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| CAPS helped set up the COVID-19 test site at Grossmont College. |
While the rest of us have been working from the safe
confines of home, Campus and Parking Services employees have remained at
the colleges, the lone civilian sentries helping to keep the campuses secure.
From monitoring Grossmont and Cuyamaca colleges to
preventing unauthorized access to the closed campuses, along with helping with
the initial distribution of laptop computers, Campus and Parking Services staff
have shown they do much more than their most visible duty of writing parking
tickets.
“Campus and Parking Services employees are here for
every closure, whether it be holidays, winter break, 4/10 summer schedules,
weekends, campus or countywide power outages, and now COVID-19, so it’s not unusual
for us to be the lone presence,” said CAPS Director Nicole Conklin.
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| Wildlife has been spotted more frequently. |
While they share security-related duties with the
Sheriff’s deputies assigned to the colleges, making sure doors are locked and
alarms set, CAPS are the go-to workers performing other duties when
no one else is around. Rattlesnakes nesting in the shrubbery near facility
entrances? Count on CAPS for snake removals. The occasional faculty member
needing something from their offices? CAPS is there to unlock the doors |
| Disinfections of door handles is a daily task for CAPS. |
Other duties they’ve performed during the campus
shutdowns include more frequent security checks, emptying the ice machines in
the athletic training rooms; daily disinfection of exterior door handles,ensuring other department vehicles continue
running, feeding the animals left behind; and putting up shade canopies for
Grossmont College visitors waiting in long lines to undergo COVID-19 testing.
“The best thing about this pandemic experience, has
been being able to help out in ways that highlight the service side of CAPS,”
CAPS supervisor Tiffany Hungerford said.
