Snapshot: Clay Castleberry is retired -- but be sure not to tell him

By TOM GIBBONEY

Fifteen years after he retired as the public works director in Butte County, Clay Castleberry remains an enthusiastic member of the work force. So much so that he is now on his 57th post-retirement job, this time as maintenance director for the city of Menlo Park.

Clay is an itinerant fireman in the best tradition of Palladin, the TV gunslinger who specialized in rubbing out bad guys, wherever they happened to be. But in Clay's case, the jobs usually last longer, about six months or more -- but not always.

"The shortest job I ever had lasted only three hours," he recalls. "I was hired at the beginning of a city council meeting in the city of Orland, and fired three hours later, before the meeting broke up."

In Menlo Park, Clay is taking the place of Dan Freitas, who retired earlier this year. But he does it on his terms.

"There is a half-hour cancellation clause, available to both parties," he says, just in case something runs amok.

Clay's reputation and mile-long resume are all that he needs to hire on with virtually any city, county, special district or what-have-you in California. His specialty is public works, a trade he honed in the Oroville/Susanville area where he still makes his home.

Clay met City Manager Jan Dolan when they both worked for the city of Santa Rosa, several years before Ms. Dolan came to Menlo Park. He is now on his third assignment here, a job he says is "wonderful, because Menlo Park is such a beautiful place to live."

And, there are no personnel problems, he says.

"Usually, when I come in, departments are in chaos. They want me to clean up a mess. In one county, I had 62 disciplinary actions in progress. And in Lassen County, I had to lay off every engineer in the county because my predecessor had spent all the money!"

Clay is quick to note that Menlo Park is not in chaos. And although his departure day is getting closer (the application process for a new public works director closes October 15) he is living life in Menlo Park to the fullest.

"My lovely wife Donna joins me here some weeks, which breaks up the monotony of solitary hotel living. But with a Monday-through-Wednesday schedule, Clay still has time for his other job, a one-day-a-week stint as public works director for the city of Oroville.

On most weekdays, you will find Clay at Ann's Coffee Shop for lunch, and sampling some of the area's fine restaurants in the evenings. On Wednesdays, Clay maintains his perfect Rotary attendance record by joining the Menlo Park club for lunch.

Although he is a visiting fireman, Clay has enjoyed overseeing the weed-eating goat herd the city hires to clean out Sharon Heights Park. And the "great duck round-up" at the Civic Center pond took place during his watch, when the department had to capture and transfer about 18 domesticated ducks to the Humane Society.

"They are all in good homes now," he says. The more than 100 wild ducks found other roosts when the city drained and cleaned the pond.

At the maintenance department, Clay says he gets more calls concerning the city's 14,000 street trees than about roads or water. The trees are a "great asset" he says, adding that he will purchase a tree as part of City Councilman Chuck Kinney's campaign to beautify El Camino Real.

In Butte County, Clay worked on many projects over the years, including the Oroville Dam, but is proudest of a campaign he initiated to rebuild the covered bridge at Oregon City. Using donated building materials and volunteer labor, Clay guided the effort to "create instant history," as he recalls.

As his time runs short in Menlo Park, Clay is already committed to his next job, a management analyst in the tiny town of Etna, in Siskiyou County. "It will take longer to drive there than to do the audit," he says.

After that, he'll take some time off to spend with a new granddaughter. But the phone is already ringing, and if the job is within relatively easy driving distance from Oroville, he'll be on his way.