Park Maintenance Division

     Park maintenance is a division of the parks department that is very important.  This department builds, and maintains all of the South Bend Parks.  From adding playground equipment in parks, to remodeling the old O'Brien School, to the new  Administrative and Recreation Facility, and mowing the grass, the maintenance division does it all.
          The green space maintenance division is made up of mowing, trimming and heavy equipment crews.  All of the crews have very important jobs in the park department.

          With the 75 parks and 80+ street islands that are maintained on a daily basis, this department has no easy task.  The green space maintenance crews mow 7,000 acres of land annually.  Along with trash pick up, and weed eating, crews also maintain the softball, baseball, soccer and football fields as well as stripping and painting all fields for the school functions that take place in the parks.
Links for the
Maintenance Department
Special Events
Set-up & Break-down
Safety Issues & Contact Information
Leaf & Snow Removal
Tree Debris Removal
South Bend Forestry

          The heavy equipment operators do various jobs within the division.  One day they will be at LaSalle park with the batwing, mowing the big hills, the next they may be with the Trades crew, digging holes for the new playground equipment.  These operators do a wide variety of tasks that are needed to maintain and complete parks projects.

          The 13 employees that make up the Trade crew have a wide variety of skills.  With two plumbers, an electrician, a welder, a mason, two painters and six carpenters, the projects this crew can accomplish are endless.

          The largest accomplishment to date is the complete renovations of O'Brien School to the South Bend Parks and Recreation - Administrative office and Recreation Facility.  Classrooms were converted to offices for administrators and also converted to an exercise facility, an aerobic room, a community room, a daycare and a computer lab.  There was some additional help from outside contractors for this project. 
          Floors, lockers, ceiling tiles, and lighting all had to be removed for the project.  With new offices, the addition of many new walls and doors were a large part of the project.  With 55,000 square feet of space it took a lot ceiling tile, carpet and flooring to complete this facility.  The single largest room is the building gym.  The gym floor was removed and replaced board by board.  With the help of employees from other crews the job was completed ahead of schedule.