Montpelier residents still have no post office nearly five months after the federal building that housed it at 87 State Street was flooded, and they are directing their ire at the U.S. Postal Service.

A temporary location two miles from downtown recently closed. Now people with post office boxes have to travel six miles to Barre to pick up mail. That's fueled criticism of the federal agency's post-flood recovery efforts and raised questions about its commitment to restoring services to the Capital City.

Paul Montague, the head of the local postal workers' union, noted that Montpelier, famed for being the only state capital with no McDonald's, might get comparable distinction for lacking a post office. It's been a sore spot for residents and businesses who have worked mightily to repair the homes and businesses devastated by the July flooding.

It's not just the 800 or so post office box holders who are affected. Residents in and around Montpelier who receive notices that a package requires a signature or who need other counter services also must travel to Barre for the foreseeable future.

"The whole thing just seems very chaotic and not managed well on any front," Montpelier photographer Karen Hanron told Seven Days.

The fact that the situation has persisted into the holiday gift-giving season has frustrated local residents and businesses and rankled Vermont's federal delegation.

In an October 31 letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.) called the situation "completely unacceptable."

They demanded a timeline for a new postal location that is "safe, heated, electrified and indoors" by November 3, and for the opening of a temporary location in Montpelier "agreed upon with the American Postal Workers Union" by November 13.

Neither of those things happened, nor did DeJoy answer a number of specific questions in writing by November 17, as requested.

The delegation responded to that snub with a scathing critique of postal service leaders last week. It called the delays and lack of communication with local leaders and the public a "complete and total abdication of their responsibilities and emblematic of the nationwide crisis and total failure of leadership of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy."

A Republican fundraiser appointed by the USPS Board of Governors, DeJoy has been a polarizing leader of the USPS. The owner of a logistics company, DeJoy had no experience with the postal service when he got the job, and many of his cost-cutting efforts have been sharply criticized.

Postal officials say an "aggressive search" is under way for a temporary location while the federal building is repaired. The State Street location won't be able to operate until late 2024 "at the earliest," spokesperson Steve Doherty said.

"The Barre Post Office offers full retail services and is not seen as a permanent fix but is the best option until a new Montpelier location can be secured," Doherty said.

The option the agency used until November 17 involved two postal trucks in a parking lot two miles from downtown. The makeshift location allowed residents with post office boxes to pick up their mail and packages, but it drew criticism over the poor working conditions for workers, especially as winter approached.

Staffers there were not the only postal workers facing difficult conditions. Postal clerks such as Montague, who do most of the behind-the-scenes mail sorting, have been toiling for months in what he called a "very cramped space" in the National Life Building. They've got about a fifth of the 10,000 square feet that they had downtown, Montague said.

The biggest problem, however, is that postal managers can't seem to figure out how to get a temporary location up and running in Montpelier or communicate their efforts effectively, Montague said.

"Every second, it's changing what the plan moving forward is," he said.

One idea was to move into a vacant commercial space next to an auto parts store on River Street, where the trucks had previously been parked. Then came reports of a temporary location under contract on Granite Shed Lane east of the Hunger Mountain Co-op. (The owner of that property, Connor Contracting, declined to comment.) Managers also floated plans for a retail space on Main Street near the Skinny Pancake, Montague said.

While he doesn't doubt the difficulty of finding a new temporary home in a city whose downtown was inundated by floodwaters, Montague said the delays and communication lapses point to an organization in crisis mode that is indifferent to its employees and customers.

"I think they don't want to deal with it, truthfully," he said. "I think they don't really care about the inconvenience and hardship they create for people."

Montpelier City Manager William Fraser said restoring a downtown post office is a high priority, and local officials have suggested a number of alternative locations, so far to no avail.

In a November 17 post on Front Porch Forum, Fraser wrote that the postal service had not revealed short-term plans for a retail location nor information about the flood-damaged federal building.

Doherty, the post office spokesperson, said he didn't know whether the postmaster general had replied to the delegation. It would be premature to announce anything else, he said.

"Until our real estate office secures a lease on a new facility, at which time we can talk about a proposed opening date, it doesn't really make sense to update the public on the fact that we have nothing to update them on at this time," Doherty said in an email to Seven Days.

Dougherty noted that the General Services Administration runs the federal building.

GSA spokesperson Paul Hughes said the flood damaged critical systems in the building's basement, including its electrical and heating system. Temporary repairs are under way.

The building has housed federal offices, including the Highway Administration, Small Business Administration, the Internal Revenue Service and Sen. Welch's staff.

It's not clear how many people were actively working in the building before the flood. Realtor Tim Heney said he heard occupancy was down significantly since the pandemic, raising questions about the best long-term use of a building in the heart of downtown.

Heney said having to use the temporary P.O. box locations — first at the trucks in a parking lot and now in Barre — has been "very difficult" because of the daily trips required by staff. Real estate transactions are time sensitive, so timely delivery is crucial.

The entire mail delivery system in the city has slowed, according to Heney, who is a Montpelier city councilor. Delivery delays are so bad that many in the real estate industry have resorted to hand delivering time-sensitive documents, he said.

"What used to take a couple days can now take a couple weeks."

Finding a temporary space that could provide customers retail access while meeting the postal service's needs for tasks such as truck deliveries is a challenge, but a number of vacant buildings downtown could do the trick, Heney said.

As for the federal building itself, which was built in 1964: Last week, the walls where the post boxes had stood remained shorn of drywall and portable heaters occupied the empty sorting space in the rear.

As resident Lynn Wild strolled down State Street last week, she said the building's location in the heart of downtown and low occupancy rate cry out for something different.

She said the city should take the opportunity to rethink the prime downtown space. Housing, parking, gardening and recreational facilities such as a pool would better serve "a whole bucket of needs" compared to what's there now, she said.

"Let's get some creative people with a willingness to jump and make a splash!" she said.

Hughes said it's too soon to say whether the General Services Administration would be open to other uses of the building or location.

Heney agreed with Wild that it might be time for the city to consider what is the best use of the entire block. Some of the neighboring parcels, including several large parking lots, could also be better utilized, he said.

"It's probably the most significant redevelopment opportunity the city would face in my lifetime," Heney said.

Correction, November 30, 2023: A previous version of this story misstated who appointed DeJoy as postmaster general.