Post office closure could mean a Clermont Co. village will cease to exist

NEVILLE, Ohio (WXIX) - A village in Clermont County has lost its post office, and the whole village could be next.

The Neville Post Office previously leased the ground floor space in a building on Main Street.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration temporarily closed the location in November 2021 due to serious health and safety issues, according to the post office operations manager. Cecil Collins, former Neville mayor, said last month the ceilings leaked urine from the pets of the upstairs tenants.

The building is “falling apart,” said Neville Vice Mayor Cory Spears.

OSHA said it would reopen when once repairs were made. But that never happened, and on Friday, USPS confirmed the location’s lease has been terminated.

“It’s depressing,” Spears said. “We’re going to lose the village if we don’t have this post office service come back.”

Residents can pick up their mail from the post office in Felicity, located 15 minutes away. USPS mailboxes are offered on the street in Neville. Either way, residents must change their Neville zip code to a Felicity zip code to get their mail, and if everyone does so,

Neville, a village of 87 residents, will no longer exist as a recognized place.

“The village will dissolve at that point,” Spears said. “We’ll just have no addresses that are here anymore.”

According to Collins, that change is irreversible.

“Once it’s gone, it’s gone,” he said.

Neville residents are still hoping the post office will build a new location or force repairs to the old one.

Meanwhile, the building where the former post office resided is continuing to lease out dwelling units even in the absence of repairs. Spears calls it “unprofessional.”

Tommy Brown moved into the building on Friday. He says the post office situation is “frustrating,” but his more immediate concern is how the building passed an inspection prior to him signing the lease.

“How are both of these apartments still able to be rented?” He wondered Friday night. “If that’s shut down, you would think these would be shut down permanently too.”

USPS will hold a community meeting to solicit comments from residents. The date is yet to be determined.

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