When Greenville Mayor Cliff Harriger saw a chunk of concrete the size of a tennis ball laying out in front of the borough's century-old post office, he began to get concerned.

"It worried me," he said. "So I took pictures of the chunk and the post office, and sent them to congressman Phil English and the Postmaster General."

The chunk of concrete came from the facade of the post office, Harriger said.

"It was laying right there, in front of the doors," he said. "It could really hurt someone," he said, if a chunk of falling concrete hit a person entering or leaving the building.

Harriger said the problems with the post office have been worsening for the past few years, but the deterioration of the facade came to a head within the past few months.

"The facade is falling off," he said. Boards, he said, have been put up to act as braces, he said, and a yellow fence has been added to prevent people from getting too close to the building. But, he said, "It's still falling down."

He wrote to U.S. Senator English, who in turn contacted the U.S. Postmaster general, Harriger said. He sent along the pictures of the crumbling facade as proof.

At last week's council meeting, Harriger said he'd received a reply from the postmaster general.

According to the letter, written by Paul Harrington of the postmaster's office, the Greenville post office is "in the process of having its facade restored."

Harrington also wrote that a company specializing in architectural restoration and repairs was hired to do the work. In the meantime, he wrote, bracing was put up to prevent any other chunks of the building from falling off.

"I'm going to give them until Dec. 1," Harriger said, "and if I don't see work going on by then, I'm going to start putting more pressure on them."

While Harrington wrote the post office wants to be a good neighbor and keep its buildings looking professional and well maintained, the mayor said the appearance of the building is not his main concern.

"I just don't want anyone to be hurt," he said.

The post office, built in the 1930s, was one of the buildings cited when Greenville's downtown business district was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

You can e-mail Herald Staff Writer Amanda Smith-Teutsch at: ateutsch@sharonherald.com