BILL SPARKES/Acorn Newspapers A STITCH IN TIME- Departing deputy director/city clerk Alice Redondo and her husband, Chris, admire a quilt presented by co-workers at Simi Valley City Hall when she retired after almost 27 years of service. Redondo has served under four different mayors, Elton Gallegly, Greg Stratton, Bill Davis and Paul Miller. Alice Redondo is a smalltown girl at heart.

She remembers attending grade school in a one-room schoolhouse in central Minnesota. She even knows how to make hay and milk a cow.

And now, after retiring from her post as the deputy director/ city clerk of Simi Valley, Redondo is keen to catch up with some favorite simple pleasures.

"I think I want to do some gardening . . . just to be able to not have to set the alarm," she said.

Redondo has been waking up bright and early for the last 27 years to serve the city.

She started in the environmental services department in 1980, then moved to the city clerk's office in 1986 during the conclusion of U.S. Rep. Elton Gallegly's (R-Thousand Oaks) third term as Simi's mayor.

Redondo didn't always spend her days in city government. She was born in 1942 and grew up with six brothers and sisters in the rural community of St. Wendell, Minn.

"There we knew everyone," she said. "Everybody was a dairy farmer."

At the town schoolhouse, Redondo was one of about 40 kids of various ages who took their lessons all together, taught by the sole teacher. In her grade, there were three boys and four girls, two of whom she still sees when she visits her hometown from time to time.

After attending high school in a neighboring community and then pursuing college, she and a girlfriend decided to explore "the lure of California," where she ultimately married and earned a bachelor's degree in sociology from Cal State Northridge.

Redondo and her husband, Chris, moved to Simi Valley from West Hills in 1972 shortly after the birth of their twins, Dan and Debbie. A few years later, the couple had another daughter, Tracy. Redondo chose to stay at home and raise her young children, waiting to begin her career.

Upbeat and detail-oriented

As city clerk, Redondo was responsible for setting the City Council's agenda, taking minutes at meetings, keeping track of vital permanent records and assisting candidates during city elections.

During her career, she's worked with four different mayors.

"I can't say that I enjoyed working with any one over another," she said of former mayors Gallegly, Greg Stratton and Bill Davis, and the current mayor, Paul Miller. "I always felt like I had a good rapport with them."

Redondo helped prepare candidates to meet election deadlines, informing them of their responsibilities and financial reporting obligations.

Even though the county was responsible for coordinating polling places, Redondo always made herself available to help.

"Alice was a joy to work with," Miller said. "She always had a good upbeat attitude and she was very thorough and meticulous about her work."

Besides working through elections, Redondo was also responsible for following up with the City Council to make sure the members complied with important regulations.

"She provided a great deal of assistance to the council members in meeting all of the Fair Political Practices Commission rules and regulations regarding our various reporting requirements," Miller said.

Now that Redondo has officially retired, and with only a year or two more until her husband follows suit, she plans to enjoy her free time to the fullest.

She said she's especially looking forward to spending more time with her family.

In a few weeks, when her third grandchild is born, Redondo and her husband will fly to Vermont to visit her son's family. She has two other grandchildren there, 4year-old Sebastian and 2-year-old Veronica.

In the meantime, she'll be busy at home quilting, reading romance novels and taking morning walks. She has no plans to move away from Simi.

"It's a really nice place to live," she said. "This is home for us."