Battle lines drawn between Lexington and the U.S. Postal Service

LEXINGTON―Battle lines have been drawn between the Town of Lexington and United States Postal Service over the probable loss of the West Kill Post Office and worries the Lexington letter center could be going next.

A peaceful protest was held at the Lexington mail depot on Saturday in response to recent communications between Town Supervisor Bob Riccardella, Congressman Josh Riley and USPS officials.

Riccardella and Riley co-signed a missive to U.S. Postmaster General David Steiner in late June, following 18 months of frustration over the federal agency’s failure to reopen a West Kill office.

In January of 2025, a fire shut down the small, rural station, shifting services to the town of Shandaken―requiring residents to travel 10 miles or so on Route 42 through the “Notch,” a tight, tree-cloistered stretch of highway.

Rural delivery was still active and “West Kill residents initially took the inconvenience in stride because they expected their local facility to reopen after repairs,” Riccardella says.

“Eighteen months later, the West Kill Post Office’s reopening is questionable at best. The situation for the village’s residents has become untenable,” Riccardella added, noting a “treacherous” winter drive thru the “Notch.”

The owner of the building where the West Kill Post Office was located has made it known that site will not be refurbished and made available.

USPS government relations representative James Cari, in a July 28 reply to Riccardella and Riley, stated that “the Postal Service has initiated a search for alternate quarters for the West Kill Post Office.”

“Because we are searching for a site, we cannot offer a timeframe for completion at this time,” Cari wrote in an answer Riley has termed, “a bureaucratic runaround.”

Riccardella, serving as leader of the protest, echoed that sentiment, saying, “If we could get somebody to call me, I could tell them there are no other spots in West Kill to be found.”

“Additionally,” Cari wrote, “I should note the Postal Service has developed convenient offerings that can save customers a trip to the Post Office.”

Riccardella, referencing those convenient offerings said, “if somebody buys stamps that are mailed to them, they will be sent to Shandaken.”

“A lot of this would be amusing if it wasn’t so ridiculous and foolish,” he said. “They know how they can improve the situation.”

“We have sent a sensible, solutions-oriented letter [to Steiner] suggesting that West Kill’s mail services be relocated to the Lexington post office, a facility within West Kill’s municipality,” Riccardella explained.

In the past, West Kill had been open only in morning hours, while Lexington maintained afternoon and Saturday morning hours. Blending the two would create one full-time headquarters.

Riccardella and Riley, in their letter to Steiner, point out that the “USPS is not a luxury for many in rural Upstate New York. It is a lifeline.”

“West Kill box holders and those awaiting signature-required or oversized items have been forced to travel nearly 10 miles through the treacherous ‘Notch’ to retrieve their mail in the Town of Shandaken,” they continued.

Shandaken is “located in a different county than West Kill. This is a far cry from the shorter and safer commute they would have to the neighboring post office in Lexington,” Riccardella and Riley wrote.

Beyond the present circumstances, Riccardella, in an announcement sent out prior to the protest stated, “there is a visible pattern of shutting down and consolidating rural post offices throughout the country.”

And speaking to the spirited crowd of protesters, Riccardella expanded on the idea there may be more to this matter than meets the eye.

“I am also a volunteer firefighter, so I was there the day of the fire. It was a smokey fire. We knew we were fighting to save the building,” he said. “But even then I was thinking it was not just about saving the building. I was thinking if we lost it, the post office was never coming back.”

“We thought we saved the post office that day. Little did we know that a year-and-a-half later we’d still be fighting to save it,” the supervisor said.

“We are asking them for a full-day post office without having to go through the ‘Notch,’ which is not the safest even on the best winter day,” added Riccardella, who said that “asking our elderly residents who need medication, social security checks, etc., to drive this road for another winter is unnecessary and cruel.”

Cari, in his response letter, stated, “you can be assured that the Postal Service is committed to providing the West Kill community with high-quality, reliable service each day through the Shandaken Post Office.”

“Although the Lexington Post Office is closer to the suspended facility, at 4.1 miles away, we selected the Shandaken Post Office to serve West Kill during the suspension because it is better operationally,” Cari wrote.

“West Kill customers who hold post office boxes have been retrieving their mail at the Shandaken post office,” he continued. “We realize that Mr. Riccardella and some residents are eager for the restoration of a post office in West Kill. However, any customer may instead elect to open a post office box at the Lexington Post Office.”

No details were offered on how that may or may not entail complications due to the accompanying changes of address.

Riccardella, at the protest, said the USPS, “thought they were slick, quietly closing the West Kill Post Office and that we would accept what we have. We aren’t going to do that,” promising to keep the movement alive.

The protest was attended by scores of citizens, Greene County Sheriff Pete Kusminsky and representatives from the offices of Senator Michelle Hinchey and Congressman Riley, as well as a television reporter.