Fredric Wicks has greeted dump trucks and drivers at the Summit Road landfill site in northwest Winnipeg for the past 15 years. His job is to make sure the drivers dump dirt in the right place and then bulldozes it down to make the ground flat.

Until 1999, the site was a garbage dump. That year, garbage trucks stopped coming, and ones carrying dirt instead came to the site to help cover up the garbage.

Wicks, 57, effectively retires on Thursday when the site closes to make way for a new future.

Wicks hopes the site will be converted into a park. He said that has been his understanding since he arrived.

He said over the years, it’s not been easy keeping truck driver in line and following the rules.

“Because it’s probably going to be a park, we don’t want other pieces of concrete and wood sticking up. That was my biggest battle,” said Wicks

“And then you don’t realize what a big fight that is, because everybody has got their own plans, and everyone has their own things. I know all the tricks. They’ll hide it at the bottom, or they’ll tell you it was only two pieces.”

Wicks said he kept people in line with a three-step rule. He said the first time your break a rule, you get towed. Same the second time. The third time, Wicks said he would tell drivers they can’t come back.

Wicks said, on average, about 250 trucks roll through the site to dump dirt every day. He said much of the dirt comes from construction sites for new homes and condos around the city.

Truck drivers who have been dumping for years said Wicks always leads them straight. They said Wicks always makes sure the site is level so the big dump trucks don’t topple over.

“This is one of those people, by themselves, out here doing their job, no one notices,” said trucker Ken Spicer.

Spicer said he sent a letter to the Mayor’s officer asking that Wicks’ name be erected somewhere on the future’s site to remember his work.

Wicks said it’s a job he does with pleasure and pride, knowing the site will one day be a place where people enjoy the outdoors.

CTV contacted the city about future plans for the space. The city says the site is full and cannot hold any more materials.

It says there's a process that land goes through to become a park. Right now, it remains a closed site.