About 30 apply for postal service advisory panel

About 30 people have submitted applications for the area's new United States Postal Service Advisory Board, and about half that number turned out for an organizational meeting Thursday night at the Cape Girardeau Public Library.

The purpose of the advisory board is to give customers access to the postal service and can see how it does things, said consumer and industry contact Darrin Gadson of Kansas City, Mo.

Members also may bring up concerns and suggestions they hear. Some who attended the 5:30 p.m. meeting were postal employees. Other were there to hear about what was going on, while others had submitted applications or were curious.

"Everything -- whatever entity you're into -- is about customer service ... so we just want the public to be a part of it," Gadson said after the meeting.

Acting Cape Girardeau postmaster JaNan M. O'Brien said applications will be accepted for another two weeks.

"Then we will look at the applications and select a committee," O'Brien said.

The size of the committee will vary based on the cross-section of applicants, she said. The first meeting will likely be in February to ensure everyone who wants to has applied.

"Everyone will receive a notification -- either yes or no -- and then we'll set the first meeting. The first meeting will be at the post office," O'Brien said.

She said part of the dialogue between the post office and consumer advisory council is "telling you what we do, showing you what we do, and listening to your feedback on how we can do it better, because the goal is truly to provide the best customer service."

Cindie Jeter Yanow already submitted her application. A former broadcast journalist and a mass communication instructor at Southeast Missouri State University, she said she wants to get involved so the public will not lose the ability to speak out.

"I've always been taught that, and being a broadcast journalist, people would come up and talk to me about things and then I'd carry it to the appropriate people ... I'd like to do this because I want to save the post office," Jeter Yanow said. "I don't pay online. Ever since I was 4 years old, I get delighted whenever I could go to the mailbox and get mail, and I still do and I'm 63 years old ... Even if it's bills, I don't care."

O'Brien said nothing in particular prompted the council's formation. She declined to comment about recent complaints about Cape Girardeau's postal service such as late mail delivery and earlier mailbox collection times.

"Many of the larger offices have these type of councils. Cape does not. It's a good time to start," she said.

She said the postal service is "looking for a cross-section of the community -- that includes retirees, that includes business owners, that includes parents, young people, old people."

The time frame for meetings has not been determined.

"We'll probably meet more as we get developed," O'Brien said. "There will be an agenda, action items, an opportunity for the membership to bring forward concerns they may have heard from the community [and] to try to bring forward issues for resolution."

She said the council will be permanent, but the members may change.

rcampbell@semissourian.com

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