Sacramento County has installed a privacy system used by the U.S. Air Force, the secretary of defense and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

The purchase of a $15,000 LogiSon Sound Masking System has some supervisors wondering if county Administrator Brad Hudson has gone overboard, once again, in his use of county funds.

Hudson has already faced considerable criticism for charging the county about $21,000 for office furniture, a shoeshine machine and airplane tickets.

Now he's having to defend the cost of a "white-noise" machine to supervisors who worry about expenses in the county's fourth-straight year of budget cuts.

Hudson said the machine is necessary to ensure the privacy of sensitive conversations about personnel, including contract negotiations and health issues.

Such conversations take place in the county's labor relations office on the seventh floor, and in the personnel office on the fourth floor, of the county administrative building, Hudson said.

The LogiSon system, according to the manufacturer, distributes background noise through speakers, making it harder for conversation to travel to unwanted ears.

Some supervisors say they understand the need to keep conversations private but think a less expensive option might have worked.

"When I first heard about it, I almost went through the roof," said Supervisor Phil Serna.

Serna has been critical of Hudson's earlier expenses and even asked him to reimburse the county for them. He asked Hudson to provide a rationale for the privacy system's cost.

Supervisor Don Nottoli said he's also concerned about the system's cost. He said he recently brought it up with Hudson, and reminded him about the tightened county budget.

"We need to exercise prudence and judgment in how we spend money," Nottoli said.

Nottoli and Serna agree on the need for some privacy system for the county's personnel office. But they question the need in other areas, such as the top floor of the administrative building, where Hudson and other county executives work.

David Villanueva, chief deputy county executive, said the system was set up to provide sound masking throughout the labor relations and personnel offices, but also in other areas not mentioned by Hudson, including the whole top floor of the administrative building.

That added costs to the project, because in addition to a control unit, the system consists of speakers in each area with sound masking.

Sensitive discussions about personnel and other matters occur throughout the seventh floor, and that's why the system was installed there, Villanueva said.

While Villanueva said LogiSon provided the lowest-cost product for the job, there are less-expensive machines on the market. Sound masking machines for single rooms can be bought for less than $200.

Roberta MacGlashan supports Hudson's decision, even though she has complained about some of his earlier purchases.

The system provides an important function, and it can be expanded to other areas in the future, said MacGlashan, who notes that supervisor offices have poor sound barriers, too.

She also said Hudson showed some leadership by recently announcing that he will take 4.6 percent reduction on his $259,000 salary. Hudson is joining county supervisors, who have taken a similar reduction since the county implemented a furlough for county employees a few years ago. The furlough is no longer in place.

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