TULSA, Okla. — Concerns continue to grow about the prospect of operation changes at Tulsa’s United States Postal Service distribution center.
City councilors are considering a resolution to encourage postal service leaders to reconsider.
Although a decision to re-purpose Tulsa’s plant is still months away, Councilor Grant Miller proposed five points to add pressure to rethink these distribution changes. Miller brought up concerns about critical mail being delayed because some sorting could happen in Oklahoma City.
“I personally receive my medication through the mail from the VA as a veteran, and I know how important It is for our veterans and our seniors to receive those shipments timely,” said Miller.
The resolution Miller is looking to pass first asks the council to get on board with support.
- Point one urges USPS to think about the impacts a change like this could have on Tulsa’s health, economy and community.
Miller pointed to medication delays, while other councilors mentioned issues with absentee ballots, fines being paid through the mail, and legal documents being shipped on a deadline.
President of Tulsa’s American Postal Worker’s Union Julia Weare talked about the trickle-down effect a re-purposing of this plant would have on Tulsa, and said the union wants more communication on why these drastic measures are being taken.
“We want the postal service to sit down with us and say ‘hey this is how we came to these numbers, this is why we’re doing what we’re doing, and this is how it’s going to succeed and not fail,’ because when it fails, it fails the community,” said Weare. “It’s not just the postal workers were worried about, it’s also all of the communities, all of the people who depend on it to get their information.”
- Point two asks the USPS to add another public comment and general consideration period.
Members of the community and USPS employees argued that a meeting held earlier this month was difficult to attend.
WATCH: 2 News attended that meeting:
- Point three urges USPS to rethink the restructure so it “does not rely disproportionately on degraded services to Tulsa and surrounding rural areas.’
- Point four looks to asking for lawmakers to get involved and confirm that any impacts that would result from a repurposing of the plant would be a benefit to the community.
Another concern Weare brought to the conversation was a change to the amount of pick up and drop offs to just once a day, which could create a disruption across Green Country.
“They’re going to bring everything that they have, and anything that you have ready, they’re going to take,” said Weare. “If you don’t have it ready, it’s going to stay there. So, if you wanted to send an express mail, and they pick up and drop off at 5 o’clock in the morning, that express mail isn’t going to go on the truck until the next day.”
As councilors spoke in agreement to the resolution, a number of them raised concerns about what this could mean long term. Councilor Phil Lakin said he was confused by something being proposed in a city like Tulsa, in respect to the current growing trends.
“Given that we're already a million people just in this MSA,” said Lakin. “If you start adding all those other areas that you were talking about, we have many millions of people that could be impacted by this.”
- Point 5 declares an emergency to the ‘preservation of public peace, health, and safety.’
The resolution will be voted on on April 10th by the council, either for adoption or denial.
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