Wilco facilities team sees spotlight during the holidays
December is a time of holiday cheer, community service and making things happen even when facing obstacles.
This is especially the case for the Williamson County facilities team when hanging lights at the county courthouse, a historic structure that can’t be pierced by screws or nails. This year, the team started installation on Veterans Day and spent a total of 920 man hours stringing lights on the courthouse, setting light up Christmas trees on the balconies, illuminating aspects of the courthouse dome and erecting a three-story Christmas tree inside the building.
“We added some spotlights [this year], shining on the building corners, red and green,” said Dale Butler, Williamson County facilities director.
Mr. Butler said decorating the county’s property on the Square is a point of pride for his department. He said the day-to-day work done by the facility and general maintenance technicians don’t always get noticed by the public.
“Our team likes it, because most of what they do [throughout the year] is behind the scenes,” Mr. Butler said. “People see that our [Williamson County] buildings are getting maintained, but they don't necessarily see our guys doing work or know what they do.
“[Decorating the Courthouse] gives them something that kind of gets them out of the daily grind and gives them something they can take pride in.”
For the decorating project, Mr. Butler said the facility department also works with the Williamson County adult probation office, which provides individuals who have been given court ordered community service. He said decorating is a fulfilling way to complete service hours, with an end result they can show their families.
The courthouse is a protected historic structure. The brick and terra cotta could be damaged by screws and nails, Mr. Butler said, which means nothing can be attached to the outside.
“Everything has to be attached with either straps or things that aren’t going to damage the brick,” he said. “We've come up with a lot of homemade inventions over time to make it work. We have pieces of lumber, different straps and things that you can't see from the ground that help us mount the lighting straight.”
Mr. Butler has been with the facilities department for 13 years. He said this year’s decorating was the smoothest to date.
Last year, the county had all new decorations, so it took the team a bit longer to decorate with the unfamiliar materials. However, the experimentation was particularly innovative. For example, new LED lights made it so all lighting could be controlled from one switch. This came in handy during the Square lighting ceremony.
Decorating the three story tree inside the courthouse continues to be a struggle, he said. The artificial tree is tightly encircled by two balconies, making it difficult to work around.
“It’s not quite the Rockefeller tree… but yeah,” he said. “There's really not a lot of room for ladders. We're literally, you know… safely hanging over the railing and reaching over, hanging balls on the tree from the second and third floors.”
The county’s decorations will be up until after New Years.