Twenty-three years ago, Joe Shuttleworth was a student at West Virginia University and was getting ready to wrap up his degree during finals week. Along with studying, he had something else to do back in the 1990s that would prove very important to his future that particular week.

 

“I drove to Bridgeport and I interviewed for a job with the city during finals week in my last semester,” said Shuttleworth. “It was probably three or four weeks later I started working with the city.”

 

He’s never left. And on Thursday, it became official that he’ll probably be around a little while longer.

 

Shuttleworth, the current deputy director for Bridgeport Parks and Recreation, will be promoted to director of P&R. Don Burton, who has served in that position for 30 years, is retiring March 22.

 

“This has been my only real job, although it’s been reclassified many times since I started,” said Shuttleworth, who worked part-time prior to college graduation in other park systems. “When I started here I did programming, which involved coordinating classes and camps and handling several different special events.”

 

As the park system grew, so did Shuttleworth and his responsibilities. Because of that, Bridgeport’s first-ever City Manager Harold Weiler promoted Shuttleworth and his climb began.

 

“The city has allowed me to grow in the profession,” Shuttleworth said. “The development in our parks department from when I started to today is amazing and I’ve been part of unique situations. In West Virginia, you see a lot of communities that remain status quo with their parks and become stale, but I don’t believe that’s ever been the case here. That’s been true since day one.”

 

It would be hard to argue that point. In the months prior to Shuttleworth starting, Bridgeport City Park was just beginning. Today, that is one of the hubs of all Parks and Recreation activity in Bridgeport.

 

“They had just put in the bridge to City Park and there was gravel on the other side,” said Shuttleworth. “Basically from day one on the job I was able to be here for a project that included the building of baseball and soccer fields, picnic shelters, restrooms and a pretty expansive trail system.”

 

One of Shuttleworth’s responsibilities involved grant writing, including the walking trails that exist – primarily at City Park. He said it’s been one of the most worthwhile parts of the job.

 

“Most of the money the city has put in has been matching dollars so the financial commitment isn’t as great as it is with the majority of projects,” said Shuttleworth on the trails. “Honestly, those matching dollars make up what I believe is some of the best money the city has ever spent. Few things get as much use year round and day and night as those trails and they’re used by practically every age group.”

 

Shuttleworth has been involved with multiple large project such as City Park, the Sprayground, the Bridgeport Recreation Complex and a host of others. The Sprayground was one of his favorites for more than just the fact it’s one of the most popular summer activities by families at the city pool.

 

“That was the first one I would call my baby. The idea came out of a class from a national conference and we ended up having the first one in West Virginia that we were able to fund in part through a grant I was able to write for it,” said Shuttleworth. “With Don’s blessing and help, I was able to see that from concept, design, construction and opening.”

 

Shuttleworth said there’s a sense of satisfaction in seeing a project not only be completed, but to see the community embrace it. He said that if he wasn’t happy that the end result produced community use then he was in the wrong field.

 

“I see my fingerprints on things like that and I see the help of a good team that made so many of those projects happen and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t proud,” said Shuttleworth.  “I greatly enjoy the development side of what we do and the improvements we make.”

 

The next project will be the biggest in Bridgeport’s history. Shuttleworth is already involved with the design of the future indoor recreation complex, which could end up with a price tag of $35 million.

 

“That’s going to be a huge chapter in the city’s history on so many fronts and I’ve had the privilege of being able to provide input to the process,” said Shuttleworth. “The complex up there is already a destination point for the local community and beyond and this will only enhance that.”

 

Shuttleworth said that he’s been able to grow into the role for many reasons. None of those, he said, are as critical as the mentorship of the man he’s replacing.

 

“Don has greatly influenced me. The main thing people need to know about Don that don’t know is he’s a good man, a good husband and a good father,” Shuttleworth said. “He’s been a joy to work with and we have a great relationship.

 

“It’s nice to know you can disagree with him and it’s not personal and leads to constructive conversation. You can’t say that about a lot of people in a lot of professions,” he continued. “He’s allowed me to grow by allowing me to take on more responsibility when I wanted to and take on more when I needed to.”

 

Shuttleworth said perhaps the best thing about working with Burton is that both of them focus on trying to make the staff take ownership of what they’re doing because what they provide is highly utilized by the community.

 

“Don and I our proud of the culture we’ve established in the department … You rarely see trash, you rarely see things in disrepair unless there’s a storm or something beyond our control and our facilities are ready to be used,” said Shuttleworth. “That’s a result of our entire staff caring about how the product operates and how it works. We’re confident we’ve instilled in the staff how important it is for that to be the standard and they are great in meeting that standard and I think the community appreciates it.”

 

Shuttleworth said after Burton announced his retirement he’s received a ton of support from friends, family and the community about applying for the job.

 

“That meant the world to me,” he said.

 

The soon-to-be-new director also is thankful of seeing the support of the current and past Bridgeport City Councils. He said they put a priority on activities for the community.

 

“This is the first community and only community I’ve worked in since college, but I worked for two others prior to that and I also am involved with the state association so I have seen firsthand and I have heard stories about what happens when you don’t have the support,” said Shuttleworth. “I wholeheartedly believe the reason for our quality parks system is we’ve always had a progressive and professional Council from the first day I was here to today … It’s clearly evident with what they back in our community and I’m glad I’ll be allowed to continue to be part of that.”

 

Shuttleworth and his wife Kellee have two sons – Jake and Matthew.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo shows Joe Shuttleworth addressing City Council during a work session, while he's shown looking over trees that need to come down at Compton Park in the second photo. Shuttleworth and the soon-to-be-retiring Don Burton are shown in third photo, while he works with a contractor putting sod on new fields at the Recreation Complex in the next photo. His wife Kelle is shown with sons Jake, left, and Matthew, while he's shown looking at aerial information for the Rec Complex in the last picture.