Senator to enter fray in fight for Mount Pleasant post office

Mayor asks Graham to help bring second mail center

MOUNT PLEASANT — At the request of Mayor Harry Hallman, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., will join in the push for another town post office.

"We do desperately need a second post office. And I am committed to working with all of our Washington representatives to do everything we can to acquire one," Hallman said Thursday.

The current post office was built when the town population was 30,000. Now, it is 62,000. "If that doesn't demonstrate the need for a post office, I don't know what does," Hallman said.

He cautioned that town talks with the post office are only in the preliminary stages. "I don't want to raise anybody's level of expectations," Hallman said.

Kevin Bishop, Graham's communications director, said the senator's staff will go to bat for the town. "We are talking to them (Postal Service). They're going to look and see what can be done. We want to make sure the agency is not giving the town the run-around," Bishop said.

Councilman Gary Santos has been an advocate of a new post office. "I'm certainly very grateful for Lindsey Graham to be stepping up to the plate like this and looking out for the citizens of Mount Pleasant," Santos said.

The post office at 1050 Johnnie Dodds Blvd. is on a crowded frontage road. Exiting the post office requires a sharp eye to check for traffic coming around a curve. The frontage road leads to stop signs at congested Bowman Road or busy Anna Knapp Boulevard.

Some residents have said they go to the post office on Isle of Palms or in Awendaw to avoid crowds and traffic at the town facility.

Town Postmaster Bob Bergdorf has said there are 18 businesses that contract with the Postal Service to provide a variety of services, but that more retailers are needed.

Bergdorf met with Santos and Town Administrator Mac Burdette at the end of 2005 to discuss the need for another post office.

Growth has leveled off in Mount Pleasant, Burdette has said, but it is still climbing in Summerville and Lexington.

In some other areas of the state, trailers are used for postal facilities, which makes them a hardship case, unlike Mount Pleasant, he said.

Bergdorf said residents on the north end of town can visit the Huger post office in addition to those in Awendaw and on Sullivan's Island and Isle of Palms. The town is on a waiting listing of up to eight years for a new post office, he said.

The town post office, which has about 100 employees, operates with five workers at windows and is the No. 1 automated postal center in the state, Bergdorf said. Mail delivery is fine, he has said.

Reach Prentiss Findlay at 937-5711 or pfindlay@postand courier.com

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