DECISION IS NEAR ON NEW POSTAL CENTER: DRURY, BEUSSINK SITES IN RUNNING

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- A long-awaited decision on the site for a proposed regional mail processing center locally may be made as soon as Friday by United States Postal Service officials. Local and division administrators are meeting Friday in the Kansas City division headquarters to review data and determine a choice.

Two buildings owned by Cape Girardeau businesses are in the final competition. One is the DI Supply Inc. (a Drury Industries subsidiary) warehouse at the northwest corner of the Interstate 55 and Bloomfield Road intersection. The other is the Mid-America Distributors building on Highway 74 in the Six-Thirty Industrial Park.

The USPS was supposed to have made the selection by Oct. 30 so renovations could be made for a February opening. However an omission in the inspection procedure last year, coupled with several secondary factors, has stalled the project.

Officials overlooked the need for an environmental impact study, a review required for federal government projects involving real estate. The oversight was caught in November by planners in the USPS real estate department in the division headquarters, according to local post master Mike Keefe.

"The study had to be completed before the bidding could be finalized," Keefe said. "The study has just been completed. The process normally takes 90 days." He indicated the study is usually done under contract by an outside consulting firm.

The environmental impact studies are designed to show potential negative impact on the local ecological and economic conditions.

Keefe said other factors in the postponement are a change in the operational requirements, re-negotiation of highway contract routes, more renovation needed than originally anticipated, and "normal bureaucratic red tape."

Since the request for proposals was published in May, the USPS decided to eliminate the Carbondale, Ill. area from the region served by the proposed center. Plans at present call for it to serve four Southeast Missouri zip code areas - 636 (Flat River), 637 (Cape Girardeau), 638 (Sikeston) and 639 (Poplar Bluff). This changed shifted the operational requirements for the center.

The center, when completed, will process ingoing and outgoing mail utilizing new automated equipment. According to Keefe, Southeast Missouri is the last part of the state to be included in the new technology.

In May the USPS advertised for proposals for an existing building having a minimum of 36,800 square feet of floor space, 15 foot ceilings, and with 125,000 square feet of parking and maneuvering area. The specifications called for it to be within one mile of the interstate and within 10 miles of Cape Girardeau.

Ernie Beussink, of Mid-America Distributors, said Wednesday he is still actively involved in the negotiations with the USPS. He indicated the contracts will call for leasing instead of purchasing the property. His building and the Drury property are the only two buildings the USPS found acceptable, according to Beussink.

"We are continuing, that's about all we can say now," said Dan Overbey of Drury Industries Wednesday of the negotiating process. "We are going back and forth, as we have all along."

Neither party would give specifics on their bids since negotiations are ongoing at this time.

Keefe indicated that estimating an opening date for the center at this point would be difficult.