VENTURA COUNTY PEOPLE

* Richard Buerli has been appointed vice president of engineering by the board of directors of RIFOCS Corp. in Camarillo. The company manufactures fiber-optic instruments and components.

Buerli has been with RIFOCS since September 1997.

* Timothy F. McLoughlin has joined CSC General Contractors in Camarillo as director of marketing for the Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. Before joining CSC, McLoughlin held various positions in the real estate development, finance, title insurance and escrow industries.

CSC specializes in general construction in the tri-counties and in construction management throughout the United States.

* Mainstreet Architects & Planners in Ventura and landscape architect Curtis P. Stiles have won the 1999 Outstanding Planning Award from the American Planning Associates Central Coast section. The award was given for work done for the city of Ventura to improve the westside Avenue area.

The project now will compete for the APA statewide award.

* Jeffrey Nichol has joined the sales team at Gills Onions in Oxnard. Previously, he worked at Western Onion Sales in Camarillo.

Gills is a processor and distributor of fresh onion products.

* William E. Cornick, of Thousand Oaks, has been designated a master certified flight instructor under a new industry accreditation program created by the National Assn. of Flight Instructors.

The two-year program requires completion of 32 continuing-education credits and encourages instructors to engage in professional activities to enhance their teaching skills.

* Attorney Randall H. George of Ventura, a partner in the law firm Nordman, Cormany, Hair & Compton in Oxnard, has been named the Ventura Family YMCA Volunteer of the Year for 1999. George has been a member of the YMCA board of managers since 1992.

He is chairman of the building and grounds committee.