Cities address home mail delivery

Home mail delivery may soon be a reality in both Bellevue and Hailey, although each city is handling the prospect differently.

Hailey is already phasing in home delivery. A proposed ordinance in Bellevue would facilitate the installation of street-side mailboxes there.

During its regular meeting Thursday night, the Bellevue City Council agreed to create an ordinance that allows and regulates the installation of mailboxes in the city’s right of way.

Without allowing boxes in the city right of way, mail delivery is impossible because the city’s 80-foot right of way places the mail boxes 27 feet off the city pavement, which isn’t accessible for a mail carrier.

Until the ordinance is in effect, residents who want home delivery can register at the Bellevue Post Office, and must agree to take complete liability for the box, place it a minimum of 10 feet off the city pavement, and maintain, or snow plow, the area around the mail box.

"There are no real guidelines, except that it [the mail box] is level," city administrator Janice Moroni told the council. "We need guidelines. It’s a known fact that all cities use rights of way for mail boxes."

Bellevue postmaster Faye Barker told the council that if home mail delivery is not an option, residents receive free post office boxes under federal postal regulations. Currently 15 residents receive home delivery in the city, and 190 residents, who live on the outskirts of town, receive delivery.

Mayor Monte Brothwell voiced concern that mail boxes in the right of way may impede the city’s ability to plow the streets during the winter. But Moroni argued that some way should be found to accommodate mail boxes.

Moroni and Brothwell plan to meet and discuss guidelines for the ordinance, as well as a mechanism to regulate the installation of mail boxes before the ordinance takes effect.

In Hailey, 110 residents receive delivery; the two-week-old route includes businesses on Main Street and various side streets.

Postmaster Kathleen Eder said the Hailey post office will eventually expand the route.

"Once this is on its feet, we’ll examine other areas and grow to take in more over the next year. We’ll probably look at the west first and then the east," she said in an interview. "Delivery is complex, and it will be incremental, not all at once."