WEST KILL - While it has oft’ been said that “neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds,” something has arisen that apparently does.

In the winter of 2025, a fire at the post office in the hamlet of West Kill caused the rural letter center to be shut down. It has not reopened.

West Kill had one of two United States Postal Service sites in the town of Lexington including a second in the hamlet of Lexington.

The USPS was leasing the West Kill location and after the fire, the property owner said he would not be renovating the building for its former use.

Over the past year-and-a-half, West Kill boxholders have been diverted to Shandaken to get their mail, traveling several miles on steep Route 42 through the infamous-in-winter “notch” and a tunnel of trees.

Town officials have urged the USPS to instead shift services to Lexington, thereby creating a single and closer full time office…thus far to no avail.

A peaceful, heavily-attended protest unfolded on August 8 after town supervisor Robert Riccardella joined with Congressman Josh Riley, beseeching Postmaster General David Steiner, in a June 30 correspondence, to approve the move.

USPS government relations representative James Cari, in a July 28 reply to Riccardella and Riley stated, “the Postal Service has initiated a search for alternate quarters for the West Kill Post Office.

“Because we are searching for a site, we cannot offer a timeframe for completion at this time,” Cari wrote, an answer Riley has termed, “a bureaucratic runaround.”

Riccardella, serving as leader of the protest, echoed that sentiment, saying,   “If we could get somebody to call me, I could tell them there are no other spots in West Kill to be found.”

United States Senator Chuck Schumer has now entered the fray, sending a letter to the Postmaster General stating, “I write with concern regarding the future of the West Kill Post Office

“I urge you to act swiftly and diligently to immediately reinstate the West Kill Post Office and restore full mail services in West Kill, whether through a timely restoration of the existing location at West Kill or through securing an alternative location nearby in West Kill.

“Furthermore, I urge you to act with full transparency and cooperation in engaging the West Kill community on the Postal Service’s plans for reinstating the West Kill Post Office,” Schumer stated.

“The West Kill community deserves answers as to the future of their post office – and the USPS must act in full faith and transparency to provide the community with the answers it deserves, and work in close conjunction with the community in determining the future of the West Kill Post Office.”

Schumer continued, “the residents of West Kill have been harmed by the Postal Service’s delay in reopening the West Kill Post Office for far too long.

“Any further delay in reinstating the West Kill Post Office is unacceptable – the Postal Service must immediately act to reopen the West Kill Post Office. 

“The West Kill community has also demonstrated its willingness to work constructively with USPS and local officials to find a solution,” Senator Schumer stated.

“Residents still lack a clear timeline or meaningful explanation regarding when and where full postal services will return to West Kill.

“USPS must provide the community with a concrete plan and commitment to restoring local postal services I look forward to hearing your response,” Schumer stated.

Riccardella, in a subsequent phone interview said, “we are very happy the Senator has weighed in on our side. It is huge.”

At the same time, reopening West Kill is likely not a real option, Riccardella says, while theorizing there is more to the matter than meets the eye.

During the protest, Riccardella said, “there is a visible pattern of shutting down and consolidating rural post offices throughout the country.”

Explaining that he was onsite the day of the fire as a volunteer firefighter, he said, “even then I was thinking it was not just about saving the building. I was thinking if we lost it, the post office was never coming back.”

In the subsequent phone interview, following Schumer’s letter, Riccardella said has repeatedly tried to contact the USPS, as recommended by Cari, running into brick walls.

“I have called the regional supervisor in Phoenicia and she told me she had been advised not to speak to me,” Riccardella said, after using the phone number given to him by Cari.  

And also using a phone number provided by Cari for USPS public relations, Riccardella says, “I have called them at least ten times.

“I leave a nice little message, saying, ‘I was told to call you, can you please call me back,’ but I am getting ghosted,” the supervisor said.

“This whole thing is very frustrating. If there is a place in West Kill, we have told (the USPS) we will work with them to get this done.

“But the one person I was told I should call said they can’t talk to me, and when I call public relations, nobody picks up the phone.

“In the meantime,” Riccardella said, “everybody here is thinking that winter is not that far away. It would be nice to get this worked out.” A post office has served the West Kill community since 1833.