The 10 Most Influential People in the County

They come out annually--lists of the 10 or 20 most important people in America. To make most of the lists, you have to be a multi-multi-billionaire of some sort, a top-ranking government official or Michael Jordan.

But think about it. How much impact does a billionaire or an athlete have on the average man, woman or child in Ventura County? Not a whole lot, unless the billionaire is a generous relative.

No, the people who truly influence us are those who affect our daily lives--people who control food, water, traffic, nature and, yes, parking tickets.

So here on these two pages is a list of the 10 people who most affect the lives of Ventura County residents.

The Weights Watcher: Robert Berumen

‘Without us it would be almost anarchy.’

Robert Berumen doesn’t take kindly to being overcharged 17 cents at a local mom and pop market. And he does not like it in the least when half a gallon of orange juice measures in at 63 fluid ounces.

It’s not that he’s an irritable sort. In fact, Berumen is a friendly, easygoing guy. But it’s his job to be bothered by such minor inaccuracies, and it’s also his job to exact retribution.

The 55-year-old Berumen is one of six inspectors in Ventura County’s Department of Weights and Measures. Because of the small size of the department, each inspector is responsible for checking out local retail markets, weighing and measuring items, checking scales, monitoring cash registers and checking gas pumps to make sure customers aren’t being cheated.

Berumen is also responsible for measuring products before they get to the stores. During 10 months in Ventura County, he has issued 30 citations to retailers and wholesalers for incorrectly marked or sold items.

“There’s no way a person can’t be affected by us. If you’re eating, driving a car, drinking water,” he said, “without us, it would be almost anarchy. Most of the companies don’t do it on purpose, but we’ve found that if an area is being inspected, the compliance rate is high. If it is being neglected, the compliance rate tends to diminish. It’s a matter of relaxing.”

Berumen uses weights and measures to test products, but he said he can sometimes spot an illegal product without aid of an instrument. “I can go into a warehouse and literally pull out the box that is bad,” he said. “It’s not explainable. It’s a sixth sense.”

NUMBERS: Berumen visits 15 to 20 wholesale plants weekly, inspecting everything from Ortega chilies and Clairol hair products to A-1 Steak Sauce and Pepsi.

The Meter Maid: Martha Ortiz

‘Once they’ve figured out your routine, you’ve got to change it on them.’

Martha Ortiz doubts she will ever forget the parking ticket she found on her windshield last year.

“I got one in L.A. and I wasn’t too happy about it. I got it for being six inches in the red zone. It was in a residential area. On an Easter Sunday.”

As upset as she was, she was understanding. She has been on the other end of the citation many times, as a traffic cadet (more commonly known as a meter maid) in Oxnard. The 28-year-old Ortiz knows how the public reacts to her work.

“You get to meet people, even though some of the people hate you,” she said. “Then you have people who want you to go by their area and patrol. They are happy.”

Ortiz patrols the north side of Oxnard, from 3rd and A streets to Oxnard Boulevard and Vineyard Avenue. Her beat consists of one-, two- and three-hour parking meters, red zones and some handicap zones. She said she usually gives drivers five minutes grace at the meters, but that doesn’t stop the complaining.

“We still have people come up and want us to tear up the ticket. We just say, ‘Sorry.’ The majority of people accept it with a dirty look,” she said.

Ortiz said some of her regular violators figure out her route and try to outsmart her. “Some of them clock you. They figure, ‘Ah, she came here at 9:30 and she doesn’t come back for two hours,’ ” she said. “Once you know that they’ve figured out your routine, you’ve got to change it on them. You’ve got to surprise them.”

NUMBERS: Ortiz hands out an average of 10 parking tickets daily.

The Highway Man: Wayne Heath

‘What people are really interested in is getting from point A to point B.’

What’s the most terrifying sight for a late commuter? How about a “Left Lane Closed” sign, or a stream of orange pylons.

“People get mad when you foul up their getting to work or getting home,” said Wayne Heath, one of the men responsible for snarling traffic in Ventura County.

