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When Mower County Board of Commissioners Chair Jeff Baldus read off Tuesday’s resolution proclaiming March 1, 2022 as Mower County Facility Staff Appreciation Day, it was essentially putting to paper what all of us should be saying: “Thank you.”

Nobody is going to deny that two years worth of pandemic has been hard on us, and absolutely there are plenty of people to thank. Healthcare workers and frontline workers have been on the minds of everybody as the pandemic ebbed and flowed, but oftentimes we need to be reminded that the people who maintain and clean the  buildings we work in are just as worthy of praise.

They took on the work of extra cleaning duties and creating Plexiglas barriers in order to help keep public spaces operating as optimally as they could during the entire reign of COVID-19.

In the case of Mower County’s four-person facilities staff, it was often done with a smile on their face. One of the recurring themes coming out of those working in county buildings was how the facilities crew approached each new thing with a smile and positive attitude, when it would have been completely understandable to carry through each day tired and dour.

When that kind of attitude is noticed by those around you, it means something is being done right.

Mower County’s staff is not the only staff that has taken on an extra workload, but they are a perfect example of those in our workforce that continued to do their jobs and more in order that the rest of us could continue on with what we had to do each day.

Each person behind the maintenance of any large building or business should be recognized for the work they did during one of America’s and the world’s most difficult times, behind the scenes where maybe not everybody is able to see.

Their work was no less important than anybody else and again, they deserve a hearty “thank-you.”