The U.S. Postal Service on Monday confirmed that it plans to reopen a full service facility in downtown Montpelier in the next few months.
Postal Spokesperson Steve Doherty said the new temporary facility will be located in Montpelier's City Center complex.
Montpelier lost its post office when the historic July floods caused enormous structural damage to the city's federal building. Since then, local officials, Gov. Phil Scott, and Vermont's congressional delegation have grown increasingly frustrated by USPS failing to restore services to the city.
Doherty said the process was delayed in part because it was difficult to find a suitable building in downtown Montpelier.
"For the type of facility that we need there are specific needs," Doherty said. "Like, for instance, a loading dock where trucks can back up and deliver mail, that kind of thing that we can't really just set up in any some place that a doughnut shop or a book store might be able to."
The decision to finally open a facility is a key part of the city's overall flood recovery efforts, said Ben Doyle, chair of Montpelier's Commission for Recovery and Resilience.
"By the Post Office returning to the downtown, it says that this place matters, that the Postal Service is there that recovery is on its way," Doyle said. "It's a long, long journey, right, but this is just one step in returning to what's next for Montpelier."
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