What’s Going on with the Wyandotte and Riverview Post Offices?

Officially, the Wyandotte Post Office isn’t closing.

But the word on the street is anything but that.

Some of the confusion may stem from a statement by U.S. Postal Service spokeswoman who said letter carriers who deliver mail in Wyandotte and nearby Riverview are now based in Southgate, The News-Herald reports.

But Elizabeth Najduch, the spokeswoman, said there’s no plan to close the Wyandotte Post Office.

That’s news to Wyandotte Mayor Joseph Peterson, who has been telling residents their local Post Office would be shuttered when the lease expired.

He had reason to think that.

Postal service operations in Wyandotte have been under close scrutiny since December 2011, when Ed Moore, communications manager for the U.S. Postal Service’s Detroit District, said declining mail volumes and improved efficiency could shutter Wyandotte branch when the lease on the building was up .

Though  Post Office is still open, but some Wyandotte residents think its on borrowed time.

Riverview Mayor tim Durand told The News-Herald that he’s confident the rumors the Post Office in his city will close are just that – rumors. He said he was assured by the Post Office supervisor there, Dan O’Donnell, that only the letter carriers are moving operations to Southgate.

That’s the same thing Najduch said.

“There are no plans to close the Riverview or Wyandotte retail sections,” she said. “Moving letter carriers is being done for operational efficiencies. It should be a seamless transition.”

But the ever-active rumor mill won’t stop churning, fueled at least in part by a sign a customer told the News-Herald she saw inside the building informing customers of an impending closure at the Wyandotte Post Office.

Peterson called Wyandotte, Southgate and Riverview Postmaster Michael Taurence to silence the rumors and learned that the Postal Service’s lease on the building at  166 Oak Street expires in April 2015.

That means it will be open for at least a year, but after that, it’s anyone’s guess. Peterson wouldn’t say exactly what he and Taurence talked about, but told the newspaper his impression is that the matter of whether to keep the Wyandotte open is still unsettled.