By Jackie Toburen, Physical Plant Supervisor Senior, Grounds Maint.
It’s Green Up (Mow, Mow, Mow), then Dry up (Water, Water, Water) time on the KSU Grounds. We have seen a major change in rainfall amounts in the last few weeks. It seems that when we start putting out the annuals, that’s when it stops raining significantly. Probably just coincidence, but none the less, it keeps us hopping to keep the landscapes and lawns watered. Our main campus irrigation team (Mark Fronce, Eric Law and Shawn Wilson) have worked tirelessly for hours on end to get the irrigation 
systems on main campus up and running. There have been breaks galore and lots of contractors to work with. These guys have endured it all and are insuring the plants get watered. Under the leadership of Joe Myers, they are keeping their “heads above water”!
Joe also has responsibility for the team maintaining the main campus landscape and grounds. His team of Dan McGee, Delmar Westover, Scott Wilburn and Bob Odle take care of the flowers, shrubs, mulching, spraying, fertilizing, pruning, push mowing, weed whipping, and many other facets of the landscape. Rob Slattery and Ron Parks are utilized in collecting trash on a daily basis, and then they assist the landscape team members with all of the areas mentioned above.
In addition to Mark’s responsibilities on irrigation, he also is responsible for the main campus mowing team. They (Randy Hobbs, Patrick Standlee, Douglas Prockish, and Derek Stock) keep the main campus mowed and manicured. They can also be seen out assisting other team members.
Joe has two team members that make up our tree crew, Jim Hartford and Doug Ray. They do the majority of the tree pruning on campus as well as tree removal, when needed. They have a third member, Augy Gonzales, who helps when needed. He can also be seen out edging sidewalks, sweeping streets and sidewalks, sweeping (grooming) the Memorial Stadium Field and assisting with mowing.
As many of you might know, in March and April we moved from the Power Plant and the Grounds West Operation, to 141 Dykstra Hall. We continue to 
operate a main campus crew and a west crew, but everyone reports to the same place every day. David Stuhlsatz, supervisor of the west crew, left Facilities on May 31, 2016, to take a job with the Athletics Department, so Jackie Toburen is running their everyday operations. Hopefully, you won’t see much of a difference in our team’s handling of your needs. The rest of the team is doing a good job of staying ahead of the needs of their area. Mary Walgrave is keeping their irrigation systems in check. Donnie Silva, Blake Miles, and John Lacy are keeping everything mowed and also doing other jobs as needed. Paul Walsh can be seen daily policing his area for trash, putting out sprinklers to water flowers, helping with irrigation repairs and assisting anyone else that needs help. Kelly Guilfoyle does a great job of taking care of the Vet. Med. hospital grounds. Adam Shriner is the team’s mechanic. He keeps our machinery running! He works on all of our equipment, does preventative maintenance, and even helps mow when needed. His shop is 131 Dykstra Hall but he can also be found in 141 occasionally.
I want to take this moment to thank all of my staff and applaud them on another great year. Everything looks wonderful, green, and clean. I appreciate everyone’s willingness to help out in areas that they may not have helped out in before. The teamwork displayed by our team is phenomenal!
Lastly, I want to welcome Kevin Schindlbeck to our team. He is our new Director. He has been here for about 1 month and is learning to find his way around campus. He is in charge of our department, Custodial, and Recycling. We are happy to have him on board!!!!