CRESCENT LAKE – At a standing-room-only town hall meeting on Tuesday, residents of the Crescent Lake postal area were displeased that a final decision has not been made on whether the post office will be re-established, since it burned down in December.

One thing everybody agreed on: Residents are willing to continue making the more than 30-mile round-trip drive to Crescent for their postal needs, if postal authorities will concentrate on getting them a permanent solution to their problem, not a quick fix.

The fire occurred at the Odell Sportsman Center building where the post office was located. The cause of the fire is not yet being released.

At the time of the fire, the post office had 260 boxes, and a long waiting list for more. It also served general delivery customers who used their street address but still came in to the post office to collect their mail.

After the fire, mail was rerouted to the Crescent Post Office, and Crescent Lake community members were left without a place to gather each day and meet with others.

”I’m comforted of the fact that the community is of one accord,” said Carol Goevelinger, a Crescent Lake resident. ”And I’m pleased with the turnout,” she added, of the more than 60 people who came from Crescent Lake, Odell Lake and Two Rivers – the areas that utilize the Crescent Lake Post Office – to attend the meeting.

Marcee Teeters, acting manager for the Portland postal district, which includes all of Oregon, said that postal officials take ownership for the delay in reinstating the local post office. She added that there were still no permanent answers, and that she was not the one to give them.

Odell Sportsman Center building owner Mark Bolton is preparing to rebuild his store, and he’s drawing up plans for the building to include the post office once again. He’s hoping that his store will be open for business on July 1.

Now he’s waiting for the go or no-go from postal authorities.

”If they don’t give us the post office, we’ll have a 20-by-20 (foot) dance floor or something, I guess,” Bolton said.

Postal authorities said the long wait is because many regulations that have to be met in an occurrence like the fire, where all records were destroyed. They added that while Bolton’s building is available for them, and they’re not saying no to that option, officials have to make sure that all federal requirements are being met before making the final decision.

Short-term solutions that the postal authorities brought to the table, like highway contract routes or temporary cluster boxes, were received with a less-than-enthusiastic response.

In the case of a highway contract route, which would provide home delivery and pick up, residents agreed that it still wouldn’t meet all of their needs and wants, and that it is not a viable option in their snowy, remote area.

Clustered boxes at certain points throughout the area were an even less popular idea, with many residents concerned with theft, vandalism and size restrictions.

Another common worry among community members is that a temporary fix would turn into a permanent solution, and the only permanent solution that residents want is for the post office to go back in Bolton’s building.

Bolton said that he is fully prepared to make the building compliant with disabilities and other regulations to meet federal needs, which brought on a wave of applause and cheering from the crowd.

More cheers came at the end of the meeting when Klamath County Commissioner John Elliot said that Klamath County would do whatever it could to help Bolton get through all the red tape that may be involved to get the post office up and running in his building again.

Residents repeatedly stood up and stated that they were more than willing to continue to drive to Crescent, as long as they would get their own post office back in the end.

”As long as we have a light at the end of the tunnel, we’ll drive (to Crescent),” said Holly Henderson, a Crescent Lake resident and the president of the Crescent-Odell Lakes Volunteer Response Team.