LONDON, Ky. — The hotly-debated issues at Tuesday’s hearing on the closure of London, Kentucky’s United States Postal Service (USPS) mail processing plant, which services 12 counties in Southeastern Kentucky including Bell County, boiled down to this:

Would the closure affect service to the surrounding 12 counties?

Officials from the USPS who moderated the hearing said “no”. But outspoken citizens and postal workers who attended the meeting in an auditorium at South Laurel High School in London said that the relocation of mail processing to Lexington would certainly slow down the mail service.

USPS officials began the meeting with a video that explained Area Mail Processing (AMP), which would consolidate mail processing into a single facility, and why the postal service was considering the consolidation.

There was no denying that the USPS is struggling to stay afloat.

“The postal service has to change the way it does business in order to stay competitive,” explained Steve Cronic, Senior Plant Manager for the Kentuckiana District, to the audience after the video. He said that the rise of electronic communication and stiffer competition from other services have hurt the postal service.

In 2009, the USPS lost $3.8 billion as a whole and had to receive relief from the federal government. But Cronic said they would save $1.7 million annually because of this consolidation in eastern Kentucky. Potentially, 14 positions could be cut at the London processing plant because of the consolidation.

He said that the possible closure of the London mail processing plant would be part of AMP and that the London plant simply didn’t have the volume of mail to sustain the facility.

If the consolidation happens, “we anticipate that our delivery service standards will be maintained,” said Cronic, adding that the only way delivery times will be slowed is if routes are consolidated. He said that local mail that stays in the London area will not go to Lexington, but it was not clear if mail that stays in the 12-county region will go to Lexington.

Nearly every audience member, many of whom were postal workers, who addressed the officials during public comment adamantly disagreed.

Gary Fox, President of the Postal Workers Union, was the first to speak and spoke several other times throughout the night. He opposes the closing and said that he believes the mail service will be slowed down.

Lee Branim, postal worker and former Middlesboro resident, disagreed with the officials about whether the service would be slowed down.

“You’re telling us that the service won’t be affected, but it is,” said Branim. He said he worked on the dock in London and knew there was no way all the mail could be processed on time if it was transported to Lexington.

“I think the post office should look at more ways to save money,” said Branim.

Branim went on to say that London serves an expansive region, all the way to the Tennessee and Virginia borders.

“There’s no way the Middlesboro people will be served the same as London,” said Branim.

Jay Nolan, owner of the Nolan Group which owns eight community newspapers in the region including the Pineville Sun and Barbourville Mountain Advocate, said he was concerned with the “timeliness” of mail delivery and whether it would impact the time their customers receive their papers. He said if the timeliness was impacted, his company would have to look at another way to distribute the news which didn’t rely on USPS.

Many other political officials, postal workers, and residents expressed similar concerns and asked that the USPS consider cutting elsewhere to save money.

Cronic said that the study would gather comments from the public before making any final decisions.

No elected officials from Bell County were present at the meeting.

The Daily News was not notified in advance from the USPS about the hearing.

Stephen Woodward is a Staff Writer for the Daily News. He may be contacted at swoodward@middlesborodailynews.com.