USPS Governor Mickey Barnett earned a brief mention in Sunday’s New York Times coverage of the unfolding scandal invoving the Bush Administration’s attempts to fire US Attorneys who had not been vigorous enough in their pursuit of Democratic politicians. See also the mention in Joe Monahan’s New Mexico Politics blog.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Postal Service™ Board of Governors today authorized the purchase of 5,856 new carrier route vehicles. The vehicles will replace existing Postal Service-owned right-hand drive (RHD) vehicles used on city routes that will then be redeployed to rural routes.
The purchase will conclude a three-part acquisition plan to provide 15,000 Postal Service-owned RHD vehicles to rural routes, a result of an interest arbitration decision involving the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association. The contract is expected to be awarded next month following a competitive evaluation. Deployment of the RHD vehicles to rural routes is set to occur from August 2007 to September 2008. In addition to fulfilling the interest arbitration decision requirements, these RHD vehicles will improve safety by providing easier access to curb line mailboxes and better maneuverability.
In other business, the governors approved an increase in the price of the Breast Cancer Research semipostal stamp from 45-cents to 55-cents, to take effect at the same time as proposed new First-Class Mail rates currently pending before the Postal Regulatory Commission. Semipostal stamps are First-Class Mail postage stamps that are issued and sold by the Postal Service at a price above the First-Class Mail single-piece first-ounce rate to raise funds for designated causes. Since 1998, the Postal Service has raised more than $53 million for breast cancer research through the sale of this semipostal stamp.
Also at today’s meeting, James Miller was reelected chairman and Alan Kessler was reelected vice chairman of the Board. The Board also welcomed Thurgood Marshall, Jr, to his first Board meeting. Marshall was appointed a governor by President Bush on December 15 for a term that expires December 8, 2011.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Board of Governors of the U.S. Postal Service will meet in Washington, D.C., at Postal Service Headquarters, 475 L’Enfant Plaza, SW, on Jan. 9-10, 2007. The public is welcome to observe the board’s open session, scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. on Jan. 10 in the Ben Franklin Room on the 11th floor. The Board is expected to discuss the following items:
2. Remarks of Postmaster General and CEO John E. Potter.
3. Committee reports.
4. Consideration of Board Resolution on Capital Funding (Chairman James Miller).
5. Consideration of Annual Report on Government in the Sunshine Act Compliance (Chairman James Miller).
6. Fiscal Year 2006 Comprehensive Statement on Postal Operations, including the Preliminary Fiscal Year 2008 Annual Performance Plan – GPRA (Chairman James Miller).
7. Mail Visibility, Seamless Acceptance and Payment (Pritha Mehra, Manager, Marketing Technology and Channel Management and Gary Reblin, Manager, Intelligent Mail, Planning and Standards)
8. Consideration of the Price of Semipostal Stamps (David Failor, Executive Director, Stamp Services).
9. Capital Investment – 5,856 Carrier Route Vehicles (Engineering Vice President Walt O’Tormey).
10. Election of Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors.
11. Tentative Agenda for the March 28-29, 2007, meeting in Washington, D.C.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 6 - Technology that successfully boosted postal efficiencies in the processing, distribution, and delivery of letter mail will soon be applied to the sorting of what the Postal Service refers to as “flats” — large envelopes, magazines, catalogs, and circulars.
Known as the Flats Sequencing System (FSS) program, the initiative approved today by the Postal Service Board of Governors allows the agency to move forward with plans to employ sophisticated equipment to sort flat-mail pieces for letter carriers, who now must manually sequence this mail before leaving the office for their routes. “Using technology to sort flat mail into the order of delivery for letter carriers will increase efficiency in the office and allow carriers to begin delivering to their customers earlier in the day,” said Walt O’Tormey, vice president, Engineering. “The Postal Service experienced significant benefits in the 1990s by automating the processing and sequencing of letter mail, and we hope to extend these improvements to the processing of flats.”
The FSS equipment is designed to sequence flat mail at a rate of approximately 16,500 pieces per hour. Scheduled to operate 17 hours per day, each machine will be capable of sequencing 280,500 pieces per day to more than 125,000 delivery addresses. Phase I of the program calls for an initial order of 100 FSS machines to be deployed to 33 postal facilities beginning in the summer of 2008.
A prototype FSS was installed earlier this year at the Indianapolis, IN, Mail Processing Annex, where it was tested sorting mail in delivery sequence for carriers in that area. A full-size pre-production machine will be installed at the Dulles, VA, mail processing facility, where it will operate six days a week for one year (August 2007 to July 2008).
As this test proceeds, the Postal Service will study and measure the system’s effect on downstream transportation, logistics, work methods, and other long lead-time activities required to support deployment in 2008. ”Delivery remains our largest cost, accounting for 43 percent of all expenses,” said O’Tormey. ” That, combined with costs to serve almost two million new addresses each year, means we must pursue every opportunity to improve our efficiency and the service we provide to our customers.”
