Turlock Parks, Recreation and Public Facilities Maintenance (PFM) worker Casey Williams (43) knows all too well the blood and sweat it takes to work towards a safer environment for the public. It is because of numerous maintenance workers like Williams that the city remains intact. Without them, roads would not be painted to keep drivers safe, discarded needles used for substance abuse would not be picked up in parks that children play at and trees would not grace the city with their beauty.
It’s all in a day’s work for the maintenance department, after the morning stretch routine that is.
Maintenance work for the city is often work that goes unnoticed by the public much unlike the work of the City of Turlock fire or police department. Streets Department Assistant Supervisor Two, Wayne Rogers stated that it is a “customer service.” For Rogers, the day usually begins with answering complaint calls from the previous night.
“We are the behind the scenes kind of people,” Rogers said. It is all a part of the job description, which can be read in full at the City of Turlock website.
“You don’t get into government for attaboys,” Rogers said. “You have to account for everything.”
Vanessa Cardenas (sophomore, Criminal Justice), who has been a Turlock resident for the past two years, said that she has never really noticed the work the city does. The only time that she recalls seeing them was when they were doing maintenance on the Monte Vista railroad tracks.
After hearing more about a few of the other tasks the Parks, Recreation and PFM Department does in order to keep the public safe, Cardenas had much more to say about the department’s work.
“If they didn’t do that, then there would be accidents; if they didn’t pick up the needles then the kids could touch them and catch something. What they do, they make this such a safer place to live, and that’s amazing. I never knew that, that just like shocked me, so that’s really great to hear,” Cardenas said.
According to Williams, the week’s workload can entail street curb or divider painting, fixing signs, fixing potholes, cleaning up homeless encampments, planting trees, setting up traffic control and much more. Not only are these work orders expected to be performed in a timely fashion, but a bond between the city and its public must be made in the process as well.
However, the budget for the Parks, Recreation and PFM can only repair so much in the vast expanse of the city. The general fund for the entire year of 2016 was allotted $36,062,211, according to the City of Turlock Budget Statement.
Of that general fund, $2,894,754 is given to the Parks, Recreation and Public Facilities Department. This money is used to carry out both work orders and whatever “customer service” calls come in throughout the year. These calls might regard any of the twenty-three parks the department is responsible for overseeing.
The Parks, Recreation and Public Facilities Maintenance Department often have to protect the public from themselves. This protection, however, is viewed as more of a nuisance to the public in many cases. The department must document every tree planted and every fence built within the city because the chances of striking an electrical or water pipeline are prevalent to an ever growing public residency.
 “They’re only doing it to help us, and it’s only really benefitting us. And yeah, it might be a little bit of an inconvenience, but I’d rather deal with a little bit of an inconvenience than deal with a worst case scenario,” Cardenas said. “They’re just doing their jobs too.”
Williams and Rogers said the list of injuries sustained on the job is an extensive one ranging from hernias to hearing loss. Back injuries are very common as well due to the continuous lifting necessary for many of the jobs assigned to the department. Working out on the roads also poses a tremendous threat to city workers because one careless driver could change a family’s life forever. Rogers compared working on the city’s streets to a game of frogger. Workers constantly find themselves turning their heads to stay clear of drivers distracted by their cell phones.
“I have had sunspots removed, frozen and cut off before,” Williams said. Every six months he returns to the doctor to have the spots examined.
Because the risk of injury is so high, the department has taken the initiative to implement safety awareness into their daily schedules. As a team leader, Williams conducts half hour safety meetings every Friday morning to ensure the safety of his coworkers.
Williams stated that he ends every meeting with the same words of advice, “be safe at work so you can go home and do what you like to do.”
One other way the department attempts to keep its workers safe is by doing a morning stretch routine. These stretches usually last five to ten minutes and exercise areas like the arms, legs, shoulders and back.
Cleaning the city and making it new is just another day at the yard for the average city maintenance worker. Rarely does the public express gratitude or notice the extensive work that goes into keeping the city habitable. Rogers can recall few occasions of confirmation for the work his team puts into the city, but the appreciative letters they do get from homeowners make the job a little more rewarding.
City records are open to the public and can be accessed through the City of Turlock website or the Turlock city clerk’s office. To call in and report an area that is in need of renovation, you can call the number to the Public Facilities Maintenance department: (209) 668-5594.    
“We are servants of the public,” Williams said, “We are here to make life easier on them and make the neighborhoods safe on roads, sidewalks and parks.”