Toledo Councilman Steven Steel today demanded that the U.S. Postal Service restore the sorting of outbound mail from Toledo and halt any plans to eliminate other mail processing operations at the sorting facility on St. Clair Street.

"I think the notion of consolidating mail sorting service and eliminating mail sorting service has been a failed experiment. I think it is time for the postal service to admit that it is a failed experiment," Councilman Steel said during a news conference in Government Center.

The councilman said he plans to introduce a resolution at today's council meeting urging the Postal Service to restore full service to the processing and distribution center on St. Clair in the Toledo Warehouse District.

Mr. Steel said the rerouting of the outbound mail sorting operation to a Detroit suburb is delaying mail delivery. He cited a document that he personally mailed from the Toledo processing facility on April 14 but took two weeks to reach its destination in Columbus.

"What used to be an overnight service from Toledo to Columbus has now become, in this case, a two week delay," he said.

As part of its "network rationalization plan,“ the Postal Service discontinued sorting of outbound mail from Toledo and transferred the work to Pontiac, Mich. last July.

The postal service had planned to discontinue the remaining local mail-processing operation in April, but delayed implementation of the shutdown. The elimination of the local operations would have affected about 120 employees. 

"The United States Postal Service ‎has a proven track record of consolidations and is committed to providing quality mail service in the Toledo area,” David Van Allen, a postal service spokesman said. “We will be reaching out to the councilman regarding any concerns he may have."

Contact Mark Reiter at: markreiter@theblade.com or 419-724-6199.

First Published May 26, 2015, 5:19 p.m.