Tester intervenes in post-office closure

| September 29, 2007 1:00 AM

The Daily Inter Lake

Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., is pushing the U.S. Postal Service to reconsider putting the Martin City Post Office contract up for bid again.

Postal service in Martin City was suspended Friday because contract postmaster Val Johnson stepped down from the job. She had given the agency a 60-day notice, but it was unable to find a replacement contractor to keep the post office running.

After receiving word of the situation, Tester called John DiPeri, the Big Sky District manager for the Postal Service, urging him to keep the post office open, a press release from Tester's office said. DiPeri will visit Martin City on Tuesday to meet with Tester's staff to discuss putting the contract up for bid again.

"I'm glad to see that the Postal Service is making an effort to continue serving small-town Montanans the way it should," Tester said in a prepared statement. "Post offices are important for community identity in places like Martin City. And I look forward to going back to the drawing board with the Postal Service to negotiate a realistic contract so folks in Martin City will continue have access to the services post offices provide."

Over the weekend the Postal Service will move all post-office boxes in Martin City to Hungry Horse - a move DiPeri says should be temporary until a new post office is up and running. Until postal service resumes in Martin City, residents will continue to use their current box numbers, as well as the Martin City ZIP code.

Hungry Horse Post Office contractor Dan Petek said he worked out a deal late Thursday to assume the Martin City boxes. On Friday afternoon, Petek said he hadn't heard about Tester's intervention and was unsure how it might affect his operation.

Earlier this year, Tester wrote a letter urging the Postal Service to keep open the post office in Kinsey after a dispute over the rented post-office space. Following Tester's letter the Postal Service and the owner of the post office building reached an agreement to keep the facility running.