The U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has launched an investigation into the United States Postal Service’s refusal to grant Miami Lakes its own zip code, a major turning point in the Town’s decade-long campaign to break ties with the Postmaster of the City of Hialeah.
Miami Lakes has been fighting for years to land an independent zip code to help lower car insurance rates and homeowners’ insurance premiums, among other cost-saving issues, but has been dealt a blow each time Town officials requested a postal geographic area change.
So, Miami Lakes turned to lawmakers in Washington, D.C. who subsequently took action, and the town could be on the brink of finally getting some results.
According to a letter by Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) to Postmaster General Megan J. Brennan, which was dated February 10, 2016, he has requested the USPS turn over all documents the Town filed under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to request the results of any studies and other paper work by the South Florida District Office for the reasons the Town was denied a zip code boundary review.
Chaffetz said the District's Office's determination that assignment of an independent zip code was not economically feasible, but it was unclear whether the USPS conducted a search for responsive records and made a "page by page" determination of whether to release such recrods.
“Under FOIA, a responding agency shall make reasonable efforts to search for records,” Chaffetz said in the missive. “And even if some information contained within a record is exempt, any reasonable segregable portion of a record shall be provided.”
Chaffetz said his committee has jurisdiction over FOIA, and ensuring compliance with its requirements is a long standing priority for the Committee. He asked the documents be delivered to his office by February 24, 2016.
The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform’s probe gives new life in the town’s quest for a zip code.
Following incorporation in 2000, Miami Lakes has been seeking its own zip code boundary but was repeatedly turned down.
Councilmember Manny Cid decided to revive the issue after he was first elected in 2012, and spearheaded a referendum in which residents approved a straw ballot to allow Miami Lakes to resume perusing a zip code.
The town contacted U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-Florida) and Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Miami) about the issue who each wrote Brennan and asked her office to come to a decision on the town’s appeal for a zip code.
Last year, Rubio requested a follow up on the FOIA request made by the town seeking information on its prior request for a zip code boundary change. The three zip codes town residents and business owners use are registered with the Hialeah Postmaster.
Cid said the Committee’s investigation is a glimmer of hope for Miami Lakes and that Rubio and Diaz-Balart made it all possible.
“My colleagues and I, along with Congressman Diaz-Balart, Senator Rubio and Chairman Chaffetz will continue to fight for an independent Miami Lakes zip code,” said Cid. “The Committee’s mission is to ensure effectiveness, and accountability of the federal government and all its agencies. We provide a check and balance on the role and power of Washington, and a voice to the people it serves.”