Groundskeeper - West District Parks

Anticipated Hiring Range: $15.16 - $21.75 Hourly

Job Summary: The Groundskeeper ensures the physical aspects of the community are maintained and standards are met regarding the grounds, amenities, and overall curb appeal of the City of Greeley. This individual will work with a diverse team on a variety of projects and assignments, while serving locations throughout Greeley. Exposure to high traffic areas in medians and right-or-ways, parks, athletic facilities, cemetery grounds.

The Groundskeeper role is a hands-on, hardworking individual who must be willing to drop anything and everything for an emergency; big or small. The City relies on the Groundskeeper to follow safety protocols, while being responsive, thorough, and a resourceful self-starter with a customer focused mindset. Scheduling for this position varies and may occasionally include working evenings, weekends, and holidays, as followed by State and Federal law.

Experience, Knowledge, and Skills:

Minimum Requirements

Minimum Qualifications - Entry Level

• Minimal to no previous groundskeeping experience required
• Must be 16 years of age or older
• Possess a valid driver’s license with a good driving record

Minimum Qualifications - Experienced 

• One (1) year groundskeeping, parks, or athletic field maintenance experience
• Must be 18 years of age or older
• Possess a valid driver’s license held for a minimum of two (2) years with a good driving record

Preferred requirements

• None

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to take both written and verbal instructions.
• Ability and willingness to assist others with questions about facilities operations, hours, and general regulations.
• Possess good manual dexterity to perform planting and refurbishment work
• Ability to operate turf utility vehicles, and two-stroke engine tools including string trimmers, hand and backpack blowers; hand power tools, push mowers, shop equipment, etc.
• 1-2 years of experience will start lower in the pay range, 2+ years of experience will start higher in the range in regard to experience in grounds maintenance or similar fields as required.
• Ability to work in close proximity to in-town roadside traffic while performing duties
• Ability to safety operate and/or safely work around:
  • power equipment, hedge trimmers, edger’s, and hand blowers
  • forestry equipment, such as chainsaws, tree spade, articulating loader, water tanker, and brush chipper

Essential Functions:

• Cleans and removes debris from turf and bed areas.
• Maintains and refurbishes landscape beds.
• Prunes shrubs and deadheads flowers with hand sheers.
• Pulls weeds in landscape beds and mulches parking lot medians.
• Performs vegetation management of non-turf landscapes, including utilization of hand work on native and non-native/noxious species.
• Performs hand watering and simple water valve operation for landscape beds.
• Assists with herbicide application.
• Assists with annual/perennial shrubs and flower planting and maintenance.
• Operates hedge trimmer and pushes lawn mower.
• Performs other duties as assigned.
• Plants and prunes trees.
• Performs irrigation tasks, assisting in repairing irrigation infrastructure, hand watering, sprinkler adjustment, soil moisture identification and management.
• Assists with herbicide application and other more technical weed management tasks.
• Works around and with brush chipper, tree spade, water tanker, and stump grinder.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Supervisory Responsibilities

• None.

Work Environment & Physical Requirements

Work Environment

• Works outside with exposure to all weather elements.
• Works in public Rights-of-Way exposed to traffic and traffic hazards.
• Long periods of time involved in planting, hand weeding and maintaining grounds using a shovel, rake and other tools.
• Hours may be flexible depending on assigned area, 20-40 hours per week, with weekends and holidays as assigned.
• Extended hours operating grounds equipment - i.e. poly cord trimmers, mowers, & a multitude of other equipment.
• Incumbent may be exposed to loud amplified sound equipment while working grounds.
• Follow workplace safety rules at all times. 

Physical Requirements

• Manual labor, prolonged standing, kneeling, bending and walking, climbing ladders and stairs.
• Ability to lift up to 50 pounds on a frequent basis.
• Ability to lift arm above shoulder level and to move objects.
• Mix and use chemicals for weed and grass control following label and local regulations.
• Manual dexterity enough to operate hand and power tools.
• Vision enough to perform above functions and to read printed instructions.
• Exposure to vegetation that can cause punctures, biting insects, wildlife, off-leash dogs

EOE Statement: The City of Greeley provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws.

This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.

ADA Statement: We are committed to an inclusive and barrier-free search process. We provide accommodations for applicants requesting accommodation through the search process such as alternative formats of this posting.  Individuals with disabilities in need of accommodations throughout the search process should contact the ADA Coordinator at: [email protected] .

Conditions of Employment: Candidates must successfully complete all pre-employment screenings and employment eligibility verification. Pre-employment screenings include a drug test, a background and national sex offender search, a motor vehicle record search, and for some positions, a physical demands evaluation. For more information about City policies and practices during the recruitment process, including but not limited to EOE, Reasonable Accommodation, and pre-employment screenings, please visit our career page HERE.