By Fayrene Sherritt
Turnagain Times Hope Correspondent
At the Hope Inc. meeting held March 5, as part of new business, Vice President Greg Kaser reported he had been given the assignment to be the “contact person” for Hope Inc. with the U.S. Postal Service. He reported a letter to the community had been posted for public comment for the three locations under consideration for the new Hope Post Office. The breaking of ground for the new building was announced to begin this May with the building to be completed and open for business by March 2009.
Discussion for many in Hope in very recent days has been focused on the announcement of the relocation of the Hope Post Office. Many in the community were caught off guard with this sudden news, as it seemed to indicate that the important decisions had already been made.
Residents were surprised, given that it had been three years since the last contact from the Postal Service. Public notice of a 30-day period for public comment was not posted through established community means, leaving many unaware of an item of critical importance to our small town. There has been a considerable outcry to the Postal Service, with a very important meeting scheduled for this Saturday allowing for the last level of community input before a deadline four days later.
In response to an email to Mr. Hunter Roop, the Western FSO for the U.S. Postal Service, Mr. Roop stated, “The Postal Service has followed the established Community Contact Procedures as specified in Section 241.4 of 39 CFR to the letter of the law. The period for public comment under these procedures closed on 02-23-08. The appeal/comment period that we are in now is reserved strictly to “community officials”. Typically, this means the Highest Elected Official (HEO) in the community. In any given community if the community does not have an HEO then the Postal Service tries to work with whatever level of coalesced community “voice” that exists that is “official” in nature. Hope seems to fit this example, so in this case that voice appears to be the “City of Hope, Inc.” Accordingly, two letters were sent to Mr. Greg Kaser, VP City of Hope, Inc.
One letter was sent on Jan. 24 establishing the required 30-day period for public comment, and a second letter was sent Feb. 25 establishing the required 30-day period for comment that is reserved to this “public” official. This is how the process works, and it is the same process that was explained to the community during our formal “Community Contact Meeting” (CCM) that was held in 2005.
Mr. Roop also stated, “The Postal Service publicized a formal solicitation (just like it indicated it would in the CCM). Site offerings were received and evaluated in 2005. Those site offerings were not shared with the community at that time simply because the project was shut down, immediately after the sites were identified, due to lack of funding. To have notified the community then as to offered sites on a project that was not going forward would have been pointless.”
Mr. Roop continued, “In 2008, when the project was restarted, we recontacted the property owner who had made the offering that seemed to be the best choice and asked him if the property was still available. When we confirmed it was, we then notified the “City of Hope, Inc.” of all the offered sites in my letter to Mr. Kaser Jan. 24. If citizens are not informed of events of concerns to their community through their community leaders (or whatever mechanism for community organization that exists), then that is a sad statement of the level of communication that exists in that community.”
Over 30 residents attended the meeting, held March 10, 2005 with Mr. Roop and others from the Postal Service, and were very vocal regarding the location and possible new construction of a building. Funding for the possible changes to the post office failed to be available, at that time, due to several natural disasters that year. Assurance was given that when a new post office building or upgrades would be funded, the community would be again involved in the discussion.
Saturday, March 22 there will be a Special Hope Inc. meeting. Everyone is encouraged to attend this meeting at 7 p.m. at the Hope Social Hall. Hope Inc. President, Shawn Butler, has scheduled this meeting to discuss building design options for the new Post Office building. Because many residents are calling for a further review of the site selection process, this may be added to the agenda prior to or at the meeting.
Other items discussed at the earlier March Hope Inc meeting included that several fish-cleaning tables and bear-proof trashcans will be purchased using grant monies obtained by State Representative Mike Hawker. They will be put in place along Resurrection Creek from the bridge area to the mouth of the creek for fisherman to use in an effort to keep that area clean during the summer season.
President Butler reported that the property across from the Hope Social Hall that Hope Inc. is planning to purchase could take until fall of 2008 while the property under the Hope Social Hall is at least three years away. This land has not yet been released by BLM for UAA to select as part of their land-grant selection.
After many years of managing the Hope Cemetery, Chuck Graham has asked that someone else take over the management of the cemetery. Lennie Yoter, Todd Bureau, Shirley Applebee and Scott Sherritt have volunteered to create a committee to review and possibly write new guidelines and policies for the cemetery. They are expecting to provide a report at the next regularly scheduled Hope Inc. meeting. Current policies and guidelines are needed and will require an addendum to the Hope, Inc. Charter to be enacted.
March 8, the annual Hope School Auction/Dinner was a huge success. The Hope Christian Church served over 80 dinners plus the different auctions, under the direction of auctioneer Bianca Durrant, raised over $4,500. A record amount! Thank you for all the donations provided by the businesses and residents. The Hope School is still looking for mileage and/or companion tickets for the spring trip to Sitka. Please contact Angie Motoyama at 782-3202 if you have any you can donate.
The Kenai District School Superintendent, Donna Peterson, and School Board member Lynn Hohl, held a special Hope School PTA meeting March 12 with the school’s staff, parents and Hope residents. Superintendent Peterson opened the meeting saying that she wanted to have a conversation with everyone regarding our school. She talked about the school district and the fact that the Hope School is the smallest in the District. One of her main questions was about what approximate level of administration is needed for the Hope School.
Her second question was related to what kind of administration services the Hope School felt they will need for the next school year. She also wanted to know what type of person would work well as a principal for the school. The school district is looking to fill the position currently held by Hal Halverson, as he will be retiring from his duties for the Hope School at the end of the 2007-2008 school year. Everyone expressed their appreciation for the time that she took to visit the Hope School and to hear the ideas everyone shared with her.
The Hope annual Easter Egg hunt will be held at the Hope School Sunday, March 23 11am. All kids are welcome and will need to bring their own Easter baskets. Any donations would be helpful. Please contact Diane Olthuis at 782-3115.
All are welcome to come for a free breakfast at the Hope Christian Church. Doors of the Church open every Wednesday morning at 8:00 a.m. for coffee and breakfast is served to 10 am. Following breakfast, the Food Bank is open Wednesdays 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. Any folks needing to take advantage of the food pantry, outside the regular hours, please contact Burgins at 782-1002.