While about a dozen carrier jobs will be shifted from Millvale to Ross, the borough's post office will continue to provide full window services.

That was the message repeated multiple times by representatives of the United States Postal Service at a meeting called by Allegheny County Councilman Jim Burn to discuss the issue.

"We are not closing the retail facility in Millvale," Cherie A. Gisoni told the crowd of about 20 people who met in Millvale's council chambers this morning. Residents will continue to be able to buy stamps and other postal products, send packages, have their mail held and rent post boxes, she said. Ms. Gisoni is operations manager for the postal service, working out of its North Side general mail facility.

The transfer of the carriers from the Millvale office on Lincoln Avenue to the McKnight Road post office will occur in late May or early June, Ms. Gisoni said.

Mr. Burn, a former mayor of Millvale, asked that the postal service delay any action on moving workers until Congress schedules and completes broader hearings on the future of the agency.

Ms. Gisoni said a delay was unlikely.

The postal service, which does not receive federal subsidies, must provide universal service and keep delivery rates as low as possible, she said. The agency regularly makes changes in its operations to achieve efficiencies, she said.

"This is a recipe for failure," state Rep. Dom Costa, D-Stanton Heights, warned. The postal service plan calls for relocating the carriers and eliminating the job of one manager. Clerk staff at Millvale will be trimmed from three to two workers.

"This is a de facto closure," Mr. Burn said.

Millvale's situation is not unusual, Ms. Gisoni said. Carriers at many smaller post offices in the Pittsburgh area have been transferred to larger mail depots. The retail operations left behind have continued to thrive, she said.

Len Barcousky: lbarcousky@post-gazette.com or 724-772-0184.

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