The ‘Sixth Supervisor’ : Government: Carroll Lorbeer is Ventura County’s oldest gadfly. He has been a regular at county government and Oxnard City Council meetings since 1958.

Oxnard City Councilman Michael Plisky refers to him as a walking encyclopedia.

Ventura County Chief Administrative Officer Richard Wittenberg checks up on him if he misses a meeting of the Board of Supervisors.

And Supervisor Maria VanderKolk considers him an icon.

He is not a high-paid consultant nor a county official. He is Carroll Lorbeer, Ventura County’s oldest gadfly.

Lorbeer, a regular at meetings of the Board of Supervisors and the Oxnard City Council since 1958, has gained a reputation among city and county officials as a worldly wise adviser with a wit.

As Oxnard City Atty. Gary Gillig put it: “He’s not like those other harebrained flakes we get around here.”

Lorbeer, 83, is so revered that some county officials have referred to him as the “sixth supervisor” on the Board of Supervisors.

But Lorbeer, a former celery farmer and retired real estate agent, likes to describe himself as a community activist.

“I don’t like that term, gadfly, because gadflies lay worms in hides of cattle,” he said. “I don’t try to just annoy the politicians. I try to give them constructive suggestions.”

He said he began attending meetings of the Oxnard City Council and Board of Supervisors in 1958 as a representative of a group of local real estate agents.

He retired from real estate in 1983 but continued to attend the meetings because he was inspired by an inscription on the gates of his alma mater, Pomona College: “They only are loyal to this college who, departing, bear their added riches in trust for mankind.”

Lorbeer’s agenda over the years has ranged from changing street names to bringing commercial jets to one of the county’s airports.

For example, he said, Doris Avenue west of Ventura Road was called North Road until 1961, when he persuaded the Oxnard City Council to change the name so the entire stretch would be called Doris Avenue.

A few months ago, Lorbeer asked the Oxnard City Council to build a desalination plant near the Southern California Edison power plant in Oxnard because the desalting process heats seawater and the Edison plant emits heated saltwater in its generating process.

Edison officials have said they are studying the viability of building such a desalination plant.

He has pressed, however, for some ideas that officials have called unrealistic. Those include having 5th Street run through Plaza Park in downtown Oxnard, turning an old water tower in downtown Oxnard into a restaurant, and increasing the number of supervisors from five to seven so that committees of three can meet without violating state open meeting laws.

Throughout the years, he has collected hundreds of government agendas, staff reports and maps, many of which line the walls of a cramped, dimly lit room in his Oxnard home.

His collection is so voluminous that Oxnard College officials have expressed interest in some of the older agendas that he has stored in loose-leaf binders in his garage.

“He probably has one of the best libraries of city history anywhere,” said Oxnard Community Development Director Richard Maggio.

But Lorbeer’s best source of information seems to be his own memory.

“You shouldn’t try to make things up when you are around Carroll, because he’ll let you know if you are wrong,” said Plisky, who has referred to Lorbeer’s memory as “almost inhuman.”

For example, Plisky said that when he was asked recently to speak to the Harbor Board of Realtors about various Oxnard issues, he checked with Lorbeer on the accuracy of his information.

“When I couldn’t remember a specific date or number, I would periodically check with Carroll,” Plisky said. “I would say ‘Let me consult my encyclopedia.’ ”

Juanita Lorbeer, Carroll Lorbeer’s fifth wife, doesn’t approve of her husband’s preoccupation with local government. “It makes a mess and does not pay the bills,” she said.

Her disdain for his activism began long before they met. In 1963, he persuaded Oxnard city officials to change the name of her street from Dempsey Road to East Channel Islands Boulevard so the street would be consistent throughout the city.

Juanita Lorbeer still harbors a grudge at the “jerk” who forced her to change her address.

Juanita Lorbeer is one of her husband’s few detractors. “He has been critical, but it’s never done in a mean way,” Ventura County Counsel James McBride said.

Oxnard City Clerk Mabi Plisky agreed. “Occasionally, he’s gotten irritated with the city of Oxnard,” she said. “He has listed a number of things, but he’s diplomatic in his criticism.”

But time seems to be finally catching up to Lorbeer.

These days, it takes him much longer to make it to the podium, even with the help of his trademark broom handle, which he carries around like some modern-day Moses.

Lorbeer acknowledges that he might soon be forced to stop attending the meetings.

“How much longer can I keep this up?” he asks. “That is a good question.”

His health was the topic of conversation at recent Board of Supervisors and Oxnard City Council meetings when he was absent for three months to recover from a bladder operation.

“His absence was very obvious,” VanderKolk said.

VanderKolk, 26, recalls that soon after she was elected as the youngest supervisor in Ventura County history, Lorbeer appointed himself her one-man “fan club and education committee.”

During several weekly supervisors’ meetings, he lectured her on county history and gave her background on current issues, such as the drought.

Once, he explained to her the difference between the way farmers and meteorologists measure water.

But instead of condemning Lorbeer’s pushiness, VanderKolk seemed flattered by his interest. “He’s almost like an icon to the board,” VanderKolk said. “It was real kind of him.”