Clarksville, TN – The Clarksville Parks and Recreation Department people who maintain the grounds and facilities are getting a major facilities upgrade of their own.
For years, Grounds & Facilities Maintenance worked out of an old building at 1210 Franklin Street that had served as the City Garage. It had no air conditioning, limited office space, a small break room and inadequate restrooms.
Meanwhile, the division continued to grow, as Clarksville’s inventory of parks and municipal properties continued to expand.
Today, Clarksville Parks and Recreation Grounds & Facilities Maintenance has 37 core full-time workers, and another 10 seasonal positions.
About 20 of these staff members work out of the Franklin Street facility. This includes supervisors and a group of eight maintenance specialists who take care of buildings like City Hall, the Council Chambers, Parks and Recreation headquarters downtown and the City’s 12 fire stations.
Another 8-10 member crew covers City pools and smaller neighborhood parks like Bel Aire and Billy Dunlop parks. Three more 8-10 member crews are based at each of the City’s largest parks — Liberty, McGregor and Heritage.
About 10 years ago, the City purchased a large prefabricated metal building with the intention of putting it next to the old Franklin Street garage. The project lay dormant until the building was erected three years ago, but construction was never fully completed.
That was the situation Rodney Ammons inherited three months ago when he took the job as Grounds & Facilities Maintenance Manager. Clarksville Parks and Recreation Director Jennifer Letourneau made improving the division’s home a major early objective for Ammons, a recently retired Army 1st Sergeant with extensive engineering and facilities management experience.
Ammons quickly assessed the facility needs. He determined the old garage would be assigned as storage space, and the newer metal building would be upgraded with 2,000 square feet devoted to office space, a break room/training room and restrooms. Another 8,000 square feet would be devoted to workshop and storage areas.
The unfinished metal building’s office areas needed flooring and ceiling improvements, and the plumbing, electrical and HVAC systems needed to be upgraded.
In two months, using voluntary overtime from the core building maintenance staff, Ammons and his team created a modern and more functional workplace. Maintenance specialists Brandon West, James Barrineau and Crew Chief Charles Simon consistently put in the overtime work on the building, Ammons said.
“We started construction in late April, and we’ve made a lot of progress,” Ammons said. “This is a busy time, and we’re keeping up with a couple of hundred of parks and building work orders a month. In the fall and winter, we should be able to make more progress on organizing the workshop and other spaces.”
Clarksville Mayor Joe Pitts has been impressed by the progress on improving the workspace.
“Improving this facility was clearly needed,” Mayor Pitts said. “Rodney put together a good plan, and we were able to free up some resources for overtime and supplies. I appreciate the pride and extra effort this group has put into the project.”
About the Clarksville Parks and Recreation Department
The mission of the Clarksville Parks and Recreation Department is to provide a variety of positive recreational experiences to enhance life values for individuals, families, and our diverse culture.
The Clarksville Parks and Recreation Department offers a wide variety of recreational facilities and activities for all ages, maintains more than 700 acres of parks and facilities, provides 22 park facilities that offer a variety of amenities, including playgrounds, picnic areas, walking trails and pavilions or picnic shelters and maintains three community centers with year-round programming for youth, adults and seniors, as well as four public swimming pools
The Clarksville Parks and Recreation Department is located at 102 Public Square, Clarksville.
To learn more call 931.645.7476.