“I think what people are really interested in is getting from point A to point B.”

But what Heath wants is to make sure the trip between points is safe and appealing for the travelers.

He is the Caltrans supervisor in charge of the stretch of the Ventura Freeway between Ventura and Thousand Oaks and a 4-mile stretch of California 232 on Vineyard Avenue.

“We do all the maintenance on the freeway, from fence line to fence line--sweeping, bridge repair, fence repair. We close down lanes; we sweep up spills,” said Heath, who has a crew of six working for him and gets assistance from people doing community service work.

Heath is on call 24 hours a day.

If something out of the ordinary happens on his stretch of highway--from car crashes to chemical contamination--he’s informed.

“I guarantee you, we pick up litter, fix potholes, dig up ditches.”

Not to mention removing dead animals and stray rubber from the road.

He’s particularly proud of how neat his highway is.

“I think my section is extra clean. I benefit when I get in my car in the morning and the roadway is clean. I feel good, even if nobody else does.”

NUMBERS: More than 100,000 cars travel Heath’s portion of the Ventura Freeway daily. “We work our fannies off,” he said. “It’s the busiest in traffic volume, and it’s the most accident-prone in Ventura County.”

The Campground Guardian: Stacey French

‘You make sure they’re happy. Sometimes they’re shocked that there is a fee.’

To get to the campgrounds at McGrath State Beach most weekend afternoons and evenings, you have to get by Stacey French.

She is one of the regular employees stationed in the kiosk at the park entrance.

Her job is to register campers, direct sightseers and collect fees.

French, 19, credits her father, Mike, a state park ranger, for her love of nature.

She said she spent many hours camping as a child and knows what it takes to make a camping experience enjoyable.

She considers it her role to start her guests off on the right foot.

“You make sure they’re happy,” she said.

“If you’re doing this all day long, you try to keep that emphasis, but always doing it with a smile can be hard.”

That’s especially true when the customer is in a bad mood.

“You sort of play off their mood. If they’re in a bad mood you try to figure out why, you try to defuse it,” she said. “ . . .You try to project an image that you’re not out to get them.”

French’s job changes seasonally.

During the summer, business is at its peak, with campers coming from all over.

This time of year, the locals make up most of her business.

“Now we usually have about a third of the park full,” she said.

“During the nighttime you see mostly younger kids who want to stay the night. Also extra vehicles, people visiting family or something.

“And sometimes they’re shocked that there is a fee.”

NUMBERS: French sees about 50 cars drive past the entrance station during an average eight-hour Sunday shift during the winter.

She takes in about $600 a day in fees.

The numbers double during the summer.

The Dam Tender: Dwight Clements

‘If I did my job wrong I could actually prevent water from leaving the dam.’

Dwight Clements prefers to think of Lake Casitas as half full rather than half empty. But then, his life has been Casitas Dam 24 hours a day since 1978, so he sort of has to be upbeat.

Clements, 47, is the dam tender. It’s his responsibility to keep an eye on the system, to ensure that nothing--short of drought--gets between the water and the 50,000 Casitas Municipal Water District customers who depend on it. It’s also Clements’ job to make sure the 32-year-old dam is safe in case of earthquake or flooding and that no one makes “bodily contact” with the water.

The water district serves water users in east Ventura, the Ojai Valley and the Rincon area into Carpinteria. “Potentially, if I don’t do my job it could affect the quality of life for a great deal of the population,” he said. “I feel a great responsibility. If I did my job wrong, I could actually prevent water from leaving the dam.”

Each day Clements inspects two tunnels for seepage, structural movement and any other damage. The lower tunnel houses the systems operating the nine gates that allow water to flow to the customers. Clements can open or shut any of these gates with a turn of a knob from his office atop the dam.

“There are nine different openings on the intake, and we hydraulically open whichever one has the best quality water.”

