Supervisors Give O.C. Marshal’s Office a $760,000 Infusion

County supervisors on Tuesday approved an emergency transfer of more than $760,000 to the marshal’s office because agency officials underestimated the costs for a new computer and database system.

But the funding did not come without strings, as the board also transferred oversight of the marshal’s budget to the county’s CEO office.

Supervisors Todd Spitzer and Tom Wilson were visibly unhappy with the performance of Marshal John E. Fuller’s office, calling the department’s lack of oversight troublesome.

“I’m truly disappointed,” Wilson said. “A professional projects manager would have never allowed this to happen. As I see it, there was a problem and some Band-Aids were applied.”

The $2.2-million data system was installed last fall. Eventually, it will increase efficiency by allowing field personnel to use hand-held computers to access the database and allow the public to conduct business with the office on the Internet. The system’s funding came from fees and other revenue generated by the marshal’s office.

Initial cost estimates were $454,000 for fiscal 2000. However, costs soared to more than $750,000 after the department’s “optimistic goals were overtaken by a series of crises,” according to a staff report.

Among the problems were delays because of the loss of a senior project manager, then the loss of the manager’s replacement due to a lengthy medical leave. Five programmers were brought in but had to undergo training, while the burden of maintaining the marshal’s computer system fell on two employees.

As the new year approached, the department was not ready to bring the new system online and had to shift its attention to the old system to ensure that it was Y2K compliant, said Capt. Steve Harding, a department spokesman.

When technicians refocused on the new system, they discovered that the software had to be tested and patched, which meant bringing in more outside consultants and incurring more costs.

“There wasn’t a project manager, no head to the snake,” Harding said. “We had budget people, systems people and consultants all working together. . . . Clearly we needed a better point person to be responsible making sure that reports were generated.”

Consequently, “it wasn’t a matter of spending money we didn’t have, but [we] didn’t keep track of the checks being written,” Harding said.

When Spitzer heard of the problems, he intervened and requested that any additional funding approval include budget oversight by the CEO’s office.

Fuller was appointed county marshal last year after former Marshal Mike Carona became Orange County sheriff. Though Fuller was appointed by local judges, the department’s budget is under the Board of Supervisors.

Development of the system has stopped while officials evaluate how to complete the last 5% of the first phase.