In Line Versus Online: County Casting a Wider Net

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?

Web surfers need look no further than the official Web site of the county of Orange (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 county’s 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 goal, one 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 County Offers an Alternative to Standing in Linebutton, 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.

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

“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.

“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.”

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Main County Web Site Addresses

Need to reach the county? Here are the departments that have their own Web sites:

* Official Web site of the county of Orange:

https://www.oc.ca.gov/

* Birth, marriage and death certificates:

https://www.oc.ca.gov/recorder/govlink.htm

* County job openings:

https://www.oc.ca.gov/jobopportunity/job_opps.html

* County purchasing:

https://www.oc.ca.gov/olb/Admin/BBSPage.asp

* County supervisors meetings:

https://www.oc.ca.gov/bos/bos_page.htm

* Pet adoptions:

https://www.oc.ca.gov/hca/regulatory/animal.htm

or https://www.ocpetinfo.com

* Planning and Development Services Department:

* County public libraries

https://www.oc.ca.gov/ocpl/

* County election results:

https://www.oc.ca.gov/election/