NUMBERS: During inspections, Clements makes his way down a 1,300-foot tunnel that goes deep into the water and another tunnel 750 feet long. The possibility of an earthquake is always in the back of his mind, he said, but it doesn’t keep him from his daily rounds. “It’s supposed to be secure in an earthquake measuring 8,” he said. “Of course, we haven’t tested it.”

The Urban Forester: Bill Elmendorf

‘Trees become part of your personal space. They have been shown to have a calming influence.’

A big, 300-year-old valley oak measuring 44 inches in diameter stands in Bill Elmendorf’s front yard.

He doesn’t water it. He doesn’t fertilize it. He doesn’t prune it.

“It wasn’t impacted by man for at least 100 years. I’m leaving well enough alone,” he said.

His job is to make sure that all trees in Thousand Oaks are treated as well as his.

As the city’s urban forester he keeps an eye on homeowners, developers and anyone else who might be inclined to lop leaves or carve trunks.

The 34-year-old Elmendorf has at his desk a 46-page ordinance that spells out the city’s oak tree preservation and protection guidelines.

“If we didn’t do this there would be indiscriminate removal of oak trees which would directly impact historically and culturally on the county,” he said. “And we’d lose our namesake.”

Elmendorf patrols the city daily looking for signs that trees are being mishandled.

He also takes calls from people who want help maintaining their trees.

But it’s not only oaks that he is concerned about.

“From oak trees, all other areas have branched out. We look at any type of tree--as long as we feel it offers something to the community.”

If he sees bad pruning or diseased trees on residential property, he leaves a business card in the mailbox, so the owner can contact him.

Protecting trees is important work because they add to the quality of life, he said. “Trees become part of your personal space. They have been shown to have a calming influence on people.”

NUMBERS: More than 200,000 trees grow in Thousand Oaks, about 5,000 of them oaks. Elmendorf said the city has at least 100 species of trees.

The Numbers Woman: Jennifer Mao

‘Most of what I do is fairly transparent. They just assume the book lands at their door every year.’

Jennifer Mao has your number.

And it’s no small feat getting it to your door.

Mao, the west area distribution manager for GTE Directories Corp., makes sure that GTE phone books arrive promptly and safely at homes in six states, including California.

Though Mao works out of Los Angeles, she has a special affinity for customers in Ventura County. She grew up in Ventura.

The 27-year-old Mao will oversee the delivery of about 248,800 GTE phone books in the county this year.

Three versions will be published in April and distributed to customers in Thousand Oaks, Newbury Park, Westlake Village, Santa Paula, Oxnard and Camarillo.

“It’s really a challenge to find the most cost-efficient way to deliver these directories and have the highest quality distribution,” Mao said.

“You don’t want households to be missed, and you want them done on time.”

And, besides, she’s got relatives to contend with if there’s a problem.

“My father belongs to the Rotary Club and someone came up to him once and said, ‘I didn’t get mine.’

“A lot of friends and relatives live in Oxnard. I get calls, ‘My neighbor got one, but I didn’t,’ ” she said.

Mao said GTE hires about 80 temporary employees to deliver the directories.

Each one gets specific instructions on proper technique.

“Don’t throw them in rose beds and hedges,” she said.

“And the directory must be placed on the hinged side of the door so a person doesn’t trip over it when coming out of the house.”

NUMBERS: In all, Mao will oversee the distribution of approximately 9 million books this year.

The King of the Heap: Wayne Bruce

‘I’m handling a public health and safety matter.’

Wayne Bruce hates to throw anything away.

“It drives my wife crazy,” he said.

“If there’s any value in something I tend to hang on to it. Living in a condominium, it gets kind of tense.”

If the 57-year-old Bruce is like that at home, imagine what he is like at work.

He is the general manager of the Ventura Regional Sanitation District, which operates two of the county’s three landfills.

The operation serves 85% of Ventura County (it excludes Simi Valley, Moorpark and some unincorporated areas).

And since 1983 Bruce has managed all of it--the landfills, the public recycling centers and the water reclamation projects.

