MTC Turf News – Julie Holt, Content Director, TheTurfZone.com
The Turf Zone: Welcome to The Turf Zone. In this episode of Maryland Turfgrass, we’re talking to Shaun Meredith, Park and Safety Division Chief for Calvert County. Shaun, thanks for joining me. So we’re talking today because we’re doing a member spotlight for our magazine. First tell me a little about your current position and what you do for Calvert County.
SM: In the current position I have a really big scope of work. A lot of it has to do with athletic fields. We have over 60 total, some of them are local elementary and middle school fields we help maintain for the school district. We also have stuff ranging from highly maintained turf that has irrigation and bermudagrass or hybrid of bluemuda, as it’s come to be known, which if you don’t know, is a combination of bluegrass and bermudagrass in the same stand of turf, and we also have – the majority is not even irrigated. At that point, it’s keep it as green as you can.  Per my title, for our department, I also see a lot of – any safety issues and things throughout, not just in our parks, and I also manage all of our capital improvement projects for the Park and Recreation Department, which is about $32 million with of projects. So, it definitely keeps me very busy, we have a pretty big staff as well, we have over 600 acres of land that doesn’t just have athletic fields. It’s everything from trails to tennis courts, basketball courts, skate parks, dog parks, you name it, so customer service gets involved in a lot of that too, with being a public facility. 
TTZ: How many people are in your department working on all of that space? 
SM: Well, it really varies. Actual numbers and what we hope to get are always two different things, especially these days when it’s hard to get help. But if we’re full staff, we’re up around 60 people. 
TTZ: That’s a good size crew. How did you get to that position? What was your career path prior to this position? 
SM: I don’t know how far back everybody really wants to hear about me, but I started off, my family had a landscape business, so I grew up in that field of work. When I was a kid, I remember being out there mowing grass with my grandfather and the natural progression of things led me into the turfgrass industry. I went to Penn State and got a turfgrass degree. I went in there with all intentions of working on golf courses. So freshman year of college, I got in a bad four-wheeler accident, broke my neck in four places and paralyzed my right arm. That had me thinking about whether it was the right career path anymore. Obviously it’s not a job where you get to sit behind a desk all the time. But I stuck with it, I had a lot of good support. People encouraged me to stay in this field of work and I’m glad for that. I wouldn’t be where I’m at without it. I started off and actually ended up going into baseball. I worked in minor league baseball for eight years, going from State College, going up to New Hampshire. Minor league baseball, as people probably know is a lifestyle, I like to say, more than it is a job. You’ve gotta really be fully invested and want to spend the majority of your time there during the season, a lot of people do it. But my wife and I thought it was a good idea to try and look at a career change and something that’s a little less hour-dependent, hour demand, which led me into parks and recreation, where I’m at now. I honestly enjoy it a lot and I miss being on the grass all the time, but it keeps it fresh. There’s so many things going on, days go fast and really widen up the umbrella of knowledge, really. 
TTZ: I love the parks and rec element just from the standpoint of, you have a larger group of people that you’re kind of enhancing the experience, where you’ve got the dog parks, the hiking trails, not just the athletes out on the field or their fans and families.