Ag inspection time change called retaliation for postal comments

A move by the U.S. Postal Service to have agriculture inspections at the Olivehurst mail sorting facility bumped to a time early even for roosters has Yuba County officials crying foul.

County Agricultural Commissioner Louie Mendoza said moving the inspections to before 5 a.m., when previously they had been done between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m., was retaliation for the county's critical comments on closing the facility and moving its operations to West Sacramento.

"We've had a great relationship with the postmasters at the Olivehurst facility over the years," said Mendoza, who added the county's done inspections not only on behalf of Yuba agriculture but for seven other Northern California counties whose mail is processed there.

Postal spokesman Gus Ruiz said officials at the Olivehurst facility told him there's no problem with a later time, but doing so can't result in mail delays.

"They can't hold the mail for them," Ruiz said. "So I'm not sure where this charge of retaliation is coming from."

Mendoza said to the best of his knowledge, the inspections have never resulted in mail being delayed.

When the U.S. Postal Service began taking comments last year over possibly closing the Olivehurst facility, the county questioned whether the inspections would continue.

While postal officials have said they would, Mendoza said, the ag commissioner's office in Yolo County, which includes West Sacramento, said they don't have the resources to do so.

The Olivehurst facility closure is scheduled to start this summer and be completed by October. Pushing the inspections earlier, Mendoza said, makes it difficult for the county to continue them regularly up until then.

"If you have staff going out there at 4 in the morning, in an 8-hour day that limits what you can do later in the afternoon," he said. Yuba-Sutter officials are in Washington this week lobbying federal postal officials over the closure. Yuba County Supervisor Mary Jane Griego and Sutter County Supervisor James Gallagher are representing the area and are also expected to meet with Rep. Wally Herger, R-Chico.

They contend ag inspections were not given proper consideration in the study on whether to close the Olivehurst facility.

Meanwhile, the 100 or so postal workers in Olivehurst are finding out they may have to relocate to fill jobs at other facilities. Ruiz acknowledged there aren't enough open positions at the West Sacramento facility for all of them, so the USPS will instead try to find spots for them elsewhere in the district, which stretches from the Oregon border to south of Fresno.

"It's a process we're still working through, and we'll try to get them all within the district," Ruiz said, adding the Olivehurst workers were always told their jobs could be relocated out of the area.

CONTACT Ben van der Meer at 749-4709 or bvandermeer@appealdemocrat.com.