Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Future operations at the Colton Post Office remain to be decided after recent organizational changes by the U.S. Postal Service.
Late last year, in the process of the U.S.P.S.’s Seattle District changing the Colton office to six hours per day instead of eight, Postmaster Bob Broderick retired.
Since then, employee Debbie Niehenke has been running the location, which changed in classification (due to less hours) to what is called a “Remote Managed Post Office.”
In turn, Niehenke’s title was later upgraded from Postmaster Relief to Postal Support Employee, and she was offered a chance to transfer to locations such as Troy, Idaho, or Pomeroy.
Moving is not an option for her.
She then was assigned to work under the Pullman adminstration because administrative duties for the Colton operation are now handled by Pullman. When that changed on Oct. 4, job descriptions changed and opportunities opened up.
A clerk from Pullman requested to come to Colton, which would displace Niehenke if it goes through.
“It’s kind of like a big chess game. If they want me to go to Pullman, I wouldn’t be able to work there,” Niehenke said, citing family obligations.
One question is if the Pullman clerk still wants to take over the manual office of Colton after observing it in action for three days in February.
“We do everything by hand out here,” Niehenke said.
As the situation stands, Niehenke, who has worked at the Colton location since 2004, is taking it day by day.
“It’s stable,” said Pullman Postmaster Tony Sims. “I’m trying to maintain the continuity of the Colton operation and I’m leaving Debbie there, because she does a fantastic job. My goal is to keep her there.”
“This is my community. These are my friends and neighbors,” Niehenke said. “I want to stay here.”
As the Pullman Post Office decides what it will do with the new location under its wing, they are under the wing of the U.S.P.S. Seattle District.
For their part, regarding Colton, representative Ernie Swanson said the post office has no further plans to change operating hours for Colton.
“There’s no plan to close it. There’s no plans to make any more changes there,” said Swanson, Communications Programs Specialist for the Seattle District.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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