Although she’s a newer addition to the Oglethorpe County road maintenance crew, Kayla Gravely said she never worried about fitting in with the team.
“I guess it’s just the way my daddy raised me. I don’t mind working,” she said. “It’s just the fact that it’s something different and they’re like family.”
The road crew has historically been an all-male team, with Gravely being the first woman to be hired and work the equipment. Gravely and public works director Adam Nation said she grew up with two older brothers and helped at her father’s garage door business.
“She seems to love it,” Nation said. “She gets right in there with the guys and gets her hands dirty just like everybody else. We don’t hear any complaints out of her and she’s very willing to learn.”
The road crew has worked on clearing fallen trees and other road blockages this summer, but regular jobs include roadside mowing, asphalt work and burying large animals for farmers.
“It’s something different every day,” she said. “I’d rather have a labor job than an office job, I reckon. I’ve had them, and it just gets old after a while.”
Gravely has worked other outdoor jobs in the past, such as landscaping and HVAC work. She considers herself an outdoors person and said that she’s enjoyed getting to be outside every day while on the job.
Gravely said her new job on the road crew had her “tickled pink” because she feels that the work the road crew does helps improve life in Oglethorpe County.
“It’s just the fact that I feel like I’m giving back to the community while working for the county,” she said. “You don’t see many women working out for the county. It’s always office jobs and things like that.”
Although it’s only been a few weeks, Nation said she’s already learning to work equipment like the dump truck, the skid steer and the mini excavator.
Besides a sense of fulfillment, the road crew has quickly become a new family to Gravely.
“You got the daddy figure around here, you got the grandpa figure around here and you got the smart alecks and stuff like that,” she said with a laugh. “They treat you like family.”