So when Orting asked the Postal Service to open its pocketbook a little wider and add some Old West flourishes to its downtown post office expansion, the feds said they didn’t have an extra penny to spare on architectural nicety – and you can’t make us do it either.

The Postal Service, like any federal agency, “doesn’t have to pay for building permits. We don’t necessarily have to follow (local) zoning or any criteria like that. … We can come in and condemn property and take over if we want,” said Ernie Swanson, the Postal Service’s regional spokesman.

“But we don’t do that,” he said. “We try to be good citizens and good neighbors and try to fit in as much as possible and fit local needs as much as possible. We don’t come in and just do as we please.”

Yes, in Leavenworth with its Bavarian theme architecture, in Winthrop with its Old West motif, in Medora, N.D., with its Western theme, in Williamsburg, Va., with its colonial-style buildings, you’ll find post offices that fit in.

Why not in Orting?

In the Postal Service’s own facility regulations, adopted nearly 10 years ago, it states its policy “to comply with local planning and zoning requirements and building codes consistent with prudent business practices and unique postal requirements … in order to promote a partnership with local officials and assure conformance with local building codes.”

Swanson explained the loophole logic of the Postal Service: If Orting got a new post office, it would certainly match the town’s Western requirements. But Orting’s getting an expansion of an existing building built before the city adopted its Western-theme requirements.

Since the confrontation broke publicly two weeks ago, the Orting Planning Commission hosted a special meeting last week to see if it could come up with some low-cost flourishes and persuade the post office to incorporate them.

The list includes: A split rail fence along the sidewalk. Wrapping the concrete planters out front with cedar. Muting the bright blue railings. Giving the windows a wood treatment that makes them look like a Western town. Changing the roof to composition shingles that look like wood shakes.

Postal service agents who attended the planning commission meeting have taken the ideas back to the real estate division in Denver to calculate cost impacts, Swanson said.

At a follow-up meeting later this month, agents will let Orting know if any of those recommendations can be worked into the new building already under construction and “see if we can come to a happy solution,” Swanson said.

In Orting, the post office faces the downtown park. The buildings that flank the post office arguably show off some of the most Westernized architecture in town. At the end of the block, one wall of the Orting Health Center is covered with a mural by Linda Petchnick depicting Orting in 1906. The mural shows the historic post office and its Western theme.

The Postal Service understands the importance of history. The National Postal Museum, a Smithsonian Institution museum, is located in the old post office building next to Union Station in Washington, D.C.

The agency should respect and follow the design guidelines of small-town America, where establishing a theme enhances the economic atmosphere by drawing tourists.

Businesses don’t necessarily like it, especially the restrictive sign codes that limit type style, sign and materials, said Connie Krueger, director of community development for Leavenworth, our state’s most famous theme town.

In Leavenworth, she said, “Bavarianized” has become a common verb. And government agencies have Bavarianized themselves: a state Department of Transportation Park & Ride was even built to fit the style, and the U.S. Forest Service office looks old German.

And then there’s the post office. It too looks Bavarian. But this summer, Leavenworth has found itself in a rare battle with the U.S. Postal Service. The local postmaster hung a vinyl banner sign across the building advertising the government agency’s shipping services.

That’s anti-Bavarian and a no-no according to Leavenworth’s strict sign regulations.

“Our code enforcement officer went over there and their response was basically, ‘We’re exempt from the law.’” Krueger said. “They’re supposed to be sending me a letter citing the legal exemption. But I haven’t seen it.”

What’s going on at the U.S. Postal Service?

By waving its federal exemptions in the faces of the locals in Leavenworth and Orting, the Postal Service not only gets bad public relations. It also undermines the economic potential of the towns by erecting incongruent eyesores that stand out in a shockingly distasteful way. In Leavenworth’s case, a vinyl banner can eventually come down. In Orting, an out-of-character building will stand for decades as a reminder of post office willful disregard.

Dan Voelpel: 253-597-8785

dan.voelpel@thenewstribune.com