The United States Postal Service (USPS) is looking to relocate the Howell Post Office and officials are asking for help from area residents and local leaders to find its new home.

Officials with the USPS and the relocation project attended a Howell City Council meeting Monday, asking council members to brainstorm ideas for potential locations within the municipality. Vee A. Spikes, Real Estate Specialist for the USPS Facilities Implementation Team, says the Post Office located on South Michigan Avenue is “space deficient and overcrowded, due to the area’s current and projected parcel and delivery growth”. Spikes says there were several alternatives considered to resolve the problem; however the final recommendation that was granted was for the Postal Service to construct a new building.

Spikes says the USPS feels a three-acre parcel would be sufficient for the additional space that's needed. The Post Office has been in its current space since March of 1984. Council did ask if it was possible to build vertically in order to keep the Post Office in its same location, but USPS officials turned that idea down, saying that a vertical set-up wouldn’t work well considering that the mail room needs to flow seamlessly.

City council members did also note that the Post Office was just renamed last month in honor of the late WWII veteran Donald R. Burgett. Council members were concerned about what would happen to the designation after the Post Office is relocated. USPS officials say the legislation regarding the designation would have to go through the legislative process again but that it shouldn’t be an issue.

Spikes asked that councilmembers come up with ideas for potential locations and encouraged community members to do the same, providing his contact information for anyone looking to weigh in. Suggestions can be sent to vee.a.spikes@usps.gov. (DK)