Gardener Groundskeeper

About the role

The Gardener Groundskeeper performs a variety of grounds maintenance tasks on campus, including horticultural work, hardscape cleaning, trash and recycling collection, safety checks, vegetation control, erosion control, pest management, and drainage maintenance. They oversee maintenance activities performed by student assistants and manage local storm drain maintenance.

Responsibilities

• Performs various grounds maintenance tasks on a daily basis, including litter and refuse collection, cleaning hard surface areas, and observing and eliminating safety hazards.
• Uses a variety of hand and power tools safely and performs basic cleaning and maintenance of equipment.
• Drives a University vehicle to transport gardening materials and tools between campus work areas.
• Prunes shrubs and ground covers, maintains planting areas, manually waters grounds, identifies and controls irrigation problems, fertilizes with organic or chemical amendments, and performs weed control.
• Controls vegetation and meadow grass using string or blade trimmer, walk-behind high weed mower, lopper, weed wrenches, herbicide, or other appropriate tools.
• Oversees maintenance activities performed by student assistants, coordinates student work schedules, trains students, inspects the quality of their work, ensures safe practices and proper PPE are utilized, and assists with reporting of student time.
• Identifies and controls landscape pests using integrated pest management methods and controls vertebrate pests such as gophers, moles, and ground squirrels.
• Identifies erosion problem areas and mitigates using mulch ground cover, light grading, redirection of traffic, and straw wattles as needed.
• Affords preventative maintenance to the area storm drain system and inspects and cleans catch basins, outfalls, trench drains, and other storm drain components on a regular basis.
• Communicates with supervisor, coworkers, and emergency personnel using phone, email, and text as appropriate.
• Completes and turns in monthly preventative maintenance documentation, completes weekly Excel sheet totalizing time spent billing to appropriate work orders, enters time weekly in online work management software, and enters payroll time using online system.

Requirements

• Experience and skills in using hand or power tools and equipment such as power mowers, power edgers, string trimmers, power blowers, rakes, hoes, etc., including the ability to perform minor repairs and modifications to tools and equipment.
• Knowledge of the names, characteristics, and use of trees, shrubs and flowers.
• Knowledge and proper use of gardening tools and equipment.
• Knowledge and experience with proper planting and propagation techniques, pruning techniques, characteristics of fertilizers, variety of soil structures, soil amendments, and conditioners, and the effects of the environment on plant health.
• Knowledge of and experience with plant water needs and water conservation practices.
• Ability to work effectively with campus personnel, the campus community, and the general public regarding grounds requests and questions.
• Ability to implement a customer service approach, with a commitment to high ethical standards.
• Ability to take initiative, organize, and perform work in various situations where numerous and diverse demands are involved.
• Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with those within PPDO and other individuals within the University as necessary to successfully conduct assigned tasks and work.
• Ability to communicate effectively and work harmoniously with a diverse group of individuals at all levels of the organization directly or indirectly involved with tasks and work assignments.
• Ability to incorporate the concepts of sustainability into daily work efforts.

Qualifications

• Experience with storm drain maintenance and general drainage issues.
• Experience providing training and oversight of student employee maintenance assistants.

Skills

• Knowledge of landscape use and care of California native plants.
• Knowledge of plant diseases, landscape pests, and Integrated Pest Management.
• Ability to communicate effectively and work harmoniously with a diverse group of individuals.
• Ability to incorporate the concepts of sustainability into daily work efforts.

Benefits

Salary commensurate with skills, qualifications, and experience. Full benefits are available.

Pay

Budgeted Salary: $25.46 - $26.46/hour.

Schedule

Full-time, FixedPercentage of Time: 100%, 40 Hours per Week.

Union Representation

SX Union.

Job Code Classification

008153 (GARDENER GROUNDSKEEPER).

Travel

Up to 25% of the time.

Special Conditions of Employment

• Selected candidate will be required to pass a pre-employment criminal history background check.
• Selected candidate must pass the employment misconduct disclosure process.
• Must possess a valid license to drive in the state of California.
• Ability to do occasional work in confined spaces such as attics and trenches while bending, stooping and/or kneeling with the possibility of being exposed to live electrical circuits and machinery.
• Ability to perform vertebrate pest control such as trapping, baiting, or other types of rodent control.
• Ability to perform grounds keeping duties outdoors through all seasons of weather in developed and undeveloped environments.
• Ability to ascend/descend ladders with or without accommodation.
• Ability to perform essential physical job functions requiring bending, stooping, and performing duties requiring physical agility.
• Ability to move materials and equipment weighing up to 70 lbs with or without accommodation.
• Ability to follow oral and written instructions specified in English.
• Ability to accurately complete required logs and records for reporting purposes in a timely fashion.

Safety Statement

All UCSC employees must understand and follow job safety procedures, attend required health and safety training, proactively promote safety at work, and promptly report actual and potential accidents and injuries.

Notice of Availability

The University of California has implemented a Vaccination Policy covering all employees. Employees, including new hires, are required to comply with any applicable policies relating to the University of California vaccine program.