If it seems that grass around the Baton Rouge area is unusually high, that’s because it is.
The city-parish has fallen behind this summer cutting the more than 1,000 linear miles of grass that lines public right of ways, streets, state roadways and the interstate.
Parish officials attribute the problem to several factors. For one, June was a very rainy month and work crews fell behind. Though July and August were somewhat drier, assistant chief administrative officer Carey Chauvin says it was difficult to catch up.
“All the rain we got early on in the summer wreaked havoc,” Chauvin says. “We fell behind in June and couldn’t catch up, and once you are able to cut again it’s slower, more stressful on your equipment and you’ve got more servicing on your equipment.”
Chronic labor shortages have been another issue. The department of maintenance has about 50 employees in the division that cuts grass, 30 of whom operate mowers. But that’s not enough and several positions remain unfilled. Chavin says it’s a problem everyone who hires manual laborers is facing.
“People don’t want these jobs, where they have to work outside and get hot and dirty,” he says. “People don’t apply for them and we’re competing against industry, which pays several dollars more per hour.”
Exacerbating the problem is a long-standing contract the city-parish has with the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development to mow some 147 miles of grass along state-owned roads as well as the interstates. Every fifth week is dedicated solely to cutting state grass, which isn’t a problem when the weather cooperates. But this year it only made things more time consuming.
Chauvin says the department of maintenance is trying to address the problem by mapping the entire area for which the parish is responsible for mowing. That’s something that should have been done a long time ago, he notes, but never was. Chauvin says once a more complete map is available, the department can be more strategic and efficient about sending out work crews to different locations.
Unfortunately, the changes won’t make much difference this year. But by next spring, when mowing season picks up again, Chauvin hopes the department will be in a better position to tackle the problem.
—Stephanie Riegel
