Sunflower State News

U.S. Senators Jerry Moran and Roger Marshall, along with Representative Ron Estes, have called on Acting United States Postal Service (USPS) Postmaster General Doug Tulino to maintain a postal facility in Park City, Kansas. The lawmakers sent a letter supporting Park City's request to keep its current Contract Postal Unit (CPU) at 6223 North Broadway Street or to secure a new post office location.

“We write to express our support of Park City, Kansas’ request to retain its current Contract Postal Unit (CPU) located at 6223 North Broadway Street, or obtain a new Post Office location,” the lawmakers wrote. “Park City is currently experiencing unprecedented amounts of commercial and residential growth, and we feel that this growth should be supported with the United States Postal Service’s (USPS) presence somewhere within the city’s limits.”

The letter also highlighted the essential role USPS plays in Kansas communities. “USPS provides critical support to communities across Kansas by supporting economic growth through the delivery of goods to businesses, medicine to disabled veterans, and ballots to local election offices,” they stated. “In many instances, USPS is seen as the lifeline of these very communities and a gap in services would result in devastating consequences for businesses and residents alike. A loss of postal services would be detrimental to the community and create additional obstacles for residents and business owners.”

The legislators further emphasized future population projections: “We believe it would be remiss of the Postal Service to not have a presence in a city where the population is expected to exceed 12,000 in the next 5 to 10 years,” they said.

Park City was founded in the 1950s as a public housing district for employees working at Boeing and other aerospace companies in Wichita's surrounding area. Today, it is an independent municipality with nearly 9,300 residents and continues attracting industry as well as new residents moving into Sedgwick County.

Leeker’s Family Foods currently holds the contract for operating the CPU. According to information provided by management, they are willing to negotiate terms that would be more favorable financially for USPS than those established since 2019. The lawmakers suggested that renegotiating this contract could help maintain consistent postal service while allowing time for USPS leadership to consider long-term options.

The joint appeal concluded with another call for continued USPS presence given projected population increases over the coming decade.