WEST LOGAN - The Town of West Logan rescinded a measure approved last month raising the rent on the building housing the West Logan Post Office.

Weeks ago the town council had approved a measure which would have increased the rent from $100 a month to $250.

"I thought it was fair at the time," explained Mayor Darren Akers, who said postmaster Donnie Pritchard had informed him that the West Logan Post Office is a contracted affair and that there was no room in the contract budget for a raise in rent.

"Donald told me he couldn't do it," Akers said, adding that he thought it might be a good idea to rescind the increase instead of taking a chance that the post office, which provides several services to the community, might close its doors. Akers noted that having the post office where it is located makes it convenient for residents of West Logan to stop in and pick up mail or pay bills, and has become a fixture in the community that he didn't want to chance losing. Akers said the contracted facility is one of the few in the state.

Pritchard explained the nature of the contract and what his operating expenses and modest salary were to the town council members and noted that there was nothing in the fixed budget for an increase.

Logan Postmaster Thea Ferguson said it would be nice if a new contract with more in it could be approved, but warned that with recent dramatic cutbacks at the US postal service it could be possible that the facility would be closed entirely instead of a new contract being approved. Ferguson explained that like other major industries, the postal service is in a financial bind, primarily because of dramatic increases in fuel over the past year which were not budgeted for when nobody expected $4 a gallon gasoline.

Town attorney Dan Dahill said he didn't believe the USPS would let the facility go, but Ferguson noted drastic cuts the postal service has made locally as of late, saying "they have been cutting wherever they can," and that it was possible that the postal service would just eliminate the contract entirely and close the facility. Ferguson noted that Pritchard is technically not a USPS employee, but a private contractor who is bonded.

"It was set up that way," she explained, saying that more closures of smaller facilities may come about with further downsizing.

Akers asked the West Logan Town Council to rescind the rent increase and the measure was improved.

In other West Logan news:

* Minutes and financial statements were approved.

* Councilmember Mark Mareski said the town had received $4,680 over the past five months from the lottery. "We are solvent," quipped Dahill.

* Town Clerk Kristi Adkins said the town still had not been paid B&O taxes from Groundbreakers, a contractor company that did work in the town months ago on a PSD project. Adkins had some good news, fuel costs for the town had gone down and some outstanding debtors had been paying their city service fees.