It’s more than a landmark.
It’s part of the village.
Cortez residents breathed a collective sigh of relief when the U.S. Postal Service announced Oct. 22 the Cortez post office would not close that day after all — that a solution was reached, even if only temporary.
The USPS previously announced the Cortez post office would terminate service Oct. 22 and vacate the facility at 12112 44th Ave. W. — aka Cortez Road by Oct. 24.
According to a note posted on the post office door and a statement to The Islander from David Walton in USPS corporate communications, the postal service reached an “interim solution to allow operations to continue at the Cortez Post Office.”
The statement continued, “We are currently working with the lessor on a long-term solution so we can continue to provide postal services to residents of Cortez from our existing location.”
The drama at the post office began Oct. 8, when the USPS closure notice was posted to the door.
But issues between John Banyas, the strip center owner, and the postal service go back to at least Sept. 1, 2019, when a rusted flagpole attached to the post office exterior fell in the parking lot, according to a lawsuit filed by Richard C. Kiley.
In the suit, Kiley claims he was “struck by the flagpole when it broke due to its rusted condition and sustained injuries and damages.”
The suit, filed July 1, 2020, for the minimum $30,000 threshold against Banyas, did not name the USPS.
Another lawsuit in Manatee County was filed Sept. 21 by Banyas against the USPS for termination of the lease by the postal service without adequate notice.
On July 28, Banyas served the USPS a termination letter stating the lease — which expired July 31 — would not be renewed.
The argument over the lease focuses on Banyas’s demand for liability insurance for the post office property.
About 1,000 people who have mailboxes at the Cortez Post Office were facing relocation to the Palma Sola facility at 115 75th St. W., Bradenton — about 5.6 miles away had the post office closed.
Residents on the south side of Cortez Road in “the village” do not receive home mail delivery, while residents on the north side of Cortez Road receive mail delivery at their homes.
At the Oct. 12 Manatee County Commission meeting, Jane von Hahmann, a Cortez resident and board member of the Florida Institute for Saltwater Heritage — an organization dedicated to the preservation of Cortez — requested the BOCC contact U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Longboat Key, with a plea to keep the post office open or provide home delivery to the villagers.
The commission unanimously approved her request.
Buchanan responded that he would work to preserve the post office and, in an Oct. 22 statement, said the Cortez Post Office would remain open at least through October.
Cortez has had a post office since 1888.
In an email, Buchanan’s press secretary told the Islander that Buchanan talked by phone Oct. 22 with Suncoast Postal District Manager Stephen Hardin, who said an agreement was reached. He was “optimistic there would be a long-term solution next week.”
“I am pleased to see the Cortez Post Office remain open for now,” Buchanan stated. “This offers local residents, many of whom are elderly, a reprieve from any undue burden closing this facility would have caused as the postal service works on a more permanent solution. I will continue my efforts working with the postal service to ensure my constituents in the area have convenient mail service.”
Banyas did not respond to requests for comment from The Islander the week of Oct. 18.
Von Hahmann told The Islander Oct. 21 that she spoke with a district representative who said the USPS is “working with it on the federal level.”
“I said to him, ‘What good does that do? This is a local issue,’” von Hahmann said. “We are diligently looking through every door, under every table, trying to figure this out.”
In a postcard to von Hahmann, Atlas Kight, 88, a Cortez resident and former worker at the Cortez Post Office, wrote she would be willing to go door-to-door asking for donations to keep the post office open.
“My heart broke when I read her card,” von Hahmann said Oct. 21. “She and so many older residents who live in this village will suffer significantly if this post office closes or if we don’t at least secure home delivery.”
And so, the lease negotiations continue.