The United States Postal Service will conduct a public meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 6, at 7 p.m. at Lima Senior High School, Jeffrey E. Sprague, vice president, Allen Economic Development Group, Lima, informed The Icon on Dec. 29.

Sprague said that The 458 Regional Postal Task Force has been formed in response to the potential consolidation of the Lima Processing Center to Toledo. Task Force members include business, political and community leaders along with employees of the Lima U.S. Postal Processing Center.

Closing of the Lima Processing Center will cause probable delay of all classes of mail in the 458 Region. Important mail including bill payments, medical documents, checks and other time sensitive documents may not reach their destination on time, he added.

The Lima Processing Center ranked third nationally out of 268 canceller processing sites. Toledo ranked 16th.

Sixty-one percent of mail collected in the 458 zip code is delivered within the 458 zip code area. Mail will be trucked to Toledo for processing instead of being processed in Lima.

To date over 12,960 signatures have been collected from citizens concerned about the impact to mail service in the 458 region.

Cities, villages (including the Bluffton council) and townships representing all nine counties impacted by the consolidation have passed resolutions supporting the Lima Processing Center.

Persons interested in voicing their views on this subject may contact any of the following persons, according to Sprague:

Ms. Chu Falling Star
District Manager
1591 Dalton Ave.
Cincinnati, Ohio 45234-9994

Ms. Megan J. Brennan
V.P. Operations
One Marquis Plaza
5315 Campbells Run
Pittsburgh, PA 15277-7010

Sen. George Voinovich
37 West Broad St. Ste. 310
Columbus, OH 43215
614-469-6697

Sen. Sherrod Brown
1301 E. Ninth St. Ste 1710
Cleveland, OH 44114
216-522-7272

Rep. Jim Jordan
3121 W. Elm St.
Lima, OH 45805
419-999-6455

Contact Information:
458 Regional Postal Task Force
c/o Allen Economic Development Group
144 S. Main Street, Suite 200
Lima, Ohio 45801
(419) 222-7706
www.458postaltaskforce.com