POSTAL SERVICE DELAYS DECISION ON PROCESSING CENTER TO APRIL

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Cape Girardeau Postmaster Mike Keefe said last week signing a lease for the proposed automated mail processing center has been pushed back again, this time to April 29. The newest delay pushes the date back seven months beyond the original Sept. 30, 1990 deadline.

A recently-completed environmental impact study done by an outside consulting firm needs to be reviewed for accuracy from the local level up to the regional level in the Chicago office of the United States Postal Service, Keefe said. Only after the study review is completed can final negotiations take place and the lease signed, he added. They hope to have the review to the regional office by Feb. 1.

The center, when completed, will process ingoing and outgoing mail utilizing new automated equipment. It will serve most of Southeast Missouri. Two buildings, on the south and west side of the city, are in the final running to house the center.

Keefe pointed out the original projection of the opening date was to be Sept. 1991. He said that the new opening date projection of June 1991 is still ahead of the original goal.

The original proposal request called for a building of 36,800 square feet of floor space minimum. Under federal guidelines, an environmental impact study is not needed for a building this size, so the original process did not include a study request, Keefe explained.

However, both of the two buildings under consideration are larger and consequently are the size that federal statutes call for an impact study. Postal Service real estate department representatives noticed the need for the study and ordered one, which was started in November. Keefe said a copy of the study is not available until it passes all the reviews and is approved.