A Morrison resident thought he submitted a request to add names to the list of speakers at the latest Planning Commission when he sent a certified letter in the mail, but it was not delivered.
Adam Bouldin was shocked when the names he sent in were not on the list of people to speak at Tuesday night’s Planning Commission meeting. He sent a certified letter to the city of Morrison requesting L. Craig Johnson, Donald Prater, Mat Pilcher, Sam Bouldin, Teresa Prater, Jennifer Burks, Lea Ray and Cecelia Ward be added to the list of names to speak at the meeting on Feb. 21. Only four people were allowed to speak at the meeting. The four people were: Stacy Lee, Jennifer Burks, Patrick Robinson and Luanne Laxson.
At the meeting, L. Craig Johnson said that other people had requested to speak and a certified letter was sent to the city. UCDD Staff Planner Tommy Lee said, “Well sir, I didn’t receive that list. This is not a public hearing, this is a public meeting so the four people who called me and asked to be put on the agenda is what I received and that is all I can do.”
The following day, Bouldin went to the Morrison Post Office to see what happened to the certified letter he sent on Thursday Feb. 9. According to Bouldin, the post office tried to deliver the letter on Sat. Feb 11 when Morrison Town Hall was not open.
He asked about his certified return receipt letter when he went to the post office and the employee went to the drawer it was in without having to check his ID or tracking number.
Bouldin said, “She pulled it out and said ‘is this it?’ I said yes, why was it not delivered to the city of Morrison? She stated that they tried to deliver it on Feb. 11, but the business was closed. I said ok, so why wasn’t it delivered the next business day as per the standard protocol and as per the tracking number? She stated that I did not request it to be redelivered and that they have something worked out with the city of Morrison, so that they can just get their mail whenever and that the Morrison Post Office will just hold this mail for them. I replied that the city of Morrison office is two doors down from them and that they had an entire week to deliver a Certified Return Receipt letter to a municipality and that they chose not to.”
The Southern Standard attempted to contact the Morrison postmaster who said he was unable to speak to the media. He directed inquiries to USPS Corporate Communications Evelina Ramirez.
When asked what the normal procedures for delivering a certified letter is, Ramirez said, “The Postal Service appreciates its customers and always strives to provide the best possible service. Our Certified Mail service provides a number of options for senders to verify that an article was received or that delivery was attempted. For any Certified Mail item that is deemed ‘undeliverable’ (in this case, due to a business being closed) the Postal Service will provide a special form, entitled We Redeliver For You! and will affix it to the door. The Certified Mail piece will then be returned to the post office. The customer has the option to come by the post office on the next available business day or they can sign, print and address the back of the form, requesting a redelivery.”
On Bouldin’s tracking information, the latest update stated, “We were unable to deliver your package at 8:02 a.m. on February 11, 2023 in Morrison, TN 37357 because the business was closed. We will redeliver on the next business day. No action needed.”
The people on the list were hoping to voice their opinions on the steel company, McNeilus Steel, coming to the property on W. Maple Street before the Planning Commission voted on rezoning the land.
