If you’ve ever strolled one of Boerne’s scenic trails or sat in the shade of a tree at the park, you’ve enjoyed the work of the dedicated team at the Parks and Recreation Department.
For Crew Leader Tony Plaza, seeing the community enjoy our parks and open spaces is one of the best parts of the job.
“You see it every day when you’re driving down River Road, how many people are at the park, or kids fishing at the lake, or when Northrup Park is full on the weekend with kids playing ball,” Plaza said.
Tony has been with the City of Boerne for 16 years, working his way up from an entry-level service worker to now leading his own five-member crew. Whether behind a mower or behind a computer screen, his approach doesn’t change.
“We try to make sure our standard meets the community’s standard of what they want,” Plaza said. “We’re always trying to up our game to make sure we deliver the best quality and the best aesthetics we can.”
His crew maintains each of Boerne’s three trails and all trees on City-owned property, including parks, the cemetery, and all facilities. They also oversee aquatics, which includes the Municipal Pool and irrigation at all parks, and they manage the recently renovated yard – the home base for Parks maintenance.
It’s a lot to manage, but a recent change in how the department operates has helped to ensure nothing falls through the cracks. Crews used to spend most of their time focused on one set of parks or trails. Now, they regularly rotate shifts to give a fresh perspective at each site.
“When you stay stagnant, especially in parks, you start to lose what people were telling you that they loved, and things start to get overlooked,” Plaza said. “We want to make sure we have eyes on everything, and if we can make it better, let’s make it better.”
The result is a well-rounded Parks team with crew members teaching one another new skills and cross training in carpentry, electrical work, plumbing, sports field management, pool operations, and more.
The team’s diverse skillset has allowed them to take on several major projects in-house, including a slew of renovations at Northrup Park that wrapped up earlier this year. The park is home to 11 fields for youth baseball, softball, and T-ball, as well as adult softball.
They tackled several projects across the park, including pouring new sidewalks, fixing drainage problems, rehabilitating batters’ boxes and pitching mounds, laser-leveling fields, replacing sod, and building new press boxes.
Tony says he’s proud of the team for working through moments of doubt and wondering if they were in over their heads to accomplish something truly special. He credits Operations Superintendent Rusty Fuller for guiding the massive project and instilling confidence in the Parks team.
“It was challenging because a lot of the guys didn’t have the experience, but we hit it out of the park,” Plaza said. “Seeing the feedback we got from the community and Boerne Little League, that reassured us that we did a good thing.”
The team’s expertise will be on further display when Boerne Heritage Volkspark opens in 2027. Tony’s crew will maintain the irrigation for two new multi-purpose playing fields and landscaping, a splashpad, a paved walking trail, and the hundreds of trees at the park.
For Tony, a Boerne native, the work is always worth it when he sees the community enjoying the parks. He says he can’t count how many times people have stopped him or the crew to thank them for their work.
“I love my job. I love what I do,” he said.
His commitment to the Parks department and his team was made evident when he was nominated by his peers for the City’s Integrity Award, given each year at the annual employee luncheon.
Before joining the City, he worked for more than a decade as a cook at the now-closed Country Spirit restaurant. He still enjoys putting on the apron to cook for his coworkers any chance he gets.
