Well-Connected Supervisor Joins the Web

Supervisor Todd Spitzer has spent $10,000 on computers for his office, and other supervisors are considering their own technology upgrades that would give them a presence on the World Wide Web.

Spitzer is the first supervisor to have his own Web page, which opened this week and provides photos and biographical information about the supervisor and his aides.

People who click on the District 3 Home Page will soon be able to send electronic mail to the office, receive county news bulletins and find out about issues and projects in their communities.

“This provides an opportunity for our constituents to communicate with us and educate people about policy areas we are working on,” Spitzer said.

The $10,000 came out of Spitzer’s office budget and went to upgrade seven existing terminals and purchase one new laptop and one new desktop computer.

Supervisors’ aides have long complained that existing computer systems are out of date. Several offices, for example, have both Apple and IBM-compatible computers that require different programs and cannot work interactively. Spitzer said the old computer in his office didn’t work.

Other supervisors also expressed interest in upgrading their equipment but said they want to keep costs down.

Supervisor Jim Silva said he plans to spend $500 adding memory to the computers in his office, gaining access to the Internet.

“We definitely need to update what we have. I don’t even have a printer,” Silva said. “But we have to use good judgment. My office has been trying to cut corners whenever possible.”

Supervisor Charles V. Smith expressed similar sentiments. “It’s certainly something I am going to be looking at,” he said. “But I don’t think every executive assistant and every secretary should have a $4,000 computer.”

Officials on Friday also released a pay survey of supervisorial aides showing that most salaries were unchanged from last year.

Most board offices consist of three or four executive aides and one or two secretaries. Salaries range from $200,000 to $240,000 per office, though Smith and Supervisor Thomas W. Wilson have yet to select their entire staffs.

A few lower-paid staffers and secretaries received modest raises of between 2% and 6%, keeping their annual pay below $30,000.

All county workers received a retroactive 2.5% pay increase when Orange County emerged from bankruptcy last year.