Amidst conflicting reports of the possible fate of Atmore’s Mediacom office in Trammell Square, Phyllis Peters, communications director with the company’s Des Moines, Iowa headquarters, said this week no final determination has been made as to whether or not to close the office currently open two days a week for Atmore customers.

“Some of the employees had gotten the word we were closing the office and word of mouth kind of went the wrong way,” Peters said of reports the office would soon close.

That being said, Peters added that a final determination still may result in the closure.

“We are still evaluating it very carefully because of the customers that may be affected,” she said.  “We are also having to look at this from an employee angle and where we are bringing employees in from and how far they are having to drive.”

Peters said Mediacom representatives are taking extra care in making a decision concerning the office because of the different demographics it serves.

“For people of one generation, they may opt to pay bills electronically or with a smart phone, but for senior citizens, the office may mean something different.”

Peters said, regardless of what becomes of the Atmore office, Mediacom customers in the area will still have a physical location where they may pay bills.

“We do have an arrangement with Western Union offices in many places around the country,” she said. “Generally their hours are much handier and are better options time-wise.”

Peters said, should the office eventually close in Atmore, Mediacom officials would first release a list of Atmore area Western Union locations where residents could pay bills.

“Because we have that relationship we can expand those options,” she said. “We have that arrangement nationally. That will continue with one store or another.”

While a timeframe for a decision has not yet been established, Peters said she is confident the final decision will be made with the customers’ best interests in mind.

“We don’t want to inconvenience customers, but we know customers are looking to us all the time to try and cut our expenses. We deliver something that someone else owns and gives us the right to deliver for a fee and those fees rise every year. Customers pay those fees and we try to eat as many as we can.  In operations where we can exercise cost control, we have to be aggressive or residents can’t afford our service.”

The final decision, Peters said, will be announced as soon as the information is available.

“The reality is, we’re not near a decision, so we will give adequate notice to customers.”

Medicacom’s Atmore office is currently open Tuesday and Thursday from 8 a.m. until 1 p.m. and from 2 until 4:30 p.m.