By K.B. Sherman, Contributing Writer
Shrewsbury – After over two years of uncertainty, the future of the U.S. Postal Service’s Central Massachusetts Postal Processing and Distribution Center is still unknown.
At the Jan. 29 meeting of the Shrewsbury Board of Selectmen, Chair James Kane summarized his recent conversation with U.S. Representative James McGovern (MA-2) regarding the town’s ongoing concern over the future of the center.
The men discussed, Kane said, that Shrewsbury is about to get a new postmistress whose preferences regarding the center are as of yet unknown. Calls and letters to Shrewsbury’s current postmaster on this issue have not been returned. While Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin) has taken over as chair of the Senate committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs — which controls oversight of the Postal Service in the Senate — McGovern has remained an outspoken critic of the plan to close the center.
In a July 2014 letter to Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahue, McGovern noted, “The facility operates at 66 percent of the cost that the Boston facility operates per thousand parcels. The decision to close this facility is contrary to the financial interests of the USPS. I strongly urge the USPS to reverse its decision to close the USPS Central MA and continue the cost effective operations at this model facility.”
In other business, the selectmen approved changes in management for two local businesses, The Ski Ward, 1000 Main St. and the Gesang Vereins Froshinn Club, at 25 North Quinsigamond Ave. (“The German Singing and Dancing Society of Good Fellowship“). Walter’s Car Wash, 420 Hartford Turnpike, also received board approval for an underground propane tank to be used in heating water.