In other action, the Board of Governors approved a fiscal year 2008 appropriation request totaling $153.4 million. This annual request to Congress, as provided under current law, includes $83.5 million in reimbursement for free services the Postal Service is required to provide, including free mail for blind persons and for overseas voting. This appropriations request also includes reconciliation adjustments for previous years based upon final audited mail volumes, which are $24.9 million for fiscal year 2005 and $16 million for fiscal year 2006. In addition, the request includes $29 million for the latest annual installment from the Revenue Forgone Reform Act of 1993.
Under current law, the Postal Service is also authorized to request partial reimbursement for the costs incurred in providing universal service. However, the Postal Service has not requested funds for this purpose since fiscal year 1982.
Also at its meeting today, the Board approved the Postal Service Fiscal Year 2006 Annual Report. The report, available online later this month, highlights USPS’s “24-Hour Clock” — 700,000 men and women of the Postal Service keeping the mail in constant motion to provide the service that customers depend on and trust.
WASHINGTON – The Board of Governors of the U.S. Postal Service will meet in Washington, DC, at Postal Service Headquarters, 475 L’Enfant Plaza, SW, on Dec. 5-6, 2006. The public is welcome to observe the board’s open session, scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. on Dec. 6 in the Ben Franklin Room on the 11th floor. The Board is expected to discuss the following items:
WASHINGTON — The Board of Governors of the U.S. Postal Service will meet in Washington, DC, at Postal Service Headquarters, 475 L’Enfant Plaza, SW, on Nov. 14-15, 2006. The public is welcome to observe the board’s open session, scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. on Nov. 15 in the Ben Franklin Room on the 11th floor. The Board is expected to discuss the following items:
From Joe Monahan’s New Mexico Politics blog:
Mickey Barnett proved far less controversial to the U.S. Senate than he has to some fellow NM Republicans. His nomination to the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors was approved by the senate before it broke for the August recess. Barnett’s nomination came under fire from ex-State Reps Earlene Roberts and Ron Godbey who wrote letters to senators urging a rejection. But Barnett, a former legislative aide to NM senior GOP senator Pete Domenici, had Pete’s muscle and that was more than enough to insure his confirmation.
Roberts and Godbey cited Barnett’s support of drug decriminalization and his spearheading of the movement to put up candidates against fellow Republicans in the 2004 primary–including them–as reasons he should be rejected.
The attorney-lobbyist and former NM GOP national committeeman was most recently in the blog headlines when it was revealed that he helped give birth, along with Domenici Chief-of-Staff Steve Bell, to the GOP Governor candidacy of John Dendahl because they wanted stronger attacks against Big Bill than initial GOP nominee J.R. Damron was willing to deliver. Bell has denied playing midwife, but Washington sources insist otherwise. Sources close to Governor Big Bill reacted to that news by warning that Senator Domenici could face a Richardson recruited foe in 2008.
Barnett, along with John Dendahl, led the movement to oust Ramsay Gorham from the state GOP chairmanship two years ago, a move that symbolized the divisions in the state’s minority party.
(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2006
Not for reproduction without permission of the author
George Bush finally got around to filling one of the Democratic vacancies on the USPS Board of Governors last week, nominating former Democratic Congressman James H. Bilbray of Nevada to the seat formerly held by John Walsh, who resigned last year amid charges he misused postal funds.
Bilbray, a Las Vegas native, was elected to Congress in 1986, and served four terms until losing the seat in the 1996 election.
The following story is from New Mexico Politics With Joe Monahan:
“Governor Barnett?”; Senate Takes Up His Postal Board Bid
Mickey Barnett is on his way to being Governor. No, not that Governor. But now that I’ve got your attention…Barnett, one of the R’s who played a prominent role in bringing to life the GOP Guv candidacy of John Dendahl, is about to get his own taste of being a Governor. Despite a push by his foes to thwart him, Barnett is expected to win approval tomorrow from the U.S. Senate Homeland Security Committee to become a Governor of the U.S. Postal Service and later, the full Senate. We broke the story of his nomination back in March.
Azeez Jaffer has responded to an article posted on the Online Journal blog that charged the Bush Administration with ‘raiding’ USPS funds to pay for Bush’s war against Iraq.
Jaffer points out the obvious inaccuracies in the blog article, but fails to mention that the most recent increase was, in fact, the direct result of Bush’s insistence on “revenue neutrality” in any postal reform bill. That has forced the USPS to raise rates in order to fund a $3 billion payment to the Treasury this year. The money is supposed to be held in trust, but regardless of whether the money goes to fund the war, the bottom line is that it reduces Bush’s budget deficit by $3 billion.
Jaffer concludes with this rather odd statement: ”Mr. Masden also implies that the war funding is possible because the Postal Rate Commission is full of Bush Administration appointees who have authority over postage rates. Wrong again. Although the Postal Rate Commission plays an important role in the development of postage rates, it’s the Governors of the Postal Service who have the final say.”
True as far as it goes, but aren’t the Governors also appointed by the President?
