The United States Postal Service College Station will remain open, temporarily, after being threatened with permanent closure.

The contractor for the College Station notified the postal service that he would have to close the location after a $22,000 budget increase was denied.

The request for funds was denied because it was outside the tenets of the contract between the College Station contractor and the Postal Service, said Greg Lehner, manager of customer service operations for the U.S. Postal Service in Tucson.

The Postal Service has made an agreement with the College Station, 913 E. University Blvd., that keeps it open for a period to "exceed 90 days," Lehner said.

In the meantime, the Postal Service will review the entire operation and develop alternative plans, he said.

Since the post office in the Memorial Student Union closed, the College Station has experienced steady growth, said David Hansen, College Station contractor.

Dan Adams, director of the Student Union, said that the Union's post office location closed 21/2 to three years ago.

Hansen said, "We've been (at the College Station) for nine years, and ever since the Student Union station closed, we have been trying to work with the Postal Service to expand, or to do something about the long lines and space restrictions."

When space became available in December 1995, Hansen decided to expand with the notion that he would be reimbursed by the Postal Service.

"We didn't have a lot of time to negotiate, so we were operating on a verbal agreement with the post office, and the contact agreed with the expansion," Hansen said. "We've always been frustrated that we could not provide adequate service because we could only handle one person at a time. We could foresee things getting more difficult within the next year."

The improvements resulted in a budget increase of $22,000 this year to cover the monthly payments on the loan, and the increase in rent and utilities, as well as the cost to hire an additional employee.

"When we finally submitted a letter, they only offered us one-half of the amount," Hansen said. "That would have forced us to absorb $11,000, and that is more than we make in a year."

Faced with such a financial loss, Hansen exercised his option under the contract with the Postal Service to give 60 days notice that the location would be closing. He gave his notice June 21.

The threat of closure resulted in a public effort to keep the post office open. Hansen said the College Station has 400 box holders, some of whom have had boxes there since the 1960s.

One box holder, David Blaisdell, spearheaded the effort to keep the College Station open. He did so by distributing fliers and urging the public to complain to postal and government officials.

Blaisdell said he fought to keep the post office open because he didn't want to give up his post office box.

A petition campaign gathered an estimated 1,500 signatures, Hansen said. He also said he received calls from at least one state representative each day, and agreed that public response was instrumental in halting the close.

"One (alternative) we are looking at very seriously is for the Postal Service to lease from the Marshall Foundation," said Lehner.

Lehner said the Postal Service plans to solicit bids for a new contractor in the near future, and that the contractor may or may not be Hansen.

Adams said he has been working to get a full-service post office in the basement of the Union.

"One of the top responses we get from students is a desire for a full-service post office on campus," Adams said. He added that the old Student Union post office handled over 2 million pieces of mail per year and had a yearly gross income of over $400,000 .

"It is and has been a priority," said Lehner of the proposed Union post office. "Only recently has the university expressed an interest in resumption."

Lehner added, "I believe the two facilities would be more beneficial to the university. I think they are viable, and, given the size of the university community, justified."

Adams said he felt the demand was high enough to warrant both a Student Union location and another location on University Boulevard.

"There's room for both," Adams said.

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