By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night can stop the postal service from delivering mail. But weeding is a whole other issue.
Some Bowling Green residents are growing tired of looking at the overgrown weeds surrounding the U.S. Post Office building at the corner of South Main Street and Washington Street.
“It’s a mess,” Nancy Otley wrote on Facebook. “It’s a matter of pride in the community. Like any other public building. The Courthouse is well groomed. The city building also. Many are well groomed. The Library and old post office. Simpson. But if the post office needs to go to someone above them to get it okayed. Then it needs to be done.”
The staff at the post office is listening, acting supervisor Zach Orians said Monday morning.
“We knew it was getting out of hand,” he said.
The building custodian, whose job is to maintain the interior of the building, was out Monday morning spraying and pulling weeds, Orians said.
The problem began when the post office’s contract with a groundskeeper expired. A new company was hired – but it only provided mowing, no landscaping.
“We were in the process of finding a new company,” Orians said.
But because the site is a federal building, the process takes time and must get district approval, Orians said. A series of price quotes will be received, then the lowest and best bid will be accepted.
“It’s a process,” he said.
The plans are to hire someone to replace the dead plants, then mulch the area.
“We were already in the process of moving forward,” Orians said.
About 15 years ago, a neighborhood group planted landscaping and maintained the property after some houses were torn down to add parking to the post office. However, the volunteers have dried up over the years.
Otley and others on Facebook, offered to pull a few weeds each week.
“Just to be nice. Let’s all pull some. 5 or 10 or whatever. We’ll get it done. Then occasionally go back and see if it needs tidied up. Many hands make light work,” she wrote.
And others suggested scouting groups, youth organizations, or master gardeners help out.
