Holly Springs is booming. Can the feds get the Wake town a modern post office?
If you need a stamp before 9 a.m. or after 4:30 p.m. in Holly Springs during the week, you might need to drive to Apex or Fuquay-Varina to get one at a post office.
The Holly Springs Post Office has short hours, including just two hours Saturdays,and serves just two people at the counter at a time.
The post office at 112 Third St. was built in 1991 when the town had just over 900 residents.
Now, with over 46,000 people n Holly Springs, customers face long lines, delayed packages, and overwhelmed employees.
“A self-service kiosk would be tremendous,” said Randy Liebowitz, who moved from New York a year ago. “It was a fairly similar situation (there). I don’t think the federal government puts enough attention to these kinds of things.”
On Monday morning, U.S. Rep. Wiley Nickel’s office, which represents western Wake County in Congress, held a news conference outside the 33-year-old building. Last week, Nickel sent a letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy asking for a building fitting the town’s rapid growth.
Nickel was not at Monday’s news conference, but Quinn O’Connor, his representative, said the post office’s hours mean “many residents including professionals working in the Triangle area and single parents with daytime commitments are unable to access any postal services.”
“Despite repeated attempts to address these concerns with USPS, they have not been taken seriously,” she said. “The residents of Holly Springs deserve a post office that meets their needs and reflects the values of our community.”
The News & Observer left a message Monday for Philip Bogenberger, the local spokesman for the Postal Service.
The post office offers services like general mailing, passport and photo appointments, money orders, greeting cards, burial flags and international shipping.
‘A building the town forgot’
Over the decades, Holly Springs has become a hub for biotechnology, new residents and shopping centers like the Towne Center, Town Hall Commons and the Shoppes at Holly Springs that houses Target, multiple restaurants and retail stores.
The town will soon revitalize its historic downtown area with greenways, retail, parking and other amenities.
As a small-business owner for over 25 years, Mayor Sean Mayefskie said he too is frustrated by the post office.
“This is kind of a building the town forgot,” Mayefskie said. “What we’ve been told is that its easier to get a new post office than to remodel the existing one. We’re good with either.”
Around the corner from the post office is a post office box that is often overflowing with mail, making it hard for residents to add their own. Mayefskie and Town Manager Randy Harrington, talked with the local postmaster about solutions but there was never a follow-up.
The town has been working to get state and federal officials to address the needs for years, the mayor said. The inadequacy of the post office has nothing to do with the employees who worked there, Mayefskie said.
State Rep. Julie Von Haefen said her constituents complain about the post office regularly.
“We know that Holly Springs is one of the areas in our state that’s growing exponentially,” she said. “More people means growing needs, and it means that we need more access to the basic services and infrastructure that we all depend on to make our lives better.”
Wake County’s growth
Wake County Commissioner Matt Calabria said the county is growing by “more than 50 people a day.”
“There’s a kindergarten class born every single day in our hospitals,” he said. “We’ve got to be forward thinking to account for that, to make sure that we have the infrastructure and amenities for tomorrow’s population.”
Wake County has grown to over 1 million people, making it the second most populated county in the state behind Mecklenburg.
County and town leaders have invested in other needs including the creation of Rex Road Elementary School in Holly Springs, opening in 2025.
Holly Springs Fire Station 3 is set to open later this year, and Calabria said the county plans to invest millions in the town’s library.
Letter sent from Rep. Nickel to Postmaster DeJoy by Kristen Johnson on Scribd
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