HOEHNE, Colo. (KOAA) — While Hoehne is a small Colorado town, the voices of its few residents are getting loud when it comes to their post office. News5 uncovered an inspection by the county deemed the office unsafe at one point.
Hoehne is located about 12 miles northeast of Trinidad and is east of I-25. Soon after you get off the interstate, a dirt road leads you into a quaint town with people who will wave to anyone they see driving by. Located in the heart of the town is an aging building that share both a residence and the post office. An anonymous tipster reached out to News5 asking us to "look into" that very post office.
POSTAL PROBLEMS
"It smells like cat pee," Elizabeth Montoya said of the post office. "I mean, it's nasty. The floors are dirty. Everything's dirty in there."
Montoya was one of more than a dozen who showed up to speak with News5 last week, voicing their concerns over the post office itself and the customer service they have received in recent months.
"It's never been cleaned in there for two months, as far as I know," Mary Nicol explained. "Usually the wet sign is in the middle of the floor, the baskets full, there's mud and everything all over. The windows are filthy."
Nicol said that some residents have volunteered their time to clean parts of the building, but she and others believe the real issues started when the former postmaster resigned on Dec. 27. The inside of the building isn't the only problem for these residents.
"It's been terrible," Pete Jacobs said of his mail service. "It's gotten so bad that we don't have any important, anything important, delivered to our mailing address anymore. Nothing at all, no bank statements, no bills, nothing. You had to make everything. Everything's electronic now."
Residents told News5 that they have had issues with missing mail, open mail and they believe the postmaster filling in from Trinidad has treated them poorly when they have brought these issues to his attention. News5 is choosing not to identify the postmaster my name.
"He was very rude," Montoya said of one of her interactions with he postmaster. "I had a letter that was opened, one of my bills. I told him that he needs to try to put the correct bills in the post office boxes... I don't need people knowing what I owe or what I pay. Well, I was walking out, and [the postmaster] decided to slam the door on my back, and I did not appreciate, appreciate that at all."
According to USPS, there are 45 post office boxes in the Hoehne office and that office does not handle delivery routes. Mary Nicol has two of the post office boxes, and she is fed up with the lack of service she says she's getting.
"We pay for our post office boxes," Nicol stated. "It's not free. This is for a teeny little box in there, which is fine. I pay $72 a year, and that's supposed to include being able to get stamps, being able to send mail, being able to mail packages. We have two boxes in there. This is our personal we have a business one also, and it's not being done, and it's kind of sad. And we are taxpayers, and we should have the same rights as the people in the cities."
BUILDING INSPECTION
It isn't just the customers who have issues with the post office. A Las Animas County Building inspector deemed the office unsafe in June of 2024. According to a letter News5 obtained through an open records request, part of the letter reads "In my opinion, your office is an UNSAFE structure and remediation or abandonment should occur immediately."
The letter notes the following code violations and environmental concerns:
1) The outside air vent into the back of your office is directly connected to the existing residential structure adjoining your office. The are you are receiving is contaminated due to animal urine/feces odors.
2) The doorway connecting your office to the adjoining residential structure is an illegal egress doorway and must be removed and the resultant opening filled with a 1.5 hour rated construction.
3) The wall separating your office (B - occupancy) and the attached residence (R-3-occupancy) must be a 2 hour rated structure and does not appear to be so.
USPS responded to the claims of the office being unsafe via email.
"An inspection by our district safety manager on July 22nd after receiving a safety complaint," part of the USPS statement from Jamex Boxrud with Strategic Communications for the USPS WestPac area reads. "No safety violations were found during that inspection."
OSHA COMPLAINTS
Two OSHA complaints were filed in 2024. Through a Freedom of Information Act request, News5 obtained the documents detailing each of the complaints and the responses from USPS.
The first complaint filed Feb. 8, 2024 cited the following safety claims:
1. Employees are exposed to slips and tripping hazards created by having to walk along a wooden entryway with loose and missing boards. Contrary to 29 CFR 1910.22.
2. Employees are exposed to a potentially hazardous respiratory hazards created by water intruding into the worksite by a leaking roof. Contrary to 29 CFR 1910.94.
3. Employees are having to leave the facility to utilize the restroom because the restroom located within the facility is inoperable. Contrary to 29 CFR 1910.141.
USPS responded to the first complaint with the following findings:
1. The wooden entryway is unsightly. However, there are no loose or missing boards in the entryway. A call has been made to the Facilities hotline to repair older boards that are worn due to snow, ice and sun.
