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ROLLINGSTONE, Minn. — Residents with mailboxes at the Rollingstone Post Office have had to travel to Winona to pick up their mail since Thursday due to a dispute between the post office and its landlord.
After receiving warning that the electricity was going to be turned off, Rollingstone Postmaster Brenda Ties went to Winona’s Post Office. The Rollingsone doors were locked. Other than a typed note on the door, residents were left in the dark about why the post office was closed.
Ties said she has been told by the U.S. Postal Service not to comment.
“The post office had to move because there was a possibility that the lights were going to be turned off,” U.S. Postal Service representative Pete Nowacki said. “It was the landlord’s responsibility to pay for electricity.”
The building at 105 Main St. is owned by David Schmit, who lives in an apartment towards the back of the building.
Attempts by the Winona Daily News to contact Schmit on Monday were unsuccessful.
The Cutting Edge salon, which is also a building tenant, had electricity Monday night.
“I guess the bills weren’t being paid,” Nowacki said. “It’s the first time I’ve ever seen a circumstance like this.”
Schmit has owned the building for several years, but Winona County treasurer Sue Rivers said he’s been delinquent on its property taxes for 2004 and 2005.
The note on the post office door tells residents where they can pick up their mail, how they can buy stamps and that the move is temporary.” Rural routes are still being delivered and mail can be left in the blue drop box outside the office.
Across the street from the post office, Dave Wardwell, co-owner of Bonnie Rae’s Café, has seen a stream of residents come up to the post office and rattle its doors.
“No one has told us why it’s closed — it’s a complete mystery,” Wardwell said. “Of course in a small town rumors are flying.”
With the closest post offices in Winona, Minnesota City or Altura, Rollingstone residents have been coming into the coffee shop, where Wardwell sells stamps for those who forget to buy them before the weekend.
“Residents have definitely been inconvenienced, but I guess all we can do is wait and see what happens,” he said.
Rural residents and town residents with mailboxes outside their homes haven’t been affected as much as those who rely on their post office boxes to receive their mail.
“An older woman down the street has a post office box,” Don Doehling said while standing at the register of his auto repair business. “She doesn’t even have a car; she always walked to the post office. How is she going to get her mail when it’s in Winona?”
Doehling doesn’t have to worry about sending or receiving their mail. Theirs is picked up on a rural route, but it still leaves Doehling with questions.
He’s specifically concerned by whether or not there’s any mail waiting for residents in their boxes.
“What if someone has a check waiting in there?”
