Several hundred people rallied in downtown Montpelier Monday afternoon demanding that the United States Postal Service reopen the city's post office, which has been closed since the historic floods in July.
The Federal Building in downtown Montpelier was heavily damaged by the floodwaters, and may never reopen.
State and city officials have urged the postal service to open a temporary facility, but these requests have gone unanswered.
"182 days later, you know who hasn't shown up? United States Postal Service leadership," says Ben Doyle, the chairman of Montpelier's Commission on Flood Recovery.
Montpelier does have home delivery service, but residents and businesses must travel to either East Montpelier or Barre for other basic postal needs.
Kate Whelley McCabe is the CEO of the Vermont Evaporator Company, and she says the lack of a downtown post office has hurt many small businesses as they recover from the flood.
"We are not asking for a miracle here," Whelley McCabe says. "What we're asking for is to give us a working post office right here in town."
Montpelier resident Johanna Nichols said the situation has also been devastating for the city's older population.
"For older residents, having a post office accessible helps us to stay part of a world increasingly impersonal, technologically alien and unrecognizable," Nichols says.
In an email to Vermont Public, the U.S. Postal Service says it has identified several possible locations "in and around" Montpelier to relocate the post office, but they haven't established a timeline to do so.
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