There always should be a post office somewhere in downtown Lawrence.

City commissioners at their Tuesday meeting made that much clear, but they did not clear up the issue of whether the U.S. Postal Service should move from its current location to make way for a new library and major redevelopment along Vermont Street.

Instead commissioners – at the request of Lawrence-based Gene Fritzel Construction Co. – agreed to send a letter to the U.S. Postal Service saying the commission would not oppose the post office moving from its current location, as long as a full-service post office remained somewhere downtown.

Originally, leaders of the Lawrence construction company had asked commissioners to urge the post office to move from its longtime home at Seventh and Vermont streets. Commissioners, though, balked at going that far.

“If you are asking me to be involved in asking any business to leave downtown, I would never be involved in that,” said Mayor Mike Amyx, who owns a downtown barbershop.

Leaders of Gene Fritzel Construction Co. are interested in having the post office move much of its back-office operations out of downtown to open the site for redevelopment.

The company previously has proposed using the post office site as the location for a new downtown library. But if city commissioners do not choose that location for a library, the company is prepared to purchase the property and convert it into a new retail, office and residential project that would include new underground parking. Some of the new parking would be used to accommodate an expansion of the Eldridge Hotel, in which the company has an ownership interest.

Bob Schulte, a vice president for Fritzel, said a letter from city commissioners was needed to keep conversations with the U.S. Postal Service going. He assured commissioners that his company also has no desire to see the U.S. Postal Service move all of its operations out of downtown. Instead, he said he only was advocating for much of its distribution operations to move to a location closer to Interstate 70.

“We agree that a post office is a draw to downtown,” Schulte said.

Fritzel leaders had asked the city to suggest to the U.S. Postal Service that the former Tanger Factory Outlet Mall in North Lawrence be considered as a site for the distribution portion of the post office. Commissioners said they would not do that because it would involve the commission getting involved in a private business matter.

Commissioners said in their letter they would stress if the post office did move from its current location that any replacement downtown facility should be a full-service operation and should continue to offer post office boxes.

Commissioners agreed to send the letter on a 4-1 vote. Commissioner Mike Rundle voted against sending the letter because he said the city ought to more thoroughly consider what the ramifications of losing even part of the postal operations could do to the downtown economy.

“I would want the post office to know that we haven’t made a full assessment of it, and that we would want to reserve the right to comment later,” Rundle said.

Postal officials earlier this week said they had reached no deal with Fritzel and perhaps never would.

Commissioners directed interim City Manager David Corliss to meet with Schulte to craft the actual letter. The letter will be back up for City Commission approval in the next few weeks.

Gene Fritzel Construction is one of four groups of private developers who have made proposals to the city for a new downtown public library. Those groups include members of The World Company, which publishes the Journal-World.

Action deferred on homeless shelter

Plans for a Salvation Army homeless shelter and service center in East Lawrence are not a done deal yet.

City commissioners deferred action on a site plan for the facility that would be in an area north of 19th Street and Haskell Avenue. Commissioners asked staff members to again put together a list of possible conditions that would govern what type of uses would be allowed on the property.

A major issue still up in the air is whether a community meal program would be allowed on the site. Salvation Army leaders have said the meal program is essential to their mission. Neighbors, though, have expressed concern that a meal program would “attract vagrants” and increase the likelihood of trespassing or inappropriate use of neighborhood parks.

The Salvation Army has offered to run a regular van program that would transport homeless residents to and from the site, but several neighbors Tuesday said they still would push for the meal program to remain downtown.

There’s also been neighborhood concern that the homeless shelter would operate much like the Salvation Army facility downtown. Salvation Army leaders sought to reassure residents that the facility would focus on providing transitional housing for homeless individuals who are accepted into a program.

Commissioners expect to receive another staff report in August.

Plans for intersection near LHS idling

Residents near 19th and Louisiana streets still must wait and wonder what improvements the city may make to the busy intersection near Lawrence High School.

Commissioners at their Tuesday evening meeting did not specifically express any support for a roundabout – which was previously proposed for the intersection – but they also stopped short of endorsing an alternative plan by Public Works Director Chuck Soules.

Soules had recommended that the city undertake an $800,000 project to lengthen the turn lanes on 19th Street, improve the traffic signal at the intersection and build a bus turnout lane on Louisiana Street. The construction project would not begin until 2008.

Commissioners did agree to submit the plan to state officials to make it eligible for up to $400,000 in state funding, but they also told staff members to explore other options. Soules’ plan was not expected to take any private property. Other plans – including a roundabout or a major widening of the intersection – likely would result in the loss of several homes in the area.

Commissioners did not rule out looking at plans that would require the acquisition of private property. But they also urged staff members to look at ways to better coordinate traffic signals and other options that would not require widening the intersection.

Vehicle policy gives boost to local dealers

City commissioners agreed to change their vehicle purchasing policy to make it easier for local auto dealerships to bid for city business.

Commissioners unanimously agreed to approve a new policy that would remove the city from a major purchasing cooperative that allows the city to combine its vehicle bids with about 20 other cities, counties and nonprofits in the Kansas City area.

The system, though, often made it difficult for local dealers to sell to the city because if they wanted to make a bid to Lawrence, they had to offer a bid to the entire cooperative, which is dubbed the Mid America Council of Public Purchasing.

The new policy won’t guarantee a Lawrence dealer would receive each new vehicle bid. The city would send bid requests to dealers in Lawrence, Kansas City, Topeka and even Wichita, in some cases. But unlike the current system, dealers would be bidding just on Lawrence’s order, not the entire group’s.