Post Office Again Rejects ZIP Code for Oak Park : Mail: Postal officials say latest denial is their final word on the matter. But a supervisor and a congressman vow to continue the fight.

S. post office officials for the second time in less than a year have denied Oak Park its own ZIP code, saying this latest rejection is the final word on the matter.

“I don’t accept that,” said Ventura County Supervisor Frank Schillo, who was notified of the rejection last week but did not tell Oak Park residents, whom he represents, of the decision. The congressman who represents the unincorporated community, Rep. Anthony Beilenson (D-Woodland Hills), also was notified last week but did not inform residents.

“There’s no secret, only disappointment,” Schillo said. “What I was trying to do is get a strategy together. I don’t want to say it was turned down.”

A Beilenson aide said the congressman kept the decision private in hopes of finding another solution.

But as far as the post office is concerned, the matter is closed.

“Unless there is a change in facts, the situation will stay the same,” said Postal Service spokeswoman Terri A. Bouffiou.

Post office officials had initially rejected a request from Beilenson and then-Supervisor Maria VanderKolk in July.

Postal authorities in Washington said Oak Park is too small to warrant having its own ZIP code, a change they said could cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars. The cost of rerouting mail with a new ZIP code would be prohibitive, Bouffiou said.

“We are not in a position to approve five-digit ZIP codes that do not result in an operational savings for the Postal Service or improve service to our customers,” wrote Robert G. Krause, head of the post office’s address management section, in a Feb. 1 letter sent from Washington to West Coast postal officials.

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But it took California postal authorities another 26 days to notify Schillo and Beilenson of the decision. During that time, the Ventura County supervisors and the Agoura Hills City Council each passed resolutions in support of an Oak Park ZIP code, unaware that the post office had already made a decision.

For at least 20 years, Oak Park residents such as David Ross have demanded their own ZIP code. They argued that sharing the 91301 code with part of Los Angeles County costs them time and money because insurance agents, the Department of Motor Vehicles and catalogue companies insist on charging the higher Los Angeles County rates.

“I buy things mail order and the companies with California offices charge me Los Angeles sales tax,” Ross said. Los Angeles County sales tax is 1% higher than Ventura County’s rate.

Ross, who has been campaigning for a new ZIP code since shortly after moving to Oak Park in 1973, insists Beilenson can solve the problem by introducing a bill in Congress.

“That is something we are considering,” Beilenson aide Kay Van Horn said. But Van Horn said introduction of such a “private bill is extraordinarily rare” and involves a long approval process.

Van Horn said Beilenson had hoped to solve the problem administratively and is still exploring other, undefined alternatives. Schillo has also vowed to continue the fight, “even if I have to fly back to Washington.”