Salary Range: $13.65 - $17.28 hourly

Hiring Range: $15.00 - $17.28 hourly

Job Summary:

The Groundskeeper- Forestry 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 - Forestry 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 - Forestry 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:

• No Previous Experience required;
• 2+ year of experience in grounds maintenance or similar field preferred;
• Must be 18 years of age and valid driver license preferred;
• 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 golf carts, turf utility vehicles, and two-stroke engine tools including string trimmers, hand and backpack blowers; hand power tools, push mowers, shop equipment, etc.
• 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:

• Clean and remove debris from turf and bed areas;
• Maintain and refurbish landscape beds;
• Prune shrubs and deadhead flowers with hand sheers;
• Pull weeds in landscape beds and mulched parking lot medians;
• Perform vegetation management of non-turf landscapes; including utilization of hand work on native and non-native/noxious species;
• Perform hand watering and simple water valve operation for landscape beds;
• Assist with herbicide application;
• Assist with annual/perennial shrubs and flower planting and maintenance;
• Operate hedge trimmer and push lawn mower;
• Perform other duties as assigned;
• Plant and prune trees;
• Clean and maintain Right of Way medians and tree lawns;
• Perform irrigation tasks, assisting in repairing irrigation infrastructure, hand watering, sprinkler adjustment, soil moisture identification and management;
• Assist with herbicide application and other more technical weed management tasks;
• Work around and with brush chipper, tree spade, water tanker, and stump grinder
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Work Environment and Physical Requirements:

• Work outside with exposure to all weather elements
• 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.
• Establish and maintain effective working relationships with supervisors, co-workers and general public.
• Handle difficult situations using tact, patience and good judgment.
• 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.

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 .