Spring prep no easy job

Amy Paterson / senior photographer Facilities Management spends yearly about $1.5 to 1.6 million on landscaping.

Despite previous hits of inclement weather, Facilities Management workers in the landscape department continue to clear up remaining snow on campus and make preparations for the spring.

"For landscapers, they really get a lot of pressure here," said John Ventura, assistant director of operations. "They're here at night working and getting snow from roads and sidewalks. They play a major role in whether the school is open or not."

The landscape department is divided into three sections with different functions: turf, horticulture/floriculture and athletics.

Turf involves the use of heavy equipment that is needed to perform jobs such as mowing and planting. Horticulture/floriculture deals with the care of plants and flowers. Finally, athletics is responsible for preserving the fields that sports teams use for practices and games.

About 45 employees make up the whole department of landscape, of which each person is crucial in maintaining the appearance of the approximately 450-acre campus, Ventura said.

"[The workers] are our source of preparation for all of our outdoor facilities," assistant athletic director Sheila Moorman said. "We work very closely with landscape, and they do a great job for us."

Facilities Management personnel Courtney Hodges said that, in terms of spending and budget, the recent snow was not a major problem for the department to handle.

The landscape fiscal budget totals up to about $1.5 to $1.6 million yearly. Roughly 85 percent — over $1.3 million — of the budget goes toward personnel, which includes salaries and training costs of the employees, according to Hodges. The remaining 15 percent — $235,500 — goes toward non-personnel. This includes the actual equipment, supplies and materials needed to maintain the campus, she said.

Money for the landscape department comes from two portions of JMU's budget, according to Hodges. The first is the Education and General Fund, which primarily is supported by tax dollars and tuition. The second is from Auxiliary Enterprises, which gathers funds through room and board fees.

"A lot of what we do is labor intensive — shoveling, mulching, air raiding, weeding," Hodges said. "[Extra] spending does not include major disasters like the hurricane."

Last year's conditions were much worse when a blizzard hit Harrisonburg, leaving the university closed for four days and landscape workers frantically trying to clear the snow 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

"We buy a lot of fertilizer, grass seed and topsoil," Ventura said. "And we try to shy away from chemicals and use things friendly to the environment, like corn glutton and milky spores. We don't use a lot of chemicals, except for the athletic fields."