For more than 20 years, the Butler County Department of Public Works has had a policy addressing mailboxes in the right-of-way on roads maintained by the county.
On Tuesday, the policy was endorsed by the Butler County Commission after a discussion and review.
“It contains essentially the same standards for what type of construction a mailbox should be,” said Public Works Director Darryl Lutz. “This is a standard that applies only to county maintained roads. This is not a policy for township roads or inside subdivisions.”
The policy is aimed at high speed, high traffic roads and prohibits the construction of mailbox posts out of brick, stone, cement and other immovable materials.
The concern is that if a vehicle strikes such a mailbox post, stones, bricks and cement become dangerous projectiles.
“This is a safety policy,” said Lutz. “We want to maintain public road rights-of-way in a manner that’s safe to the public.”
During his time with Butler County, Lutz estimates there have been about four to six instances of citizens with non-conforming mailbox posts.
“Most things are not allowed to go in rights-of-way,” he said. “Anything that does go in the right of way we set standards on. For as long as I’ve been here the county has controlled how mailboxes are put in rights-of-way.”
If someone has a non-compliant mailbox post, a notification letter is sent advising the homeowner he or she has 30 days to remove the post. If compliance doesn’t happen during this time, county crews will remove the mailbox and replace it with one that complies to the standards.
“I’ve never had to do that,” Lutz said of removing a mailbox himself. “I’m not interested in cutting off people’s mail service. I’m just interested in keeping the rights-of-way clear.”
Although the commissioners agreed safety is important, there was some disagreement about the necessity of the mailbox policy and some discussion about how to educate the public about the policy.
“My biggest concern is this is after the fact,” said Commissioner Peggy Palmer. “My concern is the public didn’t know.”
“I don’t think it’s after the fact,” responded Commissioner Dan Woydziak. “It’s been a county policy for 20 years.”
“I put it in the same category as the rumble strips (on paved roads approaching K-254),” added Commissioner Bruce Harris. “In my mind protecting our citizens is something we should do.”
