Bill Waibel was once an engineer with that type of personality that drives him to keep occupied. Involved in the oil and gas world, Waibel’s career moved him to Australia for four years and Brazil for seven—and that was only a portion of this San Clemente resident’s full life—but now that he’s completely retired, Waibel’s personality won’t let him idly pass the time.

Instead, he’s the contact point for all things related to San Clemente’s 25-year-old Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) (a program that saves the city upwards of $175,000 per year) and his main role is coordinating all 30 or so volunteers into the vast RSVP schedule. “I’m the one person who has to take all the blame,” he joked. Waibel dedicates roughly 400 hours per year to the program and was named 2009 RSVP of the Year. In short, he’s partially responsible for putting into motion the total of 8,900 hours per year the group, as a whole, commits to the city.

But Waibel, who also volunteers at the Ocean Institute, takes the same shifts as everybody else. “I’m just another person today,” he said from his seat under an umbrella at the Police and Community Together (PACT) house, which sits at the entryway to the Pier. He and fellow RSVP member Jon Malnekoff are the two volunteers assigned to that particular post for the day and take turns or help each other hand out tourism brochures to visiting Pier goers, ensure safe railroad crossing, monitor smoking, alcohol, dog-off-leash and bike rules and generally talk to people, offering directions or restaurant recommendations. And when they’re able to take a breather and get off their feet for a few minutes, they enjoy the scene and chat with their wives, neighbors or friends who may happen to stroll by on the beach trail.

Though San Clemente’s RSVP is run through the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, it’s actually part of a nationwide Senior Corps program and the largest volunteer network for people 55 and over. The San Clemente members have the distinction of knowing their unit is the longest running volunteer police support group in South Orange County, having been formed in 1985. One member, Jim Lusk, joined the program just six months after its inception 25 years ago. And each and every member of the group demonstrates a dedication of similar proportions. Last year, the unit provided traffic control and parking enforcement at 27 special events from April to December, including the Triathalon, Parent Project, Vista Hermosa carnival, Classic Car show, Ocean Festival, Fiesta, Jamboree, Puttin’ on the Glitz, among others. RSVP volunteers give three to four days of their month to the program at four to five hours a day. In 2009, one RSVP team member walked away at the end of the year clocking in 375 total hours—an average of more than an hour a day every day of the year.

“We commit,” said Waibel. “And at times even that doesn’t meet our needs.”

The overflow of demand for volunteer hours stands testament to the invaluable force the program has become to the Sheriff’s Department and safety of the community. Outside of those special events, the RSVPs perform a series of run-of-the-mill patrol shifts, doing neighborhood and home checks, driving department vehicles back and forth for maintenance, moving evidence around to the DA’s office or forensics lab and delivering and picking up radios.

According to Waibel, the entire Sheriff’s Department and City Council show complete support for the group. “We do a lot of stuff they don’t want to do,” Waibel said. “Their job is to fight crime, not inspect vacant homes.”

Sgt. Scott Kennedy of the San Clemente Police Services confirmed that. “They offer a great service to the city,” he said. “Just with the sheer man power, if we didn’t have them, we’d have paid deputies out doing what they do. Really, they save the city a lot of money.”

Most of the volunteers are retired, save a few who still have their hands in some aspects of their career but with plenty of spare time. “We’ve got quite a mixed bag of professions,” Waibel said. “No one career stands out.” And though many in the group seem to have some military experience, because they hail from the generation of the draft, Waibel insists he’s never interviewed anyone who says he or she has wanted to be a cop. Most volunteers interviewing for RSVP do so because they have the time after retirement, they want to stay busy and help the community. “That’s the general consensus,” he said.

“They’ve all been really successful in their careers and whatever they were doing [before they were retired],” Kennedy added. “I’ve always been so impressed with the fact that it’s now time for them to kick back and relax but, instead, they want to give back.”

Plus, the program seems to be growing, even still. According to Waibel, the RSVPs have recently started a fire watch during the dry season and have already caught a budding brush fire in a large open space up Presidio, behind the sheriff’s station. A patrol team spotted the flames while doing home checks and reported it immediately. The field bordered 200-300 homes. “It would’ve been a major problem in the city if it had gotten going,” said Waibel. “It could’ve ruined a lot of people’s lives—in 15 or 20 minutes it would’ve been really messy—but instead, 99 percent of people in town didn’t know anything about it because it was caught so quickly.”

But for as much precautionary service the unit provides, one of the volunteers’ mottos is “Stay out of harm’s way.” Deputies are available for instant response and sometimes they’re needed. Volunteers may have all the cool things that come with an official position, like radios, badges, uniforms and official vehicles but they don’t carry weapons and have no intention of acting as a law-enforcement officer.

A team of volunteers may be on traffic control and a driver decides to force through. They may notice a door or window open at one of the homes on their Vacation Check list and they’ll need to radio in right away, upon which deputies will arrive within minutes, guns drawn. In other instances, the recipient of a traffic ticket may become enraged and tear the ticket up or begin a barrage of ugly words. If the scene gets out of hand, help is just a radio call away.

But the RSVPs aren’t just about keeping order. Perhaps one of the biggest ways they give back is through You Are Not Alone (YANA). RSVP volunteers visit the residences of homebound senior citizens who have requested that somebody stop by once a week to check in on them (though they provide no medical attention). “We’ll see if they need anything and just chat for a while,” Waibel said. “Sometimes we’re the only visitor they’ll see until our next visit.”

It’s that kind of diversity in duties that keep the community and Sheriff’s Department so thankful. “I don’t even know how to put it in words,” Kennedy said of his appreciation to the volunteers. “They save us. They’re so valuable to the city.”

And fortunately, at least a few San Clemente residents seem to have that same personality trait as Waibel, where “retirement” doesn’t mean just sitting still.

San Clemente RSVPs

Marshall Arnold, Jr

Neil Barbanell

Don Bascom

Douglas Batezel

Dodie Beauchamp

Clint Bliss

John Burrell

Tom Collins

John Dricker

Fred Dungan

Ted Durden

Elaine Edenfield

Doug Erway

Paul Feinberg

Joe Hill

Art Hood

Ray Kunkle

Jim Lusk

Raymond Lynn

Jon Malkenoff

Jill Martin

Carolyn Martinez

Jack McElvogue

John Newman

Dan Owen

Lenore Poidevin

Linda Robben

Ruth Saiter

Don Stroup

Bruce Toffelmier

John Vanderschraaf

Frans Vollebregt

Bill Waibel

David Woolsey

Carol Worker