The Hilda Post Office

Pending consolidations in the United States Postal Services is threatening Hilda’s post office once again.
During the regular Jan. 10 council meeting, Hilda Town Clerk Betty Everett said the USPS announced in November 2011 the Hilda Post Office would be closed by March 1, 2012.
As Everett informed residents of the upcoming closure, residents began to change their addresses in order to prepare for the closing.
An announcement posted Dec. 13, 2011, at www.about.usps.com states, the USPS, “in response to a request made by multiple U.S. Senators, has agreed to delay the closing or consolidation of any Post Office or mail processing facility until May 15, 2012.”
Everett said they haven’t received “other documentation” after the March 1 closure date document, but rumors circulated about a delay.
“It’s just so frustrating,” Everett said. “They gave us an original date of March 1.”
The USPS online announcement continued, “The Postal Service will continue all necessary steps required for the review of these facilities during the interim period, including public input meetings.”
Currently, the USPS pays the town $583.33 per month to run the post office, and the town pays that exact amount to the post office clerk.
“We pay the clerk exactly what the post office pays to the town,” Everett said. “We pay all other expenses (of the post office).”
The town purchased all the equipment except for the mailboxes, the scanner and the scales, Everett said.
Back in 2008, the town of Hilda entered into a two-year contract with the USPS, but no other contract has been established since and the current contract has not been renewed, Everett said.
“The only thing we can do is keep operating with the idea it may not close,” she said. “I have fought this issue with the post office for years, and I have no fight left in me.”
In 2006, the post office almost closed, and the town spent over $40,000 in 2009 to build their own, Everett said. “We built the building with the understanding that we would keep the post office.”
Hilda has had a post office for more than 50 years, Everett said. “It has never really closed.”
Assistant Fire Chief Ray Still, who attended the meeting, asked if Hilda would lose its identity if the post office closed. Mayor John McClary said the town would not.
In other business:
-Hilda Town Council decided to allow members of the fire department to choose an individual from among their ranks to take the place of their former and only fire chief, Billy Joe Sharpe, who died Dec. 19.
The assistant fire chief Ray Still will bring the recommendation to the council at their regular February meeting.
-Jerry Creech of Hilda attended the regular Jan. 10 meeting to announce he will run for the District 7 County Council seat.
He said he( wants the new hospital to be on the county line and “get this side of the county built up. I was raised here. I want it to grow.”