St. Mary’s volunteer leagues press county to use player fees and state grant for field repairs; board forms ad hoc committee

LEXINGTON PARK, Md. — Youth baseball and softball leaders urged the St. Mary’s County Board of Recreation and Parks at its December meeting to invest more of the money collected from players and a newly allocated state grant into improving and maintaining local ballfields, saying volunteers now shoulder much of the work that county crews should do.

League representatives told the board they collectively spend tens of thousands of volunteer hours each year preparing and repairing fields and asked that Parks & Recreation use existing per-player fees and the state grant to fund full-time field maintenance. The board voted to appoint a 2–3 member ad hoc committee from the advisory board to meet with league representatives and department staff to provide input for the county’s five-year Land Preservation, Parks and Recreation (LPPRP) plan.

The case for more maintenance

“58,000 hours a year … 8,000 hours a year our volunteers collectively spend devoting to preparing the fields for practices and games,” RJ Bean, president of St. Mary’s Little League, told the board. Bean and other speakers said much of that time—an estimated 8,000 hours—goes to readying fields for play: raking,…