After Truesdale officials recently learned that the U.S. Postal Service planned to assign what they say is the wrong ZIP code for homes in a new subdivision, the city is scrambling to get the federal agency to reconsider the designation.

Truesdale Mayor Jerry Cannon told the city’s aldermen at their Wednesday, Oct. 28, meeting that he wanted to discuss “the postal ZIP code and the history thereof” — specifically Truesdale’s 63380 ZIP code.

Cannon shared a letter with the aldermen, dated Sept. 8, 1958, which was written in opposition to plans at that time to close the Truesdale post office. “That letter kept the Truesdale post office open until 1974, when it closed down,” Cannon told the Record. 

“And the reason why it closed down in the first place was the postmaster, who was actually living on the upper level of the post office, was getting elderly and retired, and no one was really willing to take over that post office, so the U.S. Postal Service decided to close the post office,” he added.

“And then not long after that we lost our ZIP code. It went from 63380 to 63383, which combined with Warrenton. When that happened, with having 63383, sometimes for tax purposes it got confused and taxes were paid to Warrenton that should have been going to Truesdale.”

It took a lot of work to get Truesdale’s postal code restored in 2014, Cannon said. It did not come to the city’s attention that the 63380 ZIP code was again under threat until Warren County officials reached out to City Clerk Elsa Smith-Fernandez about plans underway for a new 148-lot subdivision, called Franklin Pass, which is being developed by T.R. Hughes Homes south of Old Highway 40 and west of Franklin Road.

“When you have a new subdivision like that coming in, a bunch of new homes coming in, you have to petition the county for addresses,” Cannon said.

“As we were putting them in for the different streets that are going to be in Franklin Pass, the county called Elsa and talked to her and said ‘Hey, these are coming back from the post office saying they’re going to be 63390, Wright City, and maybe you need to get ahold of the post office and see why,’ ” he added.

“So we contacted the Warrenton postmaster, who then said that came down from above him, it came down from the federal level, because each area has a postal zone. They say it really doesn’t matter what city you’re actually in, but for them it’s a postal zone, and to get that postal zone changed, it has to come from the federal government, not local or state.”

Cannon said last week that he planned to contact Sen. Josh Hawley’s office about the issue, and he told the Record on Monday that he had since been in touch with staff from Hawley’s office, and they are willing to help.

“They are asking for us to send over all the information about the case, and they’re also asking for any other recommendation letters and things like that that we can get,” he said.

Those who have already written letters or expressed support for the city’s position include representatives from T.R. Hughes and Main Street Real Estate, Cannon said, adding that he also planned to reach out to local fire and ambulance agencies.

Alderman Mike Thomas said at last week’s meeting that he expected a wide range of backers to rally behind the city’s cause.

“Economic development, the whole nine yards, the county,” he said, adding that the move to designate Wright’s City’s 63390 ZIP code for the new Truesdale subdivision was “ludicrous.”

Assigning the Wright City postal code for the Franklin Road subdivision was “really not accurate,” Cannon told the Record.

“It would be considered in Truesdale, but have a Wright City ZIP code. So, it’s an oddity as far as the districting of the post office,” he said at last week’s meeting.

With Truesdale annexing the new subdivision, which was previously unincorporated land, “it just makes sense that it would be 63380, and it wouldn’t cause confusion with realtors, it wouldn’t cause confusion with EMS, it definitely wouldn’t cause confusion with where tax dollars were supposed to go,” Cannon said.

When Truesdale had its old ZIP code restored in 2014, he added, “it was through that reasoning — that it was confusing, and we didn’t get the tax money sometimes that we were supposed to get, and just different issues like that. So we don’t want a repeat of that.”

Cannon said he expects the city to have a lot of support behind its proposal for Franklin Pass to be reassigned to Truesdale’s postal code. “But it’s going to take some work,” he said, adding that getting the issue resolved quickly is also an important priority, as T.R. Hughes is planning to break ground soon on the new subdivision.

Originally, Cannon said, the company wanted to break ground in November. “But they’re still finalizing some different engineering plans, and they also still have to go through the process of going through planning and zoning to get everything approved, and then to the board of aldermen to get the final approval, so that’s going to take I would say two months,” he said.

“I know that gets us into winter, so at the mercy of weather, too, and that,” Cannon added. He said, however, that he did not expect the ZIP code issue, specifically, to delay the project.

“I don’t think it’s going to delay the construction, you know, or the moving of dirt,” he said. “I think that before streets are poured and things like that, we need to have this settled.”

Smith-Fernandez similarly said last week that getting the ZIP code controversy resolved prior to major work beginning on the new subdivision should be a priority for the city.

“It’s just going to make it cleaner for everybody if we can get this accomplished prior to development starting,” she said.