ORLANDO, Fla. – Ever walked around the City Beautiful and wondered how it stays so sparkling clean?
Rondale Silcott said the answer is with the Clean Team.
As stay at home orders during the height of the coronavirus pandemic began to expire and businesses reopened with limited capacity, the work of Silcott's team has become even more critical.
"We have three shifts that comes in early in the morning, midday and midnight shift, and we sanitize, pressure wash," Silcott said.
During the heat of a steamy June afternoon, members of the Clean Team suited up with backpacks full of disinfectant spray spread out along Orange Avenue.
"Anything the hand can touch, above and below," Silcott said.
As the Downtown Facility Supervisor for the Clean Team, Silcott said during the pandemic his staff of about 40 workers had taken extra steps to protect the city of Orlando.
"It's not only beautiful, but they see us out there being proactive spraying with disinfectants so that gives you a peace of mind that you know, something else is being done besides just picking up the garbage and graffiti," Silcott said.
From parking meters to trash cans, sidewalks, and downtown businesses - the Clean Team doesn't miss an inch. After several protests in the downtown area, Silcott said his team has helped empty garbage cans and even distribute leftover cases of water to homeless shelters in the area.
"With the protests we've been being proactive with the protesters, we go downtown, we move all the trash from the garbage cans, and barriers or bricks just laying around we just pick them up and store them," Silcott said.
He said his team has always worked hard to keep the city looking beautiful, but now with the coronavirus pandemic, the focus in on safety.
“We just take pride in knowing that coronavirus is out there still, and we just want to do our part as far as getting it to go away, so we just sanitize and sanitize, pressure wash, and do all the stuff that we need to do to get it safe for the residents that’s coming back for the reopening of the city of Orlando,” Slicott said.