Council, developers debate mailboxes
Next week, the Killeen City Council will have to decide who the customer is and who should pay for mailboxes in new subdivisions. Under a proposed ordinance, developers would pay the bill.
In early March, the council debated about who should install the central community group mailbox in new subdivisions. New U.S. Postal Service regulations require a centralized mailbox for new communities, rather than a mailbox for each individual house, to increase efficiency.
Killeen Postmaster Jeff Davis said the Postal Service can no longer provide the mailboxes because they’re not the federal government’s responsibility.
The City Council revived the debate Tuesday at its workshop. The council received a letter forwarded from U.S. Rep. John Carter, R-Round Rock that is from the U.S. Postal Service. The letter states that it is the Postal Service’s responsibility to deliver the mail in the most efficient and economic manner possible. Davis said that means centralized mailboxes in new subdivisions.
The letter also states that installing the mailbox is the responsibility of the customer. A proposed city ordinance calls developers the customer. The proposed ordinance requires the developer of a subdivision to identify the site for a centralized mailbox in the plat process, buy the mailbox and install it – including the concrete pad it would be placed on.
Joan Purser, of Purser Construction, said developers do not want to be responsible for installing and maintaining the boxes.
Davis said the Postal Service would be responsible for maintaining the mailboxes. Davis also argued that the ordinance would solve the current problem.
The City Council addressed the mailbox issue in early March after residents complained that they were not getting their mail. Davis said that was because mailboxes were not installed until all the houses in the subdivision were complete, so the first people to move in had to wait to get mail.
The council will vote on the proposed ordinance at Tuesday’s regular meeting.
