Mintoy Tolbert, Lawrence, gets her mail from her post office box at the city's main post office, 645 Vt. City commissioners are looking at a new proposal to move the downtown post office and redevelop downtown's west side.

A deal to move the U.S. post office off its current downtown site is still brewing, and city commissioners Tuesday evening attempted to give it a nudge.

City commissioners on a 4-1 vote agreed to send a second letter to postal leaders assuring them that the city has no problem with the post office leaving its current location at Seventh and Vermont streets to make way for additional downtown development.

Commissioners, though, pledged their support with one major caveat: The U.S. Postal Service must have a facility somewhere downtown that still allows patrons to send packages and pick up mail. In other words, commissioners want the retail portion of the post office to stay downtown, but the distribution center operations – the sorting and stacking of mail – could move to another part of town.

“Continuing to have the strong retail presence and the P.O. boxes is absolutely critical,” City Commissioner Rob Chestnut said.

The letter follows up on a letter the city sent in July 2006 to the Postal Service saying the city “would not object” to the post office moving its distribution center options out of downtown.

But the latest letter gets more specific. In particular, the new city letter raises the possibility of the Postal Service contracting with a downtown business or entity to operate the retail portion of the downtown postal operations. That would be similar to how the Postal Service contracts with various grocery stores to sell stamps and accept mail.

Commissioners said they were fine with the Postal Service turning over its downtown operations to a contractor, as long as the new space had P.O. boxes and all the other amenities currently offered at the existing post office. Where the new space may be located is unknown.

“I think all options are probably on the table, as long as it functions the way it needs to,” City Commissioner Mike Amyx said.

He said that means it could be in a public building, like a downtown library, or in a private business.

Talk of moving the library off its site on the northwest corner of Seventh and Vermont streets has been growing because the post office property is seen as a prime location for new downtown development. The site overlooks Watson Park, and already has been proposed by members of the Fritzel family – local developers – as a good location for a new downtown library. The library board also has endorsed the site.

As part of that library proposal, the Fritzels also had proposed adding significant amounts of retail, residential and office space to Vermont Street in an effort to make downtown more of a destination.

“I see this as an opportunity to have more space to work with in downtown,” Commissioner Mike Dever said.

Boog Highberger was the lone commissioner who opposed sending the new letter. He said he thought the new letter was urging the post office to move out of downtown, where the first letter simply said the City Commission wouldn’t object to a move.

“I think it changes the tone and position of the commission,” Highberger said.

Members of the Fritzel family did not speak at Tuesday’s City Commission meeting, and attempts to reach Lawrence Postmaster Judy Raney were unsuccessful.