NLV calls post office announcement a misunderstanding

Wednesday, June 26, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

North Las Vegas officials probably wish they had forgotten to put postage on a recent news release announcing a new post office for the growing northwest part of the city.

"It was a big misunderstanding," North Las Vegas City Manager Linda Hinson said Tuesday, announcing she would send out a retraction to the premature announcement of a post office at Craig Road and Simmons Street.

Local U.S. Postal Service spokeswoman Dee Dee Terrano said that while that site is part of a five-year plan for new post office branches, there has been no agreement reached between the federal agency and the city.

"All we can say is that it is not an approved project," she said. "We have talked to North Las Vegas, but no stage has been set to purchase the land."

Hinson and Terrano said they are optimistic the project eventually will come to fruition to meet the needs of the burgeoning area.

The snafu resulted from comments made by North Las Vegas Postmaster Jerry Kerr in answer to a question at a recent Chamber of Commerce event. He reportedly talked about the site's potential for a future post office, perhaps as early as 1998.

City employees attending the event told Hinson about Kerr's purported announcement of the project, and she, in turn, reported to the City Council, a member of which suggested she issue a news release.

Kerr, through Terrano, said he was surprised that his misinterpreted comments, though not attributed directly to him, wound up in a city-issued news release.

"Apparently there was a misunderstanding of what Mr. Kerr said," Hinson said, adding that it was her hope the mistake would not jeopardize negotiations for the new facility.