Supervisor Nguyen determined to serve the people

Janet Nguyen, the newest member of the Board of Supervisors, won approval yesterday for the first satellite office in a supervisor's district.

Nguyen, who is the first Vietnamese American ever elected to the board, wants the office in Westminster to assist the hundreds of people she said are seeking her help in receiving county services for health care, social services and housing needs.

Nguyen's staff is currently looking for space in Westminster and hope to have the office open within a couple of months.

With the 3-2 vote,(Bates, Campbell and Nguyen), Supervisor Nguyen bested those who argued that the cost for the one-year pilot program was too steep.

Nguyen also wisely rejected an offer by Assemblyman Van Tran to have the county share office space in his recently opened Little Saigon outreach center.

Arguing that it was "highly improper" for the county to pay $5,000 a year to share Tran's office, Nguyen convinced other supervisors that Tran and other elected officials conducted political campaigns, voter registration and other election-related activities there.

Supervisors Chris Norby and John Moorlach voted against the proposal with Norby calling Nguyen's idea "gutsy," but argued that it duplicated offices already in the district and people who needed help didn't have a long drive from Westminster to Santa Ana.