AURORA - The village will move forward with an assessment of the current post office on Main Street to determine what work would need to be done to extend a lease with the U.S. Postal Service.

The post office at 373 Main St. was set to move into the neighboring Heary Building until Wells College recently pulled the plug on the plan because of delays.

“I don't think there's any of us who aren't disappointed by the post office situation,” village Trustee George Farenthold said at the board's meeting Wednesday. “I believe we have to go back to the drawing board.”

The Heary Building move was the culmination of some three years in planning. Though the post office could stay in its current confines, a former village garage, the building is in poor shape and would need some upgrades.

The postal service has indicated an alternative will need to be developed well before the current lease expires in 2009 because of the time it takes to start from scratch should that be necessary.

Farenthold said much of the blame for the collapsed Heary Building plan falls on delays by the Postal Service.

“I for one think if the federal government wants a post office here, and I think they do, then the federal government needs to step up for once,” he said. “We gave them our best and we got nothing.”

The village had agreed in a two-year-old memorandum of understanding with Heary Building owner Wells College to have the current post office demolished and converted to parking space in exchange for water frontage. Wells College had agreed to cover the costs for the village and Postal Service.

Now the village must either invest in the building or risk relocation of the post office outside of downtown.

“The problem is I think we all agreed we wanted to keep it in the center of the village,” Mayor Thomas Gunderson said. “Now there are no options.”

A building assessment would establish whether the post office is worth an investment of at least $30,000.

“I thought we could put the village clerk down there too in the center of the village,” Trustee Ken Zabriskie said. “If we're going to put our money into the building for the postal service, we may as well make use of it.”

The village currently uses the fire hall for office hours and board meetings.

“If the structure's still there, it may as well be considered an option,” village Trustee Jim Chase said.

Village Trustee Janet Murphy agreed the assessment should be taken. Gunderson said he would try to have something ready for next month's meeting so the board could make a decision on the lease extension with the Postal Service.

Staff writer Shane Liebler can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 248 or shane.liebler@lee.net