County Workers’ Bid Bests Private Firm

Three years after privatizing the service, the Board of Supervisors will decide today whether to transfer responsibility for a job-training program to county employees who submitted a lower bid than the private sector.

In 1993, the county selected a private contractor, Maximus Inc., to handle case management services for the General Avenues of Independence program, which provides job training and placement help to welfare recipients.

The contract expires this year, and a group of county employees submitted a bid for the contract, as did Maximus Inc. and the Los Angeles Office of Education.

Both a county committee and a private accounting service evaluated the three bids and found the employees’ proposal to be superior. The employees suggested a variety of innovations that could save the county more than $100,000 a year, according to a county report.

Also today, the board will decide whether to install a traffic signal at Chapman Avenue and Orange Park Boulevard in unincorporated Orange Park Acres, in the hills east of Orange.

Residents have long sought a signal for the crossing. A county study found the intersection has enough traffic to warrant a signal.

If approved, the signal could be installed by year’s end for about $123,000, officials said. The county would also reroute a private driveway to better align it with the intersection.

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Traffic Signal Proposed

Supervisors to vote today on light at busy intersection.