Courthouse lawn gets green push

As far as debuts go, this one was blissfully quiet.

At lunchtime Wednesday, people walking by the north lawn of the Clark County Courthouse could talk to friends without raising their voices over the persistent roar of a gas-powered polluter, er, lawn mower.

The grass was getting its regular Wednesday trim, but with new push mowers.

The county bought four Fiskars Momentum push mowers ($199 each, plus tax), said Brian Loos, the county’s grounds maintenance crew chief.

The eco-friendly mowers were pushed by orange-vested crew members who were working off criminal sentences.

Previously, a county employee, wearing safety glasses and ear protectors, had been using a riding lawn mower to cut the 40,000 square feet of courthouse lawn. It took him approximately 90 minutes, including time to fuel up and do machine maintenance.

With an endless supply of defendants needing to serve work crew hours, the county can afford to take four people to do the work of one, Loos said.

“I’m sure everyone around here appreciates the decrease in noise,” said Travis Effinger, Department of Corrections crew chief.

Loos said the Fiskars mowers are easier to push than older push mowers; according to the company, push force has been reduced 30 percent. The mowers require far less maintenance than gas or electric mowers, and the steel blades on the Fiskars models don’t need sharpening because they don’t rub against each other so they don’t wear down.

Another bonus? “They won’t launch a rock and break a window,” Effinger said.

Lawn debate

With the Board of Clark County Commissioners, even grass can be politically divisive.

Last year, the board agreed to have grass removed from the Public Service Center, next to the courthouse on Franklin Street. The patches were replanted with native ground cover, shrubs and trees. The cost-cutting move was viewed as environmentally friendly by Commissioner Steve Stuart, a Democrat, who said grass has its place, but that it takes too much time, money, energy and water to keep it looking lush outside of a government building.

Stuart eradicated grass in his own yard and replaced it with native ground cover.

Commissioner Tom Mielke is on record saying, “I think grass is pretty,” and said Wednesday he owns two riding mowers and a gas-powered push mower.

Commissioner Marc Boldt sides with his fellow Republican.

“A riding mower and Roundup, these are my friends,” Boldt said.

Kevin Gray, the director of the county’s Department of Environmental Services, does use a push mower but his job title had nothing to do with it.

He switched to a push mower “when I married my wife, and she said, ‘This is the way we are doing it,’” Gray said.

Loos said the new push mowers will cut smaller parcels of grass among the 62 acres of grounds at county-owned buildings. But gas-powered mowers will still be used at the Clark County Fairgrounds, for example.

And the county has no plans to relinquish its grip on noisy leaf blowers either.

As for the courthouse lawn, it won a stay of execution from the board, which considered taking it out last year to save money.

That proposal hasn’t died, but for now, the grass will just be quietly cut.

Stephanie Rice: 360-735-4508 or stephanie.rice@columbian.com.