Meeting set for Dec. 15 on mail facility's fate
Olivehurst plant expected to be closed
The fate of the Olivehurst mail sorting facility will be revealed on Dec. 15, when the U.S. Postal Service hosts a meeting in Marysville at which observers expect postal officials to announce the facility will be closed.
Yuba County supervisors, in voting unanimously Tuesday night for a resolution opposing the move, said they will push for a strong show of support to keep the facility open at both the Dec. 15 meeting and a planned drive-through protest two days prior to that in Linda.
"We can't afford as a county to lose 170 jobs and go back to the days where it took five days for a letter to get from Marysville to Yuba City," said Supervisor Andy Vasquez, who organized the protest with the postal workers union that represents facility workers.
Postal officials announced earlier this year they were studying whether the Olivehurst facility's operations should be consolidated with a facility in West Sacramento. A decline in mail volume attributed to the recession forced the Postal Service to consider the idea.
Rick Page, president of Postal Workers Union Local 211, told county supervisors that the Postal Service will take notice if there is a strong show of support from residents and community leaders at the Dec. 15 meeting.
The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. at the Friday Night Live Youth Center, 201 Fourth St., third floor, Marysville.
"It's convenient they scheduled the meeting on a night when many community groups and elected boards are meeting," Page said. "This is a finality. If they close the facility, we'll lose those jobs forever."
Though both Yuba County supervisors and Marysville City Council members appear to be free that night, board chairman John Nicoletti said he would urge the Postal Service to consider moving the meeting to a different night to allow more people to attend.
Union employees have said the closure would likely replicate what happened when the Postal Service tried closing the facility in 2002, causing mail delays such as the infamous five-day delivery time between Marysville and Yuba City. The agency ultimately reopened the facility. However, a postal spokesman in Sacramento has said that the decline in mail volume and the type of mail being sent make such delays unlikely this time around.
Page said the closure would affect all residents with a ZIP code starting with "959."
Vasquez pointed out that delays would directly affect the county in the case of absentee ballots. "That's a huge thing," he said.
The 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Dec. 13 protest at Peach Tree Mall in Linda will allow residents to drive up and sign a letter of protest.
"We hope to get the bridges crowded on both sides," he said.
