City Clerk Is Viewed by Her Co-Workers as ‘Answer Lady’ : Ventura: Barbara Kam wins praise for calm efficiency and extensive knowledge. But critics say she is lax in enforcing election law.

When City Clerk Barbara Kam started work at Ventura City Hall more than 32 years ago, the city had a population of nearly 26,000.

The Buenaventura Mall didn’t exist, nor did the Santa Paula Freeway. Few houses could be found east of Mills Road, and there were barely 100 employees on the city payroll.

As the city’s chief record keeper, Kam has seen Ventura’s evolution by way of the annexation papers, development agreements and other documents that have crossed her desk during the three decades.

“Nothing really changes except the names and places,” said Kam, 55. “We have grown, but Ventura has not lost its charm.”

Because of her long tenure at City Hall--Kam has the third-longest service record with the city--she is regarded by her co-workers as a walking database.

“She remembers all kinds of things,” said City Manager John Baker, who began his tenure with the city 12 years ago. “Most of the stuff flows across her desk in some fashion. She’s very efficient and she knows what she’s doing.”

Ventura Police Capt. Randy Adams, a friend of Kam’s for more than 20 years, also praised her knowledge of the city.

“I’ve always viewed her as the ‘Answer Lady,’ ” Adams said. “If you had a question about anything in the city, she would have the answer and some historical perspective on it besides.”

Her two staffers say Kam is easy to work for: She gives hugs and kisses every day, but runs a well-organized and efficient division at the same time. With a base salary of $63,432, she is viewed as one of the city’s top officials.

Kam’s office handles a range of responsibilities: keeping the agenda for the City Council, administering special event permits, maintaining contracts, posting public notices and conducting city elections.

“You’ll never, ever, hear her raise her voice,” said Deputy City Clerk Diane Angle, who has worked with Kam for three years. “But when you screw up, she’ll let you know it.”

Angle said Kam’s chief philosophy is customer service.

Residents frequently come into the city clerk’s office to complain about city services, get information about council meetings and request council meeting minutes.

“I kind of marvel how she handles the public,” Angle said. “By the time they come in here, they’re ruffled and they want to pound on the counter. She never gets ruffled.”

Although Baker praises her as a stellar employee, critics say Kam’s office is lax in enforcing election law. They say Kam does not lean hard enough on people who don’t file their campaign expenditure reports on time and does not check the accuracy of expenditure reports.

Kam, a soft-spoken woman who describes her managing style as “mother hen,” works hard at keeping warm relationships with her workers, who say she remembers birthdays and anniversaries, and sometimes buys them presents for no reason.

“If your people are happy, they’ll produce,” Kam said.

The city clerk’s job requires being city historian as well, Kam said.

She has compiled data on old city cemetery records for genealogy enthusiasts, tracked down council-related trivia for reporters, and is putting together a list of all city-owned property and related documents so the city has a record of its land assets.

She has also created the electronic indexing system for city records and is working on establishing an electronic document system.

“You’re creating records not for today, but for tomorrow,” Kam said. “It’s not for us; it’s for the poor bloke behind us.”

Kam said her long-term ambition is to get all city records on computer so that they can be retrieved quickly.

“My dream is to stop pushing this stuff,” Kam said, gesturing at mounds of paper neatly stacked in piles on her desk.

Computers have made her job much easier.

“I never imagined computers,” Kam said. “When I came here, we were still working on clunky old typewriters and papers with six carbons.”

Kam, who was raised on a ranch in the San Joaquin Valley, moved to Ventura in July, 1961, when she married her first husband, Frank Thomas, a car salesman.

She began working at Ventura City Hall as a switchboard operator the following month. Six months later, she was promoted to a clerical position in the city manager’s office.

The next year, Kam became deputy city clerk, a position she held for about nine years.

After a reorganization in June, 1971, Kam was named city clerk. That year, she married George Kam, a retired airplane technician whom she met after Thomas died of a heart attack in 1970.

Although Kam never obtained a high school diploma, she said the business administration courses she took in school helped her, along with on-the-job training.

“If you have any interest in what you’re doing, you’ll learn everything you can about it,” she said. “I’m good at what I do.”

Kam said she has picked up knowledge over the years relating to election guidelines, zoning and legal issues.

“Typically, city clerks act as a little hub for people,” Kam said. “We will get you to the right person.”

Critics say Kam is not aggressive enough about enforcing state laws relating to City Council campaigns.

Patagonia spokesman Paul Tebbel, whose company has been involved in several City Council elections, said of Kam: “She thinks it’s her obligation to request that people adhere to the law. It is my opinion that her job should be to police the activities of people involved in the elections.”

In last fall’s City Council race, with only two weeks left before election day, thrift store magnate Ray Ellison had reported spending about $6,000 in advertising--a report that Tebbel disputes.

“My impression was that he was near double that,” Tebbel said. “He did tons of full-page ads.”

Tebbel told Kam of his suspicions, and she said she called Ellison about it.

Kam said Ellison told her that he shops around for low newspaper advertisement rates and that “(Tebbel) can think whatever he wants. He doesn’t do a very good job of shopping rates.”

Kam said Ellison complied with all the election laws.

“It’s not my job to read every newspaper in the county and see what kinds of ads are in them,” she said. “A lot of this is on the honor system.”

Ventura County Clerk Richard Dean, who oversees countywide elections, agreed with Kam.

“By law, she’s not required to verify anything,” Dean said. “How could we, unless we hired a team of private investigators and auditors?”

Although Kam is dedicated to her job, she emphasized that her life does not revolve around City Hall.

“You need to have other things in your life to make it whole,” said Kam, who enjoys gardening at her house on the hillside above Ventura High School.

Her other hobbies include making porcelain dolls, collecting trains, sewing her own clothes and painting wood crafts projects.

She said she has a collection of 40 dolls and eight train sets. Every Thursday evening, she joins three friends in a painting group.

Her friends and co-workers tease Kam about her long auburn hair, which is always swept up in a coiffure nearly half a foot tall. Kam, who sits with her back to the camera at City Council meetings, said residents usually don’t know what her face looks like, but frequently recognize her by the back of her head.

“I’ve never seen it down,” Toni Taylor, executive assistant to the city manager, said of Kam’s hair. “A lot of people wonder how long her hair is.”

Kam said her hair reaches to her knees. At one time, in 1972, it almost touched the floor. Her employees have been threatening to give her a permanent wave for years.

Her husband said his wife rarely loses her temper.

“I don’t argue with her,” said George Kam, 59. “She doesn’t get mad, she gets even.”

Barbara Kam said that getting angry never helps a situation.

“In the heat of things, you can never resolve anything,” she said. “If you can wait for things to settle down, you can win.”

This philosophy has also been carried over into her professional life, Kam said. At City Hall, co-workers say she is well-known for her tranquil nature.

Despite having held the post for so long, Kam said she is never bored at her job. She may retire in five years, but Kam has not made definite plans yet.

“There’s always something new to do and learn,” she said.