Electrical Short Cuts Power to College, Offices

When most other people were starting their day, it was lights out at the Ventura headquarters of the county’s community college district Tuesday.

An electrical short in a 41-year-old high-voltage cable cut power to the district administration building for most of the day.

Without computers, lights or heat, many employees abandoned their work.

But Barbara Buttner, who handles public relations for the district, broke out the candles instead.

“It’s a sight to see. I’m sitting here working by candlelight,” Buttner said. “There is no light, no computers, only half the phones are working and it’s cold as hell.”

With an entire office wall taken up by windows, her boss, Chancellor Philip Westin, fared a little better. He worked by sunlight.

The outage hit at about 9 a.m., cutting power to the entire Ventura College campus, as well as part of the district offices.

“There weren’t too many complaints,” said Bob Reeves, supervisor of maintenance at the college. “But some people working at the computers were a little disgruntled because they lost some of their work.”

Within 20 minutes, the campus maintenance supervisors had restored power to the main campus, but electricity to the district office was not turned on until 4:10 p.m.

Still, with only a temporary generator working, employees were told to cut back on electricity by using as few lights as possible and by doing without coffee from the employee’s break room.

The main power line should be repaired by next week, Reeves said.