to go?”
Priscilla Maney, manager for the Postal Service Northern New Jersey District, reassured those in attendance that the Postal Service has no plans to close the post office in Milltown.
“We are actually taking suggestions on relocating the post office to another location in town,” she said.
Bonnie Sudnik, who has worked at the Milltown post office for six years, said the hours of operation at the special trailer are inefficient, and they can only service customers with P.O. boxes.
“We get so many disgruntled people because we can’t sell stamps, and there is no new news that I can tell them, because I don’t have a computer there,” she said.
When it was suggested that the post office be set up permanently at a strip mall on Ryders Lane, Maney said USPS officials would take that into consideration.
Milltown Mayor Eric Steeber said his office is open to working with the Postal Service to reopen the local post office as soon as possible.
Hurricane Irene was not the first time the Milltown post office flooded. It was also closed for two months in 2007 after a nor’easter brought 2 feet of water into the facility.
— Kathy Chang