Getting Galesburg ready for the spring

The City of Galesburg Parks Department provides an important service to beautify the city and the employees have a reason to keep it that way.

Jason Asbury, Brad Theobald and Joe Asbury work to provide a clean city for everyone to enjoy.

“I wanted to provide a service for my town to give back,” said Jason Asbury. Both Jason Asbury and Theobald grew up in Galesburg and feel a need to return the favor.

All three men have ten years working full time with the Galesburg Parks Department under their belts.

Joe Asbury worked with the Water Department for five years before that. This job has translated to his current job during the summer, taking care of the wading pools and the splash zone park for the Department.

Jason Asbury worked as a pipe welder and fitter before coming to work for the Department. “I always loved working with my hands,” said Asbury. “I love to see my product at the end of the day.” This has kept him from working on ‘paper heavy’ jobs and kept him happy doing what he does.

Theobald has worked off and on with the department since ’86, working at the Butler factory in between. “I was something I always wanted to do,” he said. “I was happy when it finally worked out.”

Theobald knows first hand what troubles the city went through when Butler and Maytag closed it’s doors. “I try to do the best I can to beautify the city,” said Theobald. “We try to make it a city for businesses to come here.”

Both Jason Asbury and Theobald feel a responsibility to make the city as presentable as possible to hopefully bring back some jobs. “If you look at the census, you can see the numbers dropping,” said Asbury. This makes their list of duties longer, but gives them less money to complete them.

Recently the Parks Department has picked up the duties of cleaning city owned lots. “The city purchased a lot of these properties when the companies left,” said Jason Asbury “Its our job now to clean them up. Sometimes the grass has grown really high from years of neglect.”

During the winter months the full time staff is given a large range of jobs. “ We are kind of a jack of all trades,” said Joe Asbury. The list includes; picking up trash, cleaning inlets from leaves, trimming trees, repairing signs and plowing streets north of Fremont Street as well as downtown parking lots and clearing the piles of snow in the middle the major streets after major snow accumulation.

During the record snow storm earlier this month Jason Asbury worked 48 hours with only 4 hours of sleep and Theobald worked 31 hours straight with no break. This work ethic to helped keep the access to the hospitals and the main streets clear enough for emergency personnel. During the snowstorm they helped rescue Ameren personnel west of the city on Main Street as well as rescuing someone who needed medical help from a home.

This deep connection to the city provides a strong work ethic and a cleaner city despite smaller budgets.