Counties Offering Ever-Growing Web of Services Online

Shopping for a pet goat? Dreaming of getting even with that neighbor who enshrined a junked Camaro on his front lawn? Looking to sell an arsenal of police submachine guns?

Internet surfers need look no further than the official World Wide Web site of Orange County (https://www.oc.ca.gov/).

As county government expands its menu of interactive computer services, more and more residents, contractors and vendors are choosing to do business with the county online. Instead of braving Civic Center traffic and waiting in long lines, many people are using the Orange County site to obtain birth, marriage and death certificates, view job openings, bid on work orders and commodity requests and monitor recordings of the Orange County Board of Supervisors.

The Los Angeles County Web site also offers a variety of tasks, including obtaining birth, marriage and death certificates; viewing county job openings; bidding on county work orders and commodity requests. It also offers links to anyone interested in adopting a cat or a dog or purchasing a replica of a coroner’s toe tag or a district attorney’s bomber jacket.

Internet Use in Law Enforcement

L.A. County law enforcement officers are also aided by the Internet. One can check out the county’s most delinquent parents, complete with mug shot, dollar amount owed and last place and time seen, or look for reward information on some of the county’s most notorious crimes. The Los Angeles County Web site address is https://www.co.la.ca.us.

The goal, an Orange County official said, is to tame the paperbound bureaucracy of old, and save cash and time in the process.

“It was just an evil system . . . and we wanted to get rid of all that paper,” said Leo Crawford, the county’s assistant chief of information and technology. “Paper is evil.”

Most recently, the county approved funds for a service that posts photos of dogs, cats, pigs, goats and other creatures held at county animal shelters. The Orange County Health Care Agency, which oversees the shelters, hopes that the site will unite owners with lost pets and promote the adoption of animals that would otherwise be destroyed.

In addition, the county’s Planning and Development Services Department recently launched an online complaint system. With the click of a button, residents can anonymously report their neighbors for such county code violations as failing to remove overgrown brush; storing cars, trailers and furniture on their lawns and failing to clean swampy, insect-filled swimming pools.

The public can also download departmental forms and review staff reports and applications. Ultimately, the department hopes to accept permit applications online.

But the county’s biggest interactive feat has been its computerized overhaul of an expensive and oft-criticized purchasing system. That system, said to be the only one of its kind in the nation, began operation 18 months ago and is gaining popularity with vendors and contractors.

Whether the county is looking to renovate a building, buy arms for the sheriff or purchase toilet cleaner, the system notifies all registered contractors and vendors electronically. Businesses can respond with their best offers via e-mail. Private citizens can also log onto the Web site and scroll through a dizzying array of commodities required to run and maintain 20 county agencies.

More Efficiency for Business Users

Proponents say the system is far more efficient and fairer than the old one, in which limits of time and funds meant that bid notices were mailed to only a handful of businesses. Now, scores of businesses submit offers on any one notice.

Not all vendors and contractors use the system, though, and officials can’t say how many or what percentage do.

“It’s definitely increasing,” said Paula Kielich, who administers the automated purchasing system. “When we first went online the vendors were a bit timid, but they’re learning about the advantages.”

Oscar Farias, owner of Santa Fe Building Maintenance, has done custodial work for the county for 27 years, and said the computerized system has saved him countless hours in filling out bid forms for the many library, court and office buildings he cleans for the county.

“It’s a lot faster,” Farias said. “I was nervous about it at first, though, because I never used a computer.”

Like other county and municipal agencies, the county of Orange offers online access to election results and library resources. But officials say they are proceeding slowly in offering online services for tax collection and property assessments. The reason? Crawford said the county wants to spend several years perfecting security measures before it begins moving such information to the Internet.

“We’re going to take a breather before we go much further and look real hard at security,” Crawford said. “In this business, as soon as it looks like you’re doing something well, you become a target for hackers.”