Following a request from the Chamber of Commerce and the Mayor, Canada Post is moving ahead with a consultation process to find out how you want to receive your mail.
Bob Taylor of Canada Post confirmed on Tuesday (Jan. 25) that the federal Crown corporation is looking at making changes to the postal system in Squamish.
"We're looking at doing a whole area revamp for the community," Taylor said without going into any detail.
Amidst allegations that a decision on change was made earlier, Taylor confirmed there was an initial meeting involving the mayor and a Canada Post representative. According to Taylor, more meetings are planned.
"We're going to be meeting with council in the next little while," Taylor told The Chief.
Mayor Ian Sutherland said he supports a Canada Post to plan consult the community before any decisions are made.
"There are all kinds of issues and the next step is to find out how people feel about that," Sutherland said of potential changes.
The last time Canada Post considered making changes to the system in Squamish, the corporation conducted a survey of local residents to determine what type of postal system residents wanted. The results of the 2001 survey indicated a strong majority wanted the status quo.
At the time, the 樱桃视频Chamber of Commerce supported a move to what it called an urban postal code system. The urban code system would introduce new postal codes to 樱桃视频and lead to the installation of community mailboxes or so-called "superboxes".
Moving to superboxes allows Canada Post to accommodate unlimited growth in the community.Currently, newer townhouse and apartment complexes have mail delivery to their development but most residents are served through a post box located either in Brackendale, the Garibaldi Highlands, Downtown or in Valleycliffe. Canada Post currently has more than 1,700 vacant post boxes in the local post offices with most of those vacant boxes located at the Highlands post office.
A switch to the urban code system is expected to lead to a reduction in the number of people using post boxes at the Brackendale, Garibaldi Highlands, Downtown and Valleycliffe offices.
As the postal system debate opens, one 樱桃视频Council observer is suggesting that Council may have approved a change in the postal system without consulting residents and the new system will be enacted in the near future. Larry McLennan makes the claim in a letter to the editor in this week's Chief (see page 11).
Sutherland denied the claim and said the postal issue was never discussed in-camera.
"The only discussion about that issue was in open meeting about three or four weeks ago at a council meeting," Sutherland said.
The mayor said he met with Brad Moore of Canada Post in advance of the council discussion at the regular council meeting on Jan. 4.
"The meeting was a chance for them to explain where they are and the challenges they face," said Sutherland.
The date of the next meeting between the DOS and Canada Post is not set. Taylor expects a date to be set on Monday (Jan. 31).
