It may not stretch the imagination to know Public Works Director Jim Gray oversees the cemetery as well as the airport here in Taylor.
However, you might not expect the Denton native to also have experience overseeing a zoo, where he handled alligators — and a bear — and took part in disassembling, transporting and rebuilding an entire miniature steam engine and track.
But Gray has done all this and more in his 35-year career in municipal government.
“I have had a zoo,” said Gray, referring to a part of his 12-year stint as public works director for the City of Gainesville in North Texas. “This is actually my second cemetery; I had parks and recreation in two different towns.
“It’s always varied, and that’s what makes it enjoyable,” Gray said of his position. “You come to work, and it’s definitely different every day.”
Gray shared this information with Taylor Press’s Editor and Jason Hennington in his latest edition of Taylor Talk Sept. 12 as well as the intricate details of moving the miniature train from Wimberley.
“We picked up every cross tie, every rail and every pin and brought it back to Gainesville, Texas and built a mile and a half track around our zoo that’s still there today,” Gray recalled. “That train’s still running today.”
At the live interview, another little-known fact that Gray shared was that prior to his career in municipal government, Gray owned a small construction business and spent two years coaching football, basketball and track.
He recalled a year when his Lewisville High School team lost and a team, Pilot Point, that he had an opportunity to work at, did much better.
“I chose Lewisville, and we ended up not having a very good season, which was not usual,” Gray recalled. “Pilot Point won state that year. If I had stayed at Pilot Point, I might have ended up staying with coaching, but things change.”
These days, Gray’s duties are different.
In addition to overseeing the airport and cemetery, his department manages street maintenance, drainage, the water department, which includes the distribution center and collection system, as well as the sewer-treatment plant.
As far as why his crews can always be seen around town, Gray said a large portion of their time is spent on mowing.
“You will see us mowing the cemetery, mowing the channels,” Gray said. “Mowing is a big part of our public works staff. The cemetery has approximately 5,000 headstones and trying to keep up with the weed-eating and mowing in the cemetery is a full-time job.”
With the major growth that Taylor has seen, street maintenance and other infrastructure is playing a larger role, Gray said.
“Council in the last five year has greatly increased the funding for the street department, so now you will see us not only patching and potholing, which was primarily what we did the first year I was here,” he said. “But now we have the Level Up program, the Mill and Overlay program and we have actually been doing our bond programs for rebuilding streets.”
When asked by Hennington if his varied experiences overseeing construction teams as well as coaching youth sports helped in his role, Gray said it had.
“I think it really helps a lot,” he said. “I think the things that I learned working with young men and coaching and in construction where I had my own company, just learning to work with the crews and learning to work with the individuals in a small construction company.”
