City of Oceanside’s Looking for a Few Good Folks : Government: A retiree comes up with the idea for other retirees, as well as those who just want to pitch in, to help the strapped community.

So, you’ve been dreaming of that civil service career but haven’t made exactly the right connections. Are financial facts and figures your thing? Or maybe taking dictation? How about washing police cars?

Well, does the city of Oceanside have a deal for you.

Smarting from an onslaught of budget cutbacks that has affected just about every type of city service, officials from the North County city in the shadow of Camp Pendleton are looking for a few good volunteers to pick up the slack.

All offers will be considered, from bookkeeping to bulldozing. The city even has a volunteer hot line set up. Right now, operators are ready to take your call.

Started this week, the volunteer program is the brainchild of a retired secretary and postal worker who realized that her city government is in desperate need of help.

So DeVida Kahn decided to do something about it.

“I called Deputy Mayor Melba Bishop and told her that there are a lot of people living in Oceanside like me--retired people or unemployed people who have a lot to offer,” said the 67-year-old Oceanside resident.

“Some of us have 30, 40, 50 years of experience. I’m not one of those people who likes to sit around and bitch. I’m a doer. I’m exactly what the city of Oceanside is looking for.”

Indeed. Kahn, a volunteer housing commissioner for the past year, now spends a few more unpaid hours each week answering telephones in Bishop’s office. And with her background in finance, she says she wants to spend some time in the city’s finance office, helping to balance Oceanside’s rocky budget.

Just give her a spreadsheet and calculator and set her loose.

“Finance is my thing,” she said. “I like to work with facts and figures.”

So far, the city has less than half a dozen offers for assistance. But officials say they’re confident the applications will come. Anyway, the city has employed volunteers for some time within its Police Department and senior center. But the newest program means the volunteer picture is more wide open than ever.

The newest reinforcements couldn’t come at a better time. In the past few fiscal years, the city has been forced to slash its budget like film-monster Freddie Krueger would a fresh high school victim.

Since November, 1990, when the first budget scare hit city limits, Oceanside has cut $10 million from its operating budget to $54 million annually.

Last year, the city laid off 25 workers, not to mention another 27 jobs that have been frozen after becoming vacant through attrition. Recently, the overworked Police Department accepted the help of a new private security patrol for the crime-plagued areas of its downtown core.

City officials are antsy as they wait to see if the state budget will mean more financial hardships in Oceanside.

“As a result of the cutbacks, there have been a lot of city staffers who have had to cover more ground than ever, stretching themselves to the limits of their expertise,” said Larry Bauman, the city’s information officer.

“Things are starting to fall through the cracks. And we’re asking volunteers to help fill in the gaps.”

Right now, Oceanside has more financial holes than Swiss cheese. Next weekend, the city will take advantage of the kindness of strangers when 80 high school volunteers from a local church group will wash police cars and pick up trash in Rancho del Oro park.

The police car situation is typical of Oceanside’s new straits. Police officers used to receive chits to service their cars at a local car wash. But that practice fell to the budget knife. Now officers face the choice of washing the cars themselves or letting them go dirty.

“We need volunteers for everything,” Bishop said. “People who are good with facts and figures, people who’re willing to run errands. Heck, we even need somebody to defrost the refrigerator at City Hall. That thing sure does need some work.”

The city’s plans are simple. Would-be volunteers call the hot line and are sent an application that fleshes out their interests and background. Then they’re called in for interviews about specific openings.

Officials are tallying applications into a computer and will then try to match the right people with the right job. And if volunteers come up with a skill or service the city hasn’t even thought of, then--voila! The city has a new job listing.

Said Michelle Skaggs Lawrence, an analyst in the city manager’s office: “It’s sort of like computer dating. But we’re putting people together with jobs.”

Eventually, officials would like to come full circle and hire a volunteer to take over its volunteer program. “That way,” Bauman said, “we’d really be rolling.”

City officials are also looking for volunteers to answer phones, file and photocopy, take minutes and messages, shelve books, conduct surveys and special studies, send bills, conduct tours of City Hall.

Bauman said there’s a need for unarmed security officers to patrol the streets around City Hall during working hours. “We’ve had some car break-ins lately,” he said. “These people could also keep the skateboarders from shredding up city property, keep unwanted people from the parking garage.

“They could be an extra set of eyes and ears.”

Not all the volunteers are expected to be retired workers, city officials say. They also expect to hear from unemployed landscapers and marketing types looking for ways to brush up their skills during a failing job market.

And officials say they’re not at all worried about the quality of work performed by their new unpaid work force.

“We’re not going to put people into situations where they’re over their heads or where they’re all stressed out,” Bauman said. “We want this to work for both sides. We want both to be rewarded.”

Kahn sees her new volunteer job as a second chance at being productive.

“There’s a lot of places throughout Oceanside that give senior citizen discounts, so the way I see it, the city has done a lot for its retired population,” she said.

“So, if the city needs help until it gets back on its feet again, I say, ‘Why not?’ Let’s get to work.”