PARIS — The post office on Paris Hill is a community center, where residents come to pick their mail and chat with each other and with Postmaster Neal LaBrecque. In addition, many homes in the neighborhood don't have roadside mailboxes.

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The U.S. Post Office on Tremont Street on Paris Hill is on the list of candidates for closure.

At a meeting Thursday night at First Baptist Church, nearly 40 residents urged Postal Service representatives not to close the office, and listened to the alternatives the Postal Service could take if it does close.

Post Office Review Coordinator James J. McCarthy and Randy Michaud, manager of Post Office Operations, said the 45 post office boxes in use at the Paris Hill facility might be moved to an outdoor bank of mailboxes, or the boxes might be moved down to the South Paris office.

In either scenario, McCarthy said, residents wouldn't lose their Paris Hill addresses, with the same post office box numbers and same Paris ZIP code. Those who switched to roadside mail boxes would switch to the South Paris ZIP code, he said. People who prepaid for post office boxes and canceled would be reimbursed for each full month they paid for without service.

The downside to an outdoor delivery box is that the community would be responsible for clearing the snow around it, McCarthy said. Lloyd Herrick, former sheriff and former Paris selectman, suggested that the box could be placed in such an area where the town could easily clear it while plowing the roads.

Michaud said that closing post offices was the last step in years of cuts in the postal service, beginning with high-level jobs and moving down to district offices.

Michaud works at the district office in Portland that runs operations for Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. He said the office used to be for Maine only and had about 100 employees. Now, he said there are fewer than 70 for the tri-state office.

McCarthy, who is also the postmaster for the Norway Post Office, said the Postal Service instituted a nationwide hiring freeze in 2008 and has seen the staff drop in the Norway office over the years. Many post offices have vacancies, and closing post offices would allow the Postal Services to move employees to those open positions.

Michaud said some post offices earmarked for closure have been saved after analysis by Postal Service officials, and urged those who felt strongly about the issue to submit their opinions in writing at the post office, where they can be passed up the chain of command.

He said writing letters to congressmen could help, as well. Letters to the Postal Service must be submitted by Feb. 21.

treaves@sunjournal.com