He has 140 employees and an annual budget of $26 million.

“Going to sleep can be a problem. Sometimes I feel inadequate,” he said.

“Basically I’m handling a public health and safety matter. If it’s not properly managed it could very seriously lead to disease, not to mention the degradation of the environment.”

Bruce realizes that the average resident has no idea what it takes to process all the garbage the district has to deal with.

“Once they flush the toilet, who cares where it goes? The problem is what people flush down the toilet has to be dealt with at the other end,” he said.

“People have no idea of the complexities of the operation.”

One of Bruce’s primary concerns is to keep the landfills and the surrounding areas relatively tidy.

“There are no mice, no rats. Those kind of things used to be associated with open dumps,” he said.

“We cover the trash so it doesn’t smell or allow flies to propagate, and it minimizes the number of sea gulls that come to feed on it.”

He does, however, wear a hard hat whenever he visits a landfill to protect himself from bird droppings.

NUMBERS: The sanitation district processes more than 1,500 tons of solid waste and more than four million gallons of sewage daily.

The Wonder Man: Bob Quayle

‘I bring fresh bread into a store and people are grabbing at it. It’s a nice feeling.’

Bologna wouldn’t be the same without Bob Quayle.

The sandwich-eaters’ friend, he’s a Wonder Bread delivery man, whose daily route takes him to chain stores, corner markets and restaurants throughout Oxnard and Ventura.

The 35-year-old Ojai resident starts each workday at the Ventura Hostess warehouse loading a truck with bread.

Then he’s moving.

“There’s never a spare moment,” he said. “It’s very important not to slow down. With some places you’ve got to be in and out at the same time every day.”

Quayle has 28 businesses on his route, but doesn’t hit all of them each day. Depending on the number of stops, it can take up to 10 hours to get from start to finish. “I don’t think people have a clue how the bread gets to the store,” he said, “nor do they care.”

Quayle is just happy that people buy the bread once it gets there.

“That’s a real good point as far as job security. People are always going to want to buy bread,” he said. “I bring fresh bread into a store, and people are grabbing at it. It’s a nice feeling.”

Quayle understands the need for bread. He grew up on it. “My mother is English, so we had a lot of bread,” he said. And things haven’t changed much as he’s gotten older. “No one is allowed in my house without a loaf,” he said.

NUMBERS: On an average day, Quayle delivers about 1,100 loaves of bread.

The Fertilizer Flier: Dave Oliver

‘You never get tired of the view. Nothing is ever routine.’

When rain falls in Ventura County, business rises at Aspen Helicopters, where a crew of five pilots is in great demand by farmers who need their crops fertilized from the sky.

The fliers help get food to people’s tables by feeding crops when mud prevents tractors from getting in.

Ten years ago, three companies provided this service in the county. Two years ago there were two companies.

And now, thanks to lack of business, there is just Aspen.

One of the pilots is Dave Oliver, 45, who began dropping fertilizer and pesticides on crops when he was 22 years old. He’s glad to see a winter with some rain.

“This time of year, if it’s a normal year, what happens is it gets so muddy in the fields they can’t get a tractor in,” he said. “But the fields still need to be sprayed, so the aircraft comes in.”

Growers call the helicopter service as soon as a new rain is forecast. The trick is to fertilize just before a downpour, even if the fields are already wet.

The fertilizer, which comes in combinations of nitrogen and other chemicals, is made into non-odorous pellets. If all goes well, the pellets are activated by the rain, taking full advantage of the water.

“After the first of the year, we fertilize for about 60 days,” said Oliver. “We do other fertilizer applications throughout the year, but sporadically.”

In his years as a pilot, Oliver has spent time seeding clouds in Montana and surveying an oil pipeline in Alaska.

He likes this crop spraying job because he gets to stay in the county and still do what he enjoys.

“You never really get tired of the view. Nothing is ever routine.”

NUMBERS: Oliver has dumped 250,000 pounds of fertilizer over the county in the last two months.