Keeping Sisters beautiful

BY BILL BARTLETT

Even if you don’t recognize her person or her name you will undoubtedly recognize Robin Bentz’s work: She’s the “lady who keeps Sisters beautiful.” That’s what we heard repeatedly as we asked about town.

Indeed, Bentz is the tireless City’s Public Works Department worker who almost single-handedly deals with city-owned landscaping. A lot of it is within five city parks, among the many, many acres of land that needs to be weeded, planted, pruned, irrigated, and fed.

Bentz will be the very first to minimize her impact on how the city looks.

“It’s a team, plenty of department workers from Paul on down (Paul Bertagna, Public Works director), who have a hand in how things look,” she said.

“I can do a lot of it on my own, but it often takes several of us as it’s a lot for a small town,” she said.

Bertagna is more definitive:

“Robin Bentz is the reason why our town looks the way it does. You have seen her doing landscape maintenance all over town and she never stops working. Literally, she has to set an alarm to make sure she goes home on time. She does not get enough credit or kudos and accolades,” he told The Nugget.

Bertagna doesn’t provide a hard-and-fast schedule for her.

“She knows what needs to be done and when and how to do it,” he said.

Bentz, who has no formal training in botany or landscaping, agrees.

“Some things happen first, like weeding in the early spring, but then it’s what needs to be done. Like these trees,” she pointed out when we met her at Fir Street Park.

Lower branches were below the seven-foot minimum height, set so pedestrians would easily clear them.

Bentz has the unlikely title of utility tech. That sort of conjures up somebody’s whose job it is to work on water and sewer infrastructure. Not that Bentz couldn’t. She may well be the most versatile City employee, and at one time or another has had a hand in pretty much anything that has to do with keeping the City works working.

She may be the de facto City gardener but as part of the Public Works crew you can also find her with a paint brush in hand, or reading meters, or taking water samples, or making minor repairs. Bentz is facile with not only the myriad irrigation systems needed to keep things lush, but also in monitoring water usage.

“We’re very careful with how much water we use,” she noted.

“I love the diversity of work and having the flexibility to set priorities and deal with problems as they arise,” she said.

Bentz is well known in Sisters. She served tables at Takoda’s for 11 years, drove a school bus, was a teacher’s aide and a kitchen worker for the school district.

Her employment with City of Sisters began in 2006, and — in theory — she retired last year. However, Bertagna couldn’t let her go. She was convinced to work part time and seems to have found a perfect life-work balance.

“I didn’t want life to pass me by,” she said.

She shares a home in Hawaii with her daughter that’s a work in progress, mostly off the grid. They’re gradually building out a permanent home — one that is sustainable, and which gives them a sense of peace.

Bentz returns each May, works through the summer into October, and then returns to the Big Island for winter.

The City put her into a new truck. Well, a newused truck, a 2019 model that she’s most happy about. The rig is stuffed with every imaginable tool, not only for landscaping but to meet the needs of her many other jobs that pop up.

Working exclusively outdoors, she’s the picture of health, and has a warm and engaging manner to go along with it. She has a good deal of interaction with citizens and visitors alike who often stop her to express gratitude for her effort or to seek gardening advice.

When suggesting that she must have a green thumb, she said, “Not really. I learned by trial and error. Over time we have pretty much figured out what works and what doesn’t in Sisters.”

“Whatever she’s doing seems to be working. It’s a thing of beauty and makes me proud of my town,” said Twyla Madison, sitting and reading at Clemens Park and watching Bentz tend to the landscaping.

“She’s a joy to watch work,” mentioned Carol Hogan, eating an ice cream cone at Barclay Park and watching Bentz tidy up. “What a treasure she is to Sisters.”