Town frustrated, USPS insists renewal not offered, landlord denies eviction

By J.D. O’Gara

 The Medway Post Office at 115 Main Street closed on Aug. 31 without any official notice to regular mail customers.

 “I got a call from a resident who said the post office is closing at the end of the month,” said Medway Town Manager Michael Boynton in mid-August. “The situation is frustrating, and some of it doesn’t even make sense.” Boynton said the Town has been entertaining concept ideas with landowner The Meehan Group, which also owns abutting properties, for the better part of two years. “Included in these discussions have been the primary uses that are there, including a gas station and food as well as a car wash and the post office. We’d been having very good conversations and deemed them very responsive to the Town.”

 Boynton is puzzled by the quick closure of the Main Street location.

 “There does not seem to be any basis for the post office to be moving in any haste to vacate that site,” said Boynton. “Is this the beginning of the [United States] Post Office cost-cutting? If you’re serious about not having a serious impact on the town, why is the Village Street Post Office not increasing their hours, and what do you propose to do about handicap accessibility? They’re shipping their carriers to Bellingham, and that, again, begs the question, ‘Why?’” Boynton said, “There’s no obligation for them to talk to the Town, we have no control over this whatsoever, but it would be nice. There was zero communication. Our expectation was they had no reason to leave – they were going to be phased into a [different] location at their site. The developer had been very transparent with anything they’ve presented to us.”

 USPS response

 USPS representatives said it is closing the Main Street location because “our current lease on this property expires August 31 and is not being offered for renewal,” according to Steve Doherty, Strategic Communications Specialist for USPS. “The Bellingham Post Office has adequate capacity to absorb the mail volume from Medway.” He said delivery to Medway mail customers will not be affected, though packages will have to be retrieved from Bellingham.

 Doherty said no layoffs are planned as part of this move, and the USPS’ ‘Delivering for America’ plan “does not include any plans to close Post Offices.”

 The Delivering for America plan is a 10-year strategy established in 2021 to guide “the transformation of the United States Postal Service from an organization in financial and operational crisis to one that is self-sustaining and high-performing.” Read more at bit.ly/USPS_DeliveringForAmerica

 Landlord response

 The Meehan Group adamantly denies evicting the post office from the Main Street location.

 “Those allegations are absolutely erroneous, causing substantial harm to the potential developer,” said Tariq “Ty” Fayyad, Development and Acquisitions Manager for The Meehan Group, which has yet to finalize plans for the parcel.

 Google map – The parcels involved in the proposed “111 Main Street” project are captured here, from 1 Elm St. (corner of Elm St. and Main St.), up to 107 Main St. (Mobil), down to Kelley St. (at current dead end), over to Elm St. Source: Google maps

 

The project before the town is “111 Main Street” and includes a total of 13 parcels on Main, Elm, and Kelley Streets. It lists the applicant as “Tariq Fayyad, Rte 85 Realty Trust” in Mendon; and shows Rte 85 Realty Trust as the owner of all parcels except one, “Map 40, Lot 73,” which is the parcel on which the post office sits; that parcel is owned by “Milford East Main Street LLC” in Millis whose principal is Patricia Meehan.

 “Over these two years, there has not been one plan that did not account for the post office. Every single plan had the post office location somewhere, and further, all those plans were developed in a way that this development would go forward in a phased sense,” said Fayyad.

 “They’re great tenants, we want to keep them, and we want to relocate them into one of the new buildings,” he said, adding the developer “has spent substantial funds on all of our engineering plans on this concern.”

 Fayyad said, “We reached out to JLL [the brokerage firm for USPS] saying we were ready to extend the lease to the desired two-year extension. However, we wanted a clause within the lease that simply allowed us to relocate them if the development was ready.”

 The email, copied to Medway Postmaster Matthew Afonso, and shared with Local Town Pages, also requested the Post Office, upon signing the lease extension, initiate the Post Office Relocation Process [see sidebar], whether its ultimate intention is to stay at the Main Street location or move. Fayyad said, “JLL then reached out to us via email saying they’re not willing to negotiate the 2-year extension…Then we reached back out saying we’re willing to let them stay there as Tenants-at-Will, and they didn’t respond back after that.”

 In a previous JLL email (also shared with Local Town Pages), Fayyad was told USPS has to go through a specific, lengthy legal process to move a location, and that, even if evicted, could legally stay for up to two years. He expressed frustration at the sudden move to Bellingham.

