Consolidated Mail Center Officially Opens in Granada

L to R: Prowers County Commissioner – Ron Cook, Granada School Dean of Students – John Hopper, Granada School Superintendent – Ty Kemp, Prowers County Commissioner – Tom Grasmick, Prowers County Commissioner – Wendy Buxton-Andrade

Members of the Granada Trustees, local school board and Prowers County Commissioners were on hand for a streaming and live-time ribbon cutting ceremony today for the Consolidated Return Mail Center in Granada.

Operations Manager, Pete Hernandez with Commissioners

Commissioner Wendy Buxton-Andrade provided opening remarks at the outset of the January 14^th event, “This day and journey started a year ago at a CCI conference. Lanie, Prowers County Human Service Director, received a proposal from the State requesting a business model, plan, and proposal be developed by a county to form the Statewide Consolidated Returned Mail Center. Never shy to a challenge, and the opportunity to grow our county and most important our economy, I just knew Prowers County was the perfect location for this new business venture so I started making calls to my fellow Commissioners.

After presenting this rare opportunity to Commissioner Tom Grasmick and Ron Cook, the board collectively decided that we would work to develop a plan that could not be refused. With an incredibly short turnaround deadline, we were lucky to have local subject matter experts in Human Services, county budget and financing, and Granada community leaders and residents available to provide diverse input and perspective.   We collectively agreed that Granada, and this amazing building, was the perfect location for this new business venture. It would serve to bring a state of the art, high tech business backed by a steady income stream into Granada to add to the town’s business and economic portfolio.”

Pete Hernandez, the operations director of the mail center, said 18 employees have been training since early October to receive their first load of mail which arrived on December 1^st. The facility is located adjacent to the Granada Town Park on Snowden Street and is expected to receive roughly 5,000 pieces of undeliverable mail each day. “We expect to handle about 1.8 million pieces of mail each year,” Hernandez said.

He explained that all the undeliverable mail issued for those who are receiving county health coverage benefits is sorted through his office and an attempt is made to track down the correct address of each recipient. Once that has been done, the new information is put back into the system for each of the 64 counties in the state for future reference. This eliminates the need for each of the counties to try to track down the undeliverable mail, saving time and funds. Hernandez clarified that the new office, a pilot program for Colorado, deals only with recipients of benefits, not for every piece of mail issued by the state.

By Russ Baldwin