Athletic Grounds Trades Worker

Sarasota County; Colonial Park (PA); On-site; USD 26,000 - 32,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health Insurance

Dental Insurance

Vision Insurance

Life Insurance

Short-Term Disability

Long-Term Disability

Flexible Spending Accounts

Employee Assistance Program (EAP)

Florida Retirement System (FRS)

Paid Holidays

Paid Vacation

Job summary

Sarasota County's Parks, Recreation & Natural Resources department seeks an Athletic Grounds Trades Worker to maintain athletic fields and facilities and support event setup for local leagues and regional tournaments.

The role requires a high school diploma or GED and 1+ year of grounds experience; a Florida driver's license is required. CDL is a plus. Expect physically demanding outdoor work, early mornings, evenings, weekends, and holidays, with a 40+ hour schedule.

Qualifications

• High School Diploma / GED and 1+ year of experience in parks, landscape, athletic fields, or similar grounds.
• Valid Florida driver’s license.
• Class A/B CDL and/or experience with athletic fields or landscaped grounds preferred.

Responsibilities

• Maintain athletic fields and facilities to provide safe playing surfaces.
• Operate landscaping, athletic field, and grounds maintenance equipment.
• Prepare fields for practices, games, tournaments, and events, including lining and base setup.
• Assist with event setup and clean-up and keep facilities clean and safe.
• Perform general grounds duties: mowing, trimming, mulching, litter removal, fencing repairs, basic landscaping.
• Inspect facilities and report maintenance or safety concerns; assess field playability by weather/conditions.
• Provide friendly customer service to park visitors and promote a welcoming environment.

Skills

Customer service

Teamwork

Basic computer skills

Read chemical labels

Education

High School Diploma / GED

Tools

Grounds maintenance equipment

Mowers

Power tools

Hand tools

Job description

Department: Parks Recreation and Natural Resources

Start Here. Grow Here. Stay Here. Join Sarasota County's Parks, Recreation & Natural Resources team as an Athletic Grounds Trades Worker and help maintain the high-quality athletic complexes that host local leagues, regional tournaments, and sports tourism events. In this hands-on role, you'll maintain athletic fields and surrounding facilities, prepare playing surfaces for practices and games, assist with event setup and cleanup, and help provide a safe, welcoming experience for athletes and visitors. If you enjoy working outdoors, take pride in maintaining first-class facilities, and thrive in a team environment, we'd love to hear from you.

To be considered, you must have a high school diploma or GED, at least 1 year of experience in park, landscape, athletic field, or grounds maintenance, and a valid Florida driver's license. Experience with athletic field maintenance, landscaping equipment, or a Class A or B CDL is preferred. Successful candidates are comfortable operating grounds maintenance equipment, providing excellent customer service, performing physically demanding work in Florida's outdoor conditions, and working a flexible schedule that may include early mornings, evenings, weekends, and holidays.

About the Position

In this role, you will:

• Maintain athletic fields and sports facilities to provide safe, high-quality playing surfaces.
• Operate and maintain a variety of landscaping, athletic field, and grounds maintenance equipment and tools.
• Prepare fields for practices, games, tournaments, and special events, including field lining, base setup, and playing surface maintenance.
• Assist with event setup and breakdown while helping ensure facilities are clean, safe, and ready for visitors.
• Perform general grounds maintenance such as mowing, trimming, mulching, litter removal, fencing repairs, and basic landscaping.
• Inspect parks and athletic facilities, report maintenance or safety concerns, and help determine field playability based on weather and field conditions.
• Provide friendly customer service by assisting park visitors and promoting a safe, welcoming environment.

About the Schedule

Work Hours: Full-time, 40(+) hours per week - overtime is available. Typical Schedule: 6:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Flexible schedule required, including early mornings, evenings, weekends, and/or holidays. As a reminder, all county employees are considered essential and must be prepared to protect and support the community and its citizens. Each employee, without exception, will have a duty assignment and be required to work during a disaster or declared emergency.

About You

To be considered for this role, you must have the following:

• High School Diploma / GED and 1+ year of experience as a semi-skilled laborer in the care and maintenance of parks, landscape, athletic fields, or other similar grounds.
• Valid Florida driver's license.

What the candidate ideally has:

• Class A or B Commercial Driver License (CDL) and/or experience maintaining athletic fields or landscaped grounds.
• Experience in safely operating and maintaining mowers, power equipment, and hand tools.
• Strong customer service and teamwork skills with the ability to communicate professionally.
• Basic computer skills and the ability to read chemical labels and safety information (MSDS/SDS).
• Ability to perform physically demanding outdoor work and work a flexible schedule.

Subject to Passing Substance Screening: This position is subject to passing a pre-employment substance screening. An applicant who fails to pass a required drug screening test shall be disqualified from employment for a period of 5 years.

Physical Demands: Employees in this role must occasionally lift and/or move more than 50 lbs. i.e.: Fertilizer bags and other materials used in the maintenance of athletic fields at various points throughout the year.

About Everything Else

Starting Pay: $19.51 (Step 1); Potential higher pay (steps) for those with multiple years of experience.

Benefits

Enjoy great benefits including Health, Dental, Vision, and Life Insurance, Short-Term and Long-Term Disability, Flexible Spending Accounts, Employee Assistance Program (EAP), Florida Retirement System (FRS) and many, many more! Choose one of three great medical plans, including one with a $0 premium option, with completed preventative visits! For more information about employee benefits, visit SCGov.net for additional information.

• Health Insurance
• Dental Insurance
• Vision Insurance
• Life Insurance
• Short-Term Disability
• Long-Term Disability
• Flexible Spending Accounts
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Florida Retirement System (FRS)

Enjoy 11 paid holidays, 3 personal days and 16 paid vacation days in the first year of full-time employment with increasing accrual rates with years of service. (That adds up to a possible 30 days off in your 1st year!)

Enjoy our award-winning wellness program including free gyms at multiple Sarasota County Government locations.

Company Culture

A different blend of voices prompt better conversations, choices and results for everyone. Sarasota County – Many Voices, One Team. We celebrate and value the experiences, backgrounds, perspectives, talents and strengths that make us different. Our vision is to attract, develop, retain and engage a talented workforce broadly representative of the citizens and communities we serve. To further value creativity, innovation, collaboration and great customer service – internally and externally.

A job applicant with a disability who requires reasonable accommodation to participate in the application/selection process is requested to make known the need for an accommodation to Human Resources or appropriate county staff members. Sarasota County prohibits discrimination in all services, programs or activities. View the complete policy at scgov.net (keywords: ADA Compliance). Sarasota County Government is a Tobacco-Free/Drug-Free Workplace.

Do you like leaving things better than you found them? We serve the greater good! Our team is here to make Sarasota the premier community to live, work and play! Sarasota has 37 miles of award-winning beaches, over 80 parks and 100 golf courses, and is known as the cultural capital of Florida with museums of art, theaters, an aquarium, botanical gardens and the annual international film festival. Unsurpassed beauty, rich cultural offering, wide-ranging recreational possibilities make Sarasota a great place to live and work! We believe in work-life balance with a generous leave plan. “US News & World Report: Sarasota is No. 1 in Florida and No. 18 in the country for best place to live.”

We need YOU to help create wonderful experiences for residents and vacationing guests enjoying Sarasota!