Reps. Elsenheimer, Accavitti, Anderson, Ball, Booher, Brandenburg, Caul, Espinoza, Farhat, Garfield, Gillard, Gleason, Gonzales, Green, Hansen, Hildenbrand, Jones, Kolb, Kooiman, David Law, Lemmons, III, Lemmons, Jr., Marleau, McDowell, Meyer, Miller, Moolenaar, Moore, Mortimer, Nitz, Palmer, Pastor, Pearce, Plakas, Polidori, Proos, Sak, Shaffer, Sheltrown, Alma Smith, Stahl, Stakoe, Stewart, Taub, Vander Veen and Zelenko offered the following resolution:

            House Resolution No. 277.

A resolution to memorialize the United States Postal Service and the United States Congress to keep open the Gaylord, Michigan, mail processing center.

            Whereas, Gaylord, Michigan, is the largest city in Otsego County, and one of the fastest growing and economically vibrant cities in northern Michigan. The Gaylord Post Office handles mail in the 487 zip codes, which covers a sprawling area from Grayling to Sault Saint Marie and from Petoskey to Alpena. The post office's mail plant processes packages and flats, such as magazines, newspapers, legal documents, and mail larger than letter-size; and

            Whereas, In April 2006, the United States Postal Service concluded an Area Mail Processing (AMP) survey to determine whether or not to consolidate Gaylord mail processing operations into the Traverse City Processing & Distribution Center. The postal service is considering consolidation in order to reduce the $8 million deficit of the Greater Michigan Postal District, which includes Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana. District postal officials are expected to receive final word from Washington, D.C., in either June or July of this year; and

            Whereas, If both packaging and flats processing are eliminated, then nearly 80 full-time employees are expected to be transferred out of the region to other postal facilities. This transfer will have a detrimental impact on the Gaylord economy as well-paying jobs flee the area. Moreover, closing the Gaylord mail processing operations will result in a lower standard of service because without the processing center mail cannot be delivered to this vast region in an efficient and timely manner; now, therefore, be it

            Resolved by the House of Representatives, That we memorialize the United States Postal Service and the United States Congress to keep open the Gaylord, Michigan, mail processing center; and be it further

            Resolved, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to the United States Postmaster General, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the members of the Michigan congressional delegation.