Sonoma County dairy farmers having a cow over plan to eliminate a part-time inspector

The proposed elimination of a part-time dairy inspector in Sonoma County is drawing pushback from dairy farmers unhappy with the lack of outreach the county did before preparing to scale back the dairy program to consist of just one inspector.

The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors is set to decide at its next meeting whether to go through with the reduction as part of an adjustment to fees in the public health division of the Health Department that are meant to offset the cost of certain services those programs provide. The changes were presented Aug. 1 by county Director of Health Services Tina Rivera and were followed by a public hearing on the proposals.