RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — The United States Senate will hold an oversight hearing out of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee to discuss how to improve postal operations and delivery times across the country, an issue that has greatly affected Central Virginia.
Postmaster General and Chief Executive Officer Louis DeJoy, along with Inspector General Tammy Hull are among the four United States Postal Service (USPS) officials expected to testify.
The scheduled hearing comes after committee chairman Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) sent a letter to DeJoy calling on USPS to pause all network changes until it can clearly demonstrate that such changes will not degrade local mail service.
In the letter dated March 18, Sen. Peters said USPS did not provide sufficient answers about the impact of their network plans. Peters referred to his letter sent on Dec. 5 requesting detailed information of the network changes, and how the agency would assess projected service, employee and community impacts.
Peters requested a full written response on April 1.
In the Commonwealth, 8News has reported on numerous concerns from residents, along with the actions and steps lawmakers have taken on all levels of the state to find a resolve.
Delayed, missing and stolen mail has been a concern spanning for several months.
Early April, an audit of the Richmond Regional Processing and Distribution Center (RPDC) was released dated March 28.
The report found that there were known weaknesses that continued after attempting to consolidate operations – high management turnover, inadequate management oversight along with low employee availability to name a few.
Staffing shortages, unexpected under performance of equipment along with transportation schedules not accounting for the needs of the Richmond area were some highlighted issues.
To follow 8News’ coverage of mail issues in the Commonwealth, visit this page.
The hearing will take place at the Dirksen Senate Office Building at 10 a.m. and is open to the public.
