Stickler for Details--With a Sweet Tooth : Government: Art Goulet relishes being county’s public works director almost as much as he savors his chocolate.

Art Goulet has been known to spend hours toiling over the intricacies of county road construction and occasionally crash office birthday parties just to get a slice of chocolate cake.

He’s often the first to arrive at work in the morning and the last to leave. A colorful man in a no-nonsense job, he sweats the details as Ventura County’s king of the roads, master of the sewers, the builder of buildings.

For nearly 16 years, Goulet, 55, has worked as the county’s public works director--a job he relishes.

From his corner office overlooking the parking lot at the County Government Center, Goulet choreographs the construction of county roads, doles out stop signs and makes sure the flood channels are clear of mud and debris. He has the responsibility of making sure county projects are completed on time and to budget, while overseeing a staff of more than 300 and tussling with building contractors.

During his tenure, he has supervised the completion of the county administration building, courthouse and jail and the construction of the East County Court House.

And, in possibly one of his greatest challenges, Goulet is now in charge of the construction of the county’s massive new jail near Santa Paula. Later this year he will also be managing the expansion of the Ventura County Medical Center.

Supervisor John K. Flynn said he is more than a master builder; he’s one of the “great thinkers of county government.”

But city officials complain that he’s a stickler for details, never cutting them a break on the smallest of matters.

As for Goulet himself, he says he’s just a guy who likes to build things.

“There is a great satisfaction associated with seeing the physical manifestation of your efforts,” Goulet said. “Public works touches everyone.

“You wake up, you brush your teeth. The water is public works. You use the toilet. The sewer system is public works. You drive to work on a road, that’s public works. The problem with public works is that the average individual takes it for granted. Yet it’s always there.”

And he is always looking out for the county’s interests.

If any of the cities approve major construction projects that could burden the county roads, Goulet will not hesitate asking the supervisors to initiate litigation.

“It’s our job to protect the county,” Goulet said. “My staff and I are very alert to opportunities to do that.”

Recently, the county filed a lawsuit to block Oxnard’s plans to build a factory outlet mall.

The county alleged that the Oxnard City Council failed to adequately determine the extra air pollution and traffic that the mall would create. Oxnard officials later agreed to address the county’s concerns--but some bitterness remained toward Goulet.

“He obsesses about the details,” said one city official, who asked not to be named.

But, according to county Chief Administrative Officer Richard Wittenberg, Goulet was hired to sweat the small stuff.

“He’s a very task-oriented man,” Wittenberg said. “He’s an erudite public works manager who knows his subject matter inside and out. He just wants to get the job done at the least possible cost.”

Although he maintains a low profile, Goulet has become one of the county’s most influential--and tough--department managers.

He also doesn’t play politics with the board. When Flynn and Supervisor Maria E. VanderKolk proposed slashing the pay and perks of the top county managers earlier this year, Goulet was straightforward in his opposition to the plan. He stood to lose about 30% of his $128,000 in pay and perks under the proposal.

“It’s not a pleasant thing to consider,” he said.

He also says he wouldn’t hesitate taking another job elsewhere.

“I didn’t sign on forever,” Goulet said. “It’s not that I’m aggressively looking anywhere else, but I would be less than candid if I didn’t say that if the right opportunity presented itself, I would move on.

“I don’t want to move on. I like Ventura County very much. But one never knows.”

He’s also not the kind of person to make small talk in the elevator. “I don’t think I would talk to him about the weather or the latest movies,” Wittenberg said.

But Goulet enjoys office birthday parties, especially if chocolate cake is involved.

“I’m a chocolate fiend,” Goulet said, with a laugh. “I could eat it every day. People accuse me of being able to smell chocolate when it is somewhere in the office. I’m able to track it down, and I’m always there for a slice.”

Any calories he consumes he works off the next day. He gets up at 5:45 a.m. every morning to jump rope at his Camarillo home. He exercises for about 40 minutes, carefully counting up to 3,000 jumps.

When Goulet joined the county after working as a private civil engineer in 1977, the construction was already well underway on the new government center on Victoria Boulevard in Ventura--a project that had been rife with petty feuds.

“At the time I came to the county, there had been a breakdown in the relationship between the county Hall of Justice and public works,” Goulet said. “There were decisions made to eliminate certain components of the project. In the crime lab, for example, they decided just not to put in the floor.”

But Goulet resolved the disputes, serving as peacemaker between county administrators and the Sheriff’s Department. Under his direction, the government buildings were completed on schedule--and every room had a floor.

In 1981, he finished the work on the County Jail, a complicated construction project that cost far more than initially projected. “That is certainly the most significant project that I can recall,” Goulet said of the fortified 439-bed facility that sits next to the government center.

“It’s funny. When I was working on the project, the commander in charge of custody in the Sheriff’s Department said, ‘You should only build one jail in your career.’ ”

But 10 years later, Goulet is working on his second. This time at the Todd Road site on a lemon grove near Santa Paula. The $54-million facility is set to be completed sometime next year.

Although Flynn has praised Goulet’s efforts on other county projects, Flynn criticized the public works manager for pushing the Santa Paula jail site.

Flynn said Goulet should have supported his idea to expand the county’s current jail instead of building a new facility on a large, out-of-the-way lot.

“I have always disagreed with the location of the new jail,” Flynn said. “I think Art could have played a strong role there. That’s the only instance I would fault him, I suppose.”

However, Goulet said it just was not practical for the county to add on to the facility. Eventually, jailers would have run out of room.

“I think in the short term, there would have been some validity to John’s argument,” Goulet said. “But we’re in this for the long haul. You’ve got to be careful about making short-term decisions that impact detrimentally on the long-term needs of the county.”

The board sided with Goulet in a 4-1 vote.

Supervisor Maggie Kildee said she appreciates that Goulet is a straight-shooter. “He is always straightforward, and he doesn’t worry about disagreeing with us,” Kildee said. “He always tells me the pros and cons of whatever it is he may be thinking. When I do make a decision, I feel comfortable we have all the facts, especially if we disagree.”