 “JLL’s desire to relocate is regrettable,” said Fayyad, “We tried to keep [USPS] as tenants, but if they want to leave, we can’t force them to stay.”

 Postal Workers Union response

 The abruptness of the closure and lack of town notification concerns Keith Richards, president of the Central Massachusetts Area American Postal Workers Union, Local 4553.

He said, “I have 3-4 employees I represent in that office, and I see it as I represent the people of Medway, too. If I put myself in their shoes, I would hate what is going on right now at the Medway Post Office.”  

 The union representative maintains that, under Title 39 of the Federal Code of Regulations, Section 241.3, the USPS is mandated to “give two-months’ notice to every single citizen of that town of a discontinued post office, and they’re supposed to send out questionnaires and flyers to all of them [USPS customers] for their general input. Also, they haven’t conducted a feasibility study and have held no town meetings to keep everyone informed as they should. ”Richards said, “I know if I lived in Medway, I wouldn’t want to be forced to go to Bellingham to pick up a package, express mail, certified letter or, mail [held] from vacation.”

 Learn more at bit.ly/USCODE_USPS_closing_consolidating

 At press time, only the Medway P.O. box holders (approximately 250) had been notified of the closing in a letter that said the “Medway Post Office will be suspended at the close of business on Thursday, August 31st, 2023,” according to Richards. Those boxes will be transferred to the Medway Village Post Office. Regular mail customers had not yet received notification and no notice had been posted at the Main Street location.

 Richards said the Medway Village location “is not a feasible location to move a 4,000 square-foot facility…and to add over 200 more P.O. Box customers to that location with no handicapped access and only two parking spots - not to mention how small the lobby is and lack of room for people to wait inside to conduct business and process passports - I foresee it as being a safety issue.”

 Local government response

 Medway Select Board member Dennis Crowley echoes those concerns and is particularly worried that the parking for the non-ADA-compliant location “backs into a busy Village Street. ”Crowley confirmed the town had no knowledge of the Post Office closing and decried the subsequent misinformation spread on social media. “What happens is that misconceptions get printed on the ‘Friends of Medway’ Facebook page, and that’s unfortunate. A lot [of posts] are blaming the Town, but…we didn’t know a thing. ”Crowley recently timed his drive to the Bellingham Post Office at “19 minutes and eight sets of lights. Moving Medway residents’ postal services to Bellingham is really an inconvenience.”

Federal government response

 Matt Bonaccorsi, Communications Director and Senior Advisor to U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern, said “Congressman McGovern has been in touch directly with the Town of Medway and immediately reached out to USPS leadership to express his concerns after learning about the potential closure of the Medway Post Office on Main Street.

 “He believes it’s vital that people continue to have the convenience and accessibility of a fully functional USPS location in Medway, and he opposes any closure or relocation that would make it

State government response

 A spokesperson for Sen. Karen E. Spilka said, “The Senate President has been in touch with local officials in Medway regarding the closure of the Main Street branch, and she is hopeful that the parties involved can reach an agreement so that Medway residents have access to a full-service post office in their community and all of the important resources it offers.”

 USPS rebuttal

 As of press time, the USPS did not waver from its original position. When pressed about The Meehan Group’s statements, Doherty reiterated, “We were notified that our lease will expire August 31 and would not be renewed. That is what prompted the move to Bellingham…There has been no violation of any regulations in this process.”

How to access postal services

 As of Sept. 1, Medway residents can conduct postal business at the: Medway Village Post Office location, 137 Village St., Mon. through Fri., 9 a.m. to noon (counter and lobby hours, no bulk mail accepted);

Bellingham Post Office, 111 Mechanic St., Bellingham - open Mon. through Fri., 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sat., 9 a.m. to noon (bulk mail hours limited); or Any other open USPS location.

 Post Office door – As of today, there is still no notice to customers on the front door alerting customers that the Medway Post Office at 115 Main St. will close on Aug. 31. 

Credit: Theresa Knapp

 Post Office Relocation Process

The Postal Service can relocate post offices from one place to another, typically within the same ZIP Code area, for reasons such as lease issues or space optimization. The relocation process consists of a concept study, public notification, and site selection. The Postal Service informs local officials and the public of the proposed relocation. Both may comment on and appeal the plan to relocate retail operations. Source: www.uspsoig.gov

 Theresa Knapp contributed to, and edited, this story