Gasconade County Republican

Bland residents Gerald Schaning (far left) and Vernon Michel were among approximately 40 residents waiting Tuesday morning to learn if their post office would remain open as a reported Jan. 31 deadline to vacate the premises loomed. BLAND — A new lease agreement reached early Tuesday afternoon keeps the Bland Post Office in operation.

“The leasor has agreed to a contract,” said Cindy Bolles, manager of Post Office operations for the region told The Republican after addressing a crowd of 40 residents gathered outside the 1961 building for the 65014 zip code. “Literally, at 2:30 p.m. yesterday (Monday) he said we were out tomorrow (Wednesday). I can tell you he told people gathering here something completely different.”

Bolles said action taken Tuesday was an “emergency suspension” of services. A maintenance crew had loaded up several trucks with Bland Post Office equipment and was prepared to relocated it to the Owensville Post Office. Owensville Postmaster Mike Feagan was in Bland and was prepared to help secure cash and stamp inventories, along with unclaimed mail from the PO boxes, by the end of the day. Feagan said it was being treated like an eviction at the time. “Remove everything,” he said.

“The emergency suspension is lifted” declared Bolles after taking a cellphone call in the middle of a public announcement in front of the building. “I’m glad we got everything finished,” said Bolles later. “I don’t know the details of the lease or its length. The call I got at that point in time was where the leasor and the United States Postal Service had come to an agreement at this time.”

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