IRON MOUNTAIN — A Michigan senator is pressing the U.S. Postal Service to provide answers by April 1 on planned changes to its processing and delivery network that could affect timely delivery.

In a letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Bloomfield Township, expressed concerns about “insufficient responses” to his previous requests for information. He called upon USPS to pause its plans until it can prove the changes “will not negatively impact mail service, including rural service, election mail delivery and delivery of other critical mail.”

Peters’ deadline coincides with a public meeting set for 6 p.m. next Monday at Pine Mountain Ski & Golf Resort in Iron Mountain, where USPS will share the initial results of a facility review of its Iron Mountain Processing and Distribution Center facility in Kingsford.

USPS will discuss potential future uses of the facility and allow members of the community to provide oral feedback and perspectives on the study’s initial findings.

The USPS review has drawn criticism from citizens as well as state and federal lawmakers because it proposes moving some mail operations to Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Kingsford processing facility is the only one in the Upper Peninsula and lawmakers say it’s central to the timely processing and delivery of mail.

According to USPS, the Kingsford review is part of a $40 billion nationwide investment strategy to upgrade and improve its postal processing, transportation and delivery networks. The local facility would be modernized as a local processing facility with simplified processes and standardized layouts. The total investment would be $3 million to $5 million.

The evaluation is a first step in the review and investment process in the facility and will not result in the facility’s closure or career employee layoffs, USPS has stated.

Peters, chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, first raised concerns about the planned changes in a Dec. 5 letter to DeJoy. In a Feb. 15 letter, he highlighted concerns about the proposed Kingsford moves. In this week’s letter, he again raised the issue of unanswered questions about impacts on communities.

“The nature of USPS’s network changes has now raised significant concerns including the potential for degraded rural service due to fewer facilities, delayed delivery election mail that would be processed at out-of-state facilities, and critical health information such as laboratory tests not being processed same-day due to decreased transportation trips,” Peters said.

“These changes and lack of transparency have also caused concerns for other members of Congress, who have asked for similar information and received insufficient responses,” he added.

U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman, R-Watersmeet, has written to DeJoy as well, urging the postal service “to avoid any actions and oppose any changes that would negatively impact local mail operations and services” in the U.P.

According to the local American Postal Workers Union and state lawmakers from the U.P., USPS already has significantly altered mail delivery in the region.

Residents are now paying the same rates for two- to four-day delivery in the U.P., which was next-day delivery at the beginning of January, the union has stated.

Members of the local community unable to attend the April 1 meeting may also submit written comments at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/mpfr-iron-mountain-mi through April 16.