IT'S A DIRTY JOB, BUT ... COUNTY WORKER CLEANS UP ILLEGAL DUMPING GROUNDS.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

ROSAMOND - An hour into his day's work, Dave Reed had five junk mattresses piled in the back of a pickup, ready for the day's first trip to the Mojave landfill.

In the last four weeks, Kern County Supervisor Don Maben's newest staffer estimates he has cleaned up 20 or 25 small illegal dump sites and trash piles around the 2nd District.

``Sometimes I feel like I'm working for Mattress Land,'' Reed said Monday amid trash dumped in the desert immediately west of a Rosamond neighborhood. ``There's tons of them. They seem to breed.''

Reed, who started the job Jan. 3, was hired on the cheap.

Maben's office cut two positions - a receptionist and an administrativeassistant - during recent rounds of Kern County budget cuts, but there were enough savings to hire a temporary worker and still remain under the 8 percent budget reduction set for all county offices.

At the county's motor pool, Maben's office was able to swap an old staff car for the pickup truck Reed uses to haul away trash.

Reed's hiring is a step in Maben's efforts to tackle illegal dumping, an issue the supervisor had campaigned on during his election in 2002. Maben's efforts included voting to increase fines for illegal dumping, forming a task force to develop strategies for combating the problem, and having a part-time staff member, Mary Beth Garrison, coordinate community cleanups.

Maben has volunteered his own time during community cleanups and, on at least one occasion, picked an illegal dump site himself.

``I got tired of seeing couches and mattresses and other junk alongside the streets,'' Maben said of hiring Reed.

Said Reed: ``This is something I personally feel strong about. We're doing our small part for the environment. It is satisfying to see a site and clean it up.''

Reed was hired for a nine-month assignment. Maben is hoping that the state budget cuts passed down to the county are not too severe and that he'll be able to make the position a full-time job.

Reed, 29, grew up in Tehachapi and went to school with the supervisor's daughter. Reed graduated last summer as a paralegal from Santa Barbara Business College.

Prior to taking his new post, Reed had been involved in theater work, including working on the restoration of the Fox Theater in Bakersfield.

``I'm not ready to do the suit-and-tie thing yet,'' Reed said. ``This worked out fine for me.''

Responding to a call from a constituent, Maben's staff sent Reed to the Rosamond site Monday. The site had a half-dozen mattresses, a sofa, a refrigerator, and several small scattered sites of household trash.

``There's no need for this,'' Reed said, looking over the trash. ``You can take most items to the dump for free. They do charge for tires. For the average car-size tires it's $1 per tire.''

Often many of the items Reed brings to the dumps around the 2nd District can be recycled, such as appliances and lawn mower parts.

``As much as we can divert (from landfills) we do,'' Reed said.

On Monday, the refrigerator Reed hauled away was filled with miscellaneous junk, but luckily for his sense of smell no rotting food. Other trash pickups have been much smellier.

``The worst thing is diapers,'' Reed said.

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3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) David Reed, a Kern County employee, cleans up trash in a popular dumping area off 15 Street near Rosamond.

(2 -- 3 -- color) The Kern County employee is sent to illegal dump sites in the 2nd District.

Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News