Landscaping Enterprise

     Planting flowers, trimming bushes, pruning shrubs, laying sod and picking up trash are all in a springtime day's work for Allen Mitchell.

     Mitchell is a supervisor of landscaping for Facilities Operations, the University of Kansas's landscaping department. His daily work begins at 6:30 a.m., just as the sun is beginning to shed light on the campus he and 33 others work so hard to clean and beautify.

     "We work hard all the time," Mitchell said. "Everything's gotta get done, but we take the top priority. Commencement's coming up, so that's what we're fixing up for now."

     On Sunday, May 17, several thousand students will take the traditional walk through the campanile, down the hill and into the stadium. On that day, Facilities Operations Landscaping Director Mike Lang wants to make sure that the campus leaves a lasting impression on the graduates as they say their goodbyes. This requires cleaning, decorating and maintaining 800 acres, which can be a lot of money (usually around $53 thousand) during tough economic times.

     "That's the crew's real issue, for us to make it look its best," Lang said. "The students who spend all their time here are graduating and all the families are in town, so it's very important."

     Steve Green, associate director of Facilities Operations, said that the landscaping department spent about $1.37 million on landscaping last year and will spend about the same this year. Green said lawn maintenance, which includes mowing and trimming, costs approximately $376 thousand per year, which is enough money to pay for the tuition of 109 in-state students or 41 out-of-state students. Green also said that all of the money spent on landscaping comes from state general funds.

     Lang said the money spent on landscaping is harder to come by than it used to be. To combat the weak economy, Facilities Operations made a few changes; the department ordered fewer annuals this year and the landscaping crew will instead plant longer-lasting flowers like roses or tulips. Lang said he normally spends about $14 thousand on annuals, and this year he only spent about $11 thousand. He also said that several flowerbeds were taken out, with the exception of those that have high visibility, such as the Chi Omega fountain, Strong Hall, Budig Hall and the KU Visitor Center.

     Green said a hiring freeze was also administered as a result of the budget cuts. There are two vacancies because of the freeze, and the Facilities Operations budget was cut by 4.1 percent during the current fiscal year.

     "We went through a period where budgets were stable, we had new revenue coming from the tuition increases, we were able to spend a little more on turf, we were able to put in some flower beds, put a little more color in campus, do some repairs and buy some equipment," Green said. "Now all that's kind of been thrown into reverse, and it's gotten harder again."

     Despite the cost of landscaping elements in an unstable economy, Mitchell said that landscaping has a profound affect on both residents and visitors who drive down Jayhawk Boulevard and past the trimmed hedges, blooming flowers and lawns of fresh green grass. He said alumni will return years after graduating and comment on how the campus is still as beautiful as the day they left.

     Landscaper Andy Peterson agreed. With his dirty gloves clasped tightly around a well-worn rake, he smiles at what he and the other landscapers have accomplished.

     "I think a pretty campus tells you a lot about the school; it helps a lot to have a pretty campus with stuff well-maintained instead of really ugly bushes," Peterson said.

     To maintain that beauty, landscapers labor in the snow and sun, creating a campus beautiful enough to brag about. And beauty isn't the only positive aspect of landscaping; Green said there are silver linings behind the cloud cast by an unstable economy.

     "The one good thing for us right now is fuel prices; we're paying $1.77 a gallon for the fuel that we buy and we were able to lock that in for a year," Green said. "The bad part is kind of living under this cloud of not knowing what the state's going to have to do to our funding to balance the budget. So we'll just adapt and survive. We'll do our best."