2. There is no visible evidence of water leakage inside the Post Office. The Post Office is a 1-person office, and the employee has reported that there is an odor coming from an occupied residence next door to the Post Office. No odor was detected during the investigation.
3. The Postmaster inspected the Post Office on three separate occasions after the complaint was filed and the restroom was operational each time.
A second complaint was filed on July 7 to OSHA.
1. Employees working in the Hoehne, Colorado Post Office are exposed to unsanitary conditions. Contrary to 29 CFR 1910.141
USPS responded to the second complaint with the following findings by a Safety Manager:
"I completed an on-site investigation on Thursday, July 18, 2024. The US Postal Service leases a portion of a building. No unsanitary conditions were found in areas where the sole employee is working. The workplace was clean, maintained, and sanitized."
NOW HIRING
USPS is looking to replace the postmaster who resigned Dec. 27, 2024. Many of the residents News5 talked to believe the most recent postmaster resigned because of the building conditions.
"If they would just treat her like a human... had maybe running water in the toilet, maybe electricity, like heat," Bernadine VanGordon said of the former postmaster. "That's all she needed, just to be treated like a human. And we were doing great until the end of December."
USPS has an active opening for the Postmaster Relief position or PMR at Hoehne. According to USPS, PMRs will work up to six days per week to serve customers at a public window open for two hours per day. Starting salary is $16.97 per hour paid bi-weekly. The job posting is open until March 3. Interested applicants are encouraged to apply online. Job Search Results [wp1-ext.usps.gov]
To apply: Go to usps.com/careers, click on “Search Jobs,” select “Colorado,” click “Start” to apply.
USPS CUSTOMER FEEDBACK
News5 also spoke to a former postmaster for the Hoehne location who worked there years ago, not the most recent one, who was upset to see the current condition of her hold office.
"Oh my gosh, it's awful," Abigail Gallegos said after walking into the post office for the first time in a long time. "It's dirty. I mean, the floors, the floors are just awful."
USPS provided News5 with the following information to provide feedback:
"When mail service issues occur, or there is a complaint about an employee, we take steps to quickly resolve customer concerns. We gladly work to address any specific issue from the community when brought to our attention and we encourage customers to reach out to their local postal station. There are several options to contact an office and a few of these options are listed below.
Customers can go to our website usps.com [usps.com] and click on “Contact us” at the bottom of our homepage or utilize this direct web address: https://usps.force.com/emailus/s/ [usps.force.com]. Every email will be carefully documented, and appropriate action taken to strengthen service.
In addition, the official Twitter account of the United States Postal Service, managed by the Social Media staff at USPS HQ, can provide help. For customer service, please tweet @USPSHelp. The Postal Service will diligently continue to investigate customer's concerns and correct deficiencies to improve service to our communities.
If a customer does not have access to the internet or would prefer to speak to a customer care agent, they can call USPS at 1-800-ASK-USPS® (1-800-275-8777).
Hours of Operation Monday – Friday 8 AM – 8:30 PM ET Saturday 8 AM – 6 PM ET
If a customer has a concern after hours or would like to leave a voicemail, they can contact 303-853-6185. The voicemails will be entered into our system and customers will be contacted shortly after."
THE HOEHNE COMMUNITY
The residents News5 spoke with wanted to share a message with USPS about their small town and what the post office means to them.
"We've had it here for many years and to the people that are the powers that be... We really need it," VanGorden added. "We have a lot of elderly people that can't get into Trinidad to do this stuff.... and to take this post office away, or which, I think that's what they're headed towards. I think that's their aim, is to get rid of it, and, and it's wrong, because we have elderly people. Everybody here pays taxes. You know, their tax money is going for this service, or part of it anyway... and and that's just awful. It's deteriorating."
A spokesperson for USPS added decisions to close a post office are regulated by law.
"Decisions to close, relocate, or consolidate Post Offices are closely regulated by Federal law," Boxrud with USPS wrote to News5. "The basic policy on closing Post Offices is contained in Public Law 91-375. That law requires that "No small Post Office shall be closed solely for operating at a deficit, it being the specific intent of the Congress that effective postal services be insured to residents of both urban and rural communities."
JOIN THE CONVERSATION
News5 chose to cover this story because of the amount of people who wanted to speak out about the issue. If you have a news tip or something you would like looked into, you can email Tony.Keith@kooa.com.
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