The Story So Far:

• Trend West Ends Lease with DHPO--The Deer Harbor Post Office lease with Trend West expires February, 2010, and Trend West has expressed a determination NOT to renew the lease, meaning that the Deer Harbor Post Office will have to move from its current location or close.
• Committee Forms to Find New Location--In October 2008 an informal group of community members identified four possible alternative sites for the Post Office. Two of the possibilities are existing buildings, and two are vacant building sites.
• Citizens Contact USPO Property Dept. In early November 2008, community members wrote a letter to the Property Department of the US Postal Service inviting the department to inspect the 4 sites and determine their suitability for a Post Office.
• DH Committee Informed of Rural Post Office Closures In mid-December the Property Department of the US Post Office contacted community members and stated that the viability of ALL rural post offices in the US were under review, and the review would not be completed until mid-summer 2009, so they could take no action on a new site for the Deer Harbor Post Office until that time.
  
• DHPO on a Tight Timeline--We responded that with an expiring lease, the community could not wait until mid-summer 2009 to begin the process of relocating the Post Office. We explained that the community whole-heartedly supports the continuation of a Post Office in Deer Harbor, and that the Postal Service should expect to see a vigorous campaign by the Deer Harbor community to keep the Post Office opened. We received no response to that communication.
• Congressman Larson Contacted--In early February 2009, we contacted Congressman Rick Larsen and explained our situation to him, with the hope that we could recruit his help. We have not had any response from Congressman Larson.
• Established Committee to Save DHPO--On Sunday, March 8th, the first meeting of the Committee to Save Deer Harbor Post Office was held.

Committee members are:
Howard Barbour
Larry Coddington
Mike Coughlin
Clay Parsons
Erik Smith
Norm Zimlich

Barbara Bedell has agreed to work with the Committee to put together the "Our Case" paper which may be used to explain our cause to the media, other Orcas residents, etc.

Proceedings from this meeting will be posted at a later date. Stay tuned to this blog for further updates. You can also subscribe to receive updates to your email address.