Page 7 - Searcy Parks Rec 2015

Will Walker, left, and Shawn Lawrence carry a truss for a new building at Pioneer Village.
“I have grandkids now. ... I just need to be home,” he said.
Rudesill said some of the things the crew has to build can be a challenge, especially when it comes to carpentry, especially since his background is in ironwork. However, he said other members of the team are greatly skilled in carpentry to make up the difference.
“With my boss and the other people working with us, we all figure it out, and [the project] usually comes out pretty smooth,” he said.
Monica Brown also joined the mainte- nance crew about a year and a half ago. She said it was the right job at the right time, and it gives her the chance to enjoy some fresh air while providing a needed service to her community.
On Monday,Tuesday and Thursday, Brown starts her days taking care of the softball field. Then she usually mows for a couple of hours until lunch. After that, it all depends on what tasks need to be accomplished. Brown also makes signs for the city and takes care of shop paperwork. Being the only woman on the maintenance crew, she said she strives to work as hard as the male crew members.
“I try my hardest do what they’re doing because I was hired to do the exact same job,” she said.
“
Our biggest challenge is doing
what we have to do with the money and the manpower we have. All my guys take pride in what they do.”
— Steve Jackson, maintenance supervisor
Gehring, who has been with the crew for four years, was out of work when a friend told him about the opening. Gehring filled out an application, and the next thing he knew, he was on a lawnmower. Gehring con- siders himself a “maintenance man extraor- dinaire” and a problem-solver for the team. For example, when some baseball dugouts at Berryhill Park were deemed unsafe, he came up with a creative solution.
“We were told to take them down, and I said the easiest way to do it is to drive a backhoe through it,” he said. “And they let me do it.”
Gehring said the toughest part of his job is the small size of the crew. With the
amount of work the team does, he said, jobs can tend to get backed up, but crew mem- bers always seem to pull together to make the parks the best they can be.
“We just try to take it one step at a time,” he said.
Shawn Lawrence has had an 18-year ca- reer with the city of Searcy. He’s been with the park-maintenance team for nine years, but before that he worked in the street and sanitation depar tment. After leaving the street depar tment, Lawrence actually moved out of state for a short time.When he re- turned to Searcy, he applied to return to the street department but learned of the parks opening. He talked to the parks director,
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Monica Brown lays chalk to outline a batter’s box at the Searcy Sports Complex.
applied and was hired a few weeks later. Lawrence said he enjoys his job with the parks department and feels it’s very import- ant to the people of the city. Each day, the crew visits the parks to remove trash and fix any problems that might have occurred. “A lot of the citizens look forward to coming out to the parks and having a place to come to, whether it’s to walk or use the
tennis courts,” he said.
Larry Moore joined the team three years
ago after Lawrence told him about the posi- tion. Before coming to the parks department, Moore worked at a local grocer in the meat depar tment. Moore said the best par t of this job is that Jackson is the best boss he’s ever had.
“Everything he does is to help me do my job, get better, be more efficient, have better time management and get more done in less time,” Moore said. “He’s the greatest at it.”
Moore said he’s a difference-maker on the team and in the community because he always finds a way to make something better than when he found it, and that the experi- ence team members get helps them improve all the time. He also said he knows how hard the parks-maintenance team works to keep the city’s parks looking their best, and he hopes residents of the city appreciate the team’s hard work.
“It’s all about helping, you know?” he said. “It means my hard work is paying off if they’re coming out to enjoy what I’ve worked hard on, and that makes me happy.”