Parks supervisor mows lawns, trims trees and cleans up the
city
For 33 years Marcelo Orta has been working for the city of
Hollister. During that time he has seen the Parks Department staff
grow and shrink, but the amount of work has only grown.
Parks supervisor mows lawns, trims trees and cleans up the city
For 33 years Marcelo Orta has been working for the city of Hollister. During that time he has seen the Parks Department staff grow and shrink, but the amount of work has only grown.
Orta, the parks division supervisor, directs the maintenance of all public spaces in Hollister.
A typical day for Orta starts at 7:30 a.m. He started by checking for new job requests overnight. He prioritized the work requests based on the severity of the job and the time required to complete it.
“Resources are one of the biggest challenges we face,” said Clay Lee, community services director for the City of Hollister. “The people we have working for us are hard-working and diligent, but they’re just trying to keep their heads above water. We have more work than bodies and over the last five years we’ve constantly reduced the staff.”
The department used to have a full-time tree crew and several staff people. The division staff deal with more than just parks.
“We have thousands of streets, trees, nine miles of sound wall, and 75 acres of parkland,” Lee said. “Marcelo and his crews have done a great job of keeping on top of things.”
Sound wall calls account for the majority of complaints, according to Lee.
They recently finished a short sound wall clean up on Beresini Lane, but a project in Sunnyslope Village which usually takes two months to complete.
A lot of the sound wall problems are caused by homeowners who throw stuff over the fences for the parks department to clean up. “When we try to maintain the sound walls often we can only do so much,” Orta said. “We know there is litter and we know it’s overgrown, but we look to make sure that it’s OK for kids to walk to school.”
With a crew of two, Orta and his staff return every call. Many of those callers have cross words for Orta. He knows that people all believe their problem should be the top priority, but he has a system.
The crew is also responsible for maintaining custodial and maintenance services for City Hall, Veterans Memorial Hall and the Hollister Community Center.
“Often projects have to wait until the guys have free time to get to them when we don’t have the seasonal employees,” Orta said.
The parks department is largely funded out of the General Fund of the city’s budget – about 80-90 percent of the budget. Measure T, a 1 percent tax increase, would provide $3-4 million over four years for the general fund.
With budget cuts, Orta has lost staff members with knowledge in construction, plumbing and electrical work. He is often needed to operate the cherry picker.
“We have to wait until the guys have time, especially when we don’t have seasonal employees,” Orta said.
After he checked for assignments, Orta started his inspections with a walk through City Hall.
“I love old buildings and City Hall is one of my favorites,” Orta said.
While Orta monitored, his crew started mowing the park lawns around Hollister.
“It usually takes about two-and-a-half days to complete all the mowing with both mowers going,” Orta said.
For awhile, Orta said he was taking his work home with him.
“I was working through lunch,” he said. “I was staying until 5:30 or 6:30 p.m. many nights. My wife would get after me. ‘I’m only one man,’ she’d say. I still care a lot, but I know I can’t do it.”
In addition to regular maintenance, Orta is involved in ongoing projects. They are almost finished installing new playground equipment at the John Z. Hernandez Park in Villa Hermosa.
Part way through the day, all plans were put on hold when Orta came across a large tree branch on South Street.
“I don’t like starting a job and then not being able to finish it right away,” Orta said. “I also don’t like not being able to produce good, quality work due to restrictions. There are a lot of frustrations, but I have to turn my head and keep going.”
Though Veterans Memorial Park is outside Hollister city limits, it is still maintained by the city department.
If Measure T fails, it is unclear how the parks department might be affected, according to Hollister City Manager Clint Quilter. As the department is funded through the general fund, it is one of the programs that is likely to lose funding if the tax fails.
