Pueblo’s Mike Sexton is sitting on a lot of money, and he wants to give it away. Well, maybe ‘give it away,’ isn’t exactly accurate. He wants to hire a bunch of young people looking for summer jobs and let them earn it.
“I would like to consider Pueblo Parks and Recreation the top-used employer in the city,” said Sexton, Assistant Director of the city’s parks system. Sexton said he’s in full hiring mode as the summer season gets underway. Parks and Recreation, a name linked to the television show of the same name and a reference Sexton’s heard a hundred times, oversees more than 600 acres of green space across the city. Right now, it needs young workers to meet the mission.
The city needs lifeguards, ride operators at the City Park, cashiers, concession workers, gardeners, tree trimmers—basically, Sexton’s looking for workers to serve the community in every venue run by his department. Put another way; if you’re a young person looking to earn a paycheck this summer, there’s probably a job for you.
Certain positions, like lifeguards, do require special training. “Our training has to be top-notch, and we take it seriously,” he said. “You have lives in your hands every day.”
And Sexton knows what he’s talking about. His first job, after all, was a summer gig with the department he’s been with for years. He worked the kiddie rides at the city’s biggest park. Looking back, said the native Puebloan, he still considers that job a great foundation for the career he’s had. It taught him both “responsibility and accountability… how to be respectful and how to do the thing you say you’re going to do.”
Staffing for each position, Sexton said, has been a little slower this season. “It’s been a tough spring,” he said. Not only have there been the lingering effects of COVID, but the rush to apply, for some reason, just wasn’t as brisk as he’d thought despite advertising, job fairs and banners announcing employment opportunities.
Still, while Sexton is still looking for a few good young men and women—college students, too—he’s not worried that a shortfall will diminish what Parks and Recreation will be handling. “We’re at 85-90 percent staffing,” he said. The pay isn’t bad, either. “We start at minimum wager ($13.65 an hour),” but with experience, especially those returning workers, top scale can hit $20 an hour.”
For those who know or have visited Pueblo, its park system is among the best in the state. The city operates 80 parks across its 600 acres of green space. But, said Sexton, don’t be fooled because it’s a ‘parks and rec’ job. “It takes a lot of trimming, mowing, watering. It’s a lot of work.” There are also nearly 30 miles of trails that need to be maintained and, just a few years ago, he said, Lake Minnequa was added to the system.
One of the newest and most popular offerings that needs full staffing are the pickleball courts. For the last several years, pickleball has grown exponentially across the country. To meet the need for the growing field of players, Pueblo’s Parks and Recreation opened eight new courts at the north end of Mineral Palace Park in the fall. For the uninitiated, pickleball is a hybrid game that combines elements of tennis, badminton and table tennis. No longer do pickleball players have to draw lines on tennis courts in order to play.
The official start of the Pueblo Parks and Recreation summer operation is set for this weekend. While there are still jobs to be filled, Sexton is confident that his department will have enough workers to meet the mission until all of his positions are filled. Anyone interested in a summer job with Parks and Recreation is urged to visit Pueblo.us/jobs. There you can navigate the site to see which jobs remain open.
