Casper Resident Tells Council West Side Needs A Post Office
The Town of Mills has a post office.
West Casper does not despite having a much larger population, a Paradise Valley resident told Casper City Council on Tuesday.
"We in west Casper are deserving of this kind of service, and so what I would like to do, as what I indicated tonight, is have council take a look at this," Brian Clark said.
While he didn't have hard data, Clark said 25,882 people live in west Casper, or about seven times that of Mills, according to the 82604 ZIP Code and the 2010 Census.
The west side had a postal station in Smith's grocery store on CY Avenue until the end of January, Clark said. That was the latest, and last, of four postal stations on the west side in the 40 years he's lived here, he said.
So now, from his house in Paradise Valley, he said he has to travel about 10 miles to the downtown Post Office, 123 N. Wolcott St.
Clark said he talked to Casper City Manager Carter Napier about the issue, and Napier urged him to speak to council to get some support.
The creation of a new post office would require an act of Congress, he said.
Clark has not spoken with the congressional delegation yet, he added.
Council member Charlie Powell, who represents Ward II in west Casper, said he hadn't thought about this.
Powell wanted to know if Clark had any information about postal service in cities the size of Casper, and whether some places in those cities are not served equitably.
Clark didn't know, but Casper is 25 miles wide, he said. With the exception of Mills, the other post office buildings are in central or east Casper, he said.
"We have this kind of black hole, which is from the center of town west, and in reality we're talking about people out in Bessemer Bend and beyond also that could benefit from having a postal station that's closer," Clark said. "That's the only information I've been able to put together so far."
Council member Chris Walsh said a proposal like this will need a lot more information, and urged Clark to get more people to join him and start an informal petition.
Council member Jesse Morgan suggested putting the matter on the agenda for a work session and draft a resolution of support for presentation to the congressional delegation.