Torrance : New Computer for Clerk

The city clerk computerized his office in May and five months later the system jammed and a new one was needed. The City Council decided Tuesday to get the clerk a new computer.

After the clerk’s office hooked up to the city’s main computer, employees had put council actions, deeds, bids, contracts and management of other records into the computer.

But as information poured in, “certain recurring problems have emerged . . . to the point where the office is not able to effectively meet its priorities,” according to a memorandum to the council from City Clerk Donald E. Wilson.

“These problems include contamination of files and indexes, lost data, scrambled data, resurrection of erased data, system crashes and freeze-ups (and) inadequate speed. As a result, the operation of the city clerk’s office is virtually stymied.”

The council approved a staff recommendation that will mean unhooking the clerk’s office from the main computer and running its operations on a new computer.

The staff was directed to explore whether buying a separate system for between $20,000 and $25,000 would be preferable to leasing the equipment for $500 a month.