Latest / The Inspired Stories Podcast / Transforming Public Recreation: Amy McMillan's Journey Leading Southeast Michigan's Metroparks

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Transforming Public Recreation: Amy McMillan's Journey Leading Southeast Michigan's Metroparks · The Inspired Stories Podcast

0:04
Welcome to another edition of the Inspired Stories podcast,
0:08
where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from
0:11
their successes and be inspired by how they've overcome
0:13
adversity. My name is Anthony Kotaspodi,
0:16
and today's guest is Amy McMillan, Chief Executive
0:19
Officer of Huron Clinton Metro Parks.
0:22
This organization was founded in 1940 to address a shortage of
0:26
public parks in Southeast Michigan, and its mission is to
0:30
preserve natural resources while offering a variety of outdoor
0:34
activities that enhance the health and quality of life for
0:36
local communities. Amy brings a wealth of knowledge
0:40
to her role, backed by a Bachelor of Arts in Parks and
0:43
Recreation Administration and a Master's in Administration with
0:47
a focus on public policy from Central Michigan University.
0:51
She has LED leadership roles in public parks management and has
0:54
extensive experience in guiding policy initiatives that shape
0:58
healthier, more accessible recreation systems.
1:02
The Metro Parks continues to grow its reputation, providing
1:04
essential spaces that connect people with nature and encourage
1:08
active lifestyles. Amy believes parks belong to all
1:12
of us and is committed to creating equitable public spaces
1:16
under her gardens. The Metro Parks launched Metro
1:19
Parks and Me, an initiative aimed at breaking the barriers
1:22
that limit access to essential health, Wellness, education and
1:26
quality of life opportunities. Now before we get into all that
1:30
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AD back benefits.com. All right, back to our guest
2:11
today, the CEO of Huron Clinton Metroparks, Amy McMillan.
2:15
Thanks for making the time to Share your story today.
2:18
Oh, thank you for inviting me. So, Amy, you have a bachelor's
2:22
degree in Parks and Rec administration, so clearly your
2:26
interest in this field goes back at least to college.
2:29
What first drew you into Parks and Rec?
2:34
So I have to confess that Parks Recreation was actually my third
2:40
major in college and just recognize that my parents were
2:43
kind enough to to stick with me when I changed majors in my
2:49
senior year. But the reason I I changed is
2:53
that I had started. I started volunteering in a
2:57
program in my hometown in the Midland, the City of Midland
3:02
Parks and Recreation department had a program specifically for
3:06
kids with special needs. And my one of my cousins that I
3:10
didn't know really well had special needs.
3:13
My parents wanted me to get to know her better and to just
3:18
have, you know, a bigger, broader experience.
3:21
And so actually when I was 14, I started volunteering in that
3:26
program in my hometown and then I got really involved in Special
3:29
Olympics and then I went away to college.
3:31
I thought, well, there's no career in that, right?
3:33
Who gets to have that much fun as their their job?
3:38
And ultimately I figured out there is a career in that.
3:41
And you have to be specifically trained and educated to be good
3:45
in that career. And that's when I change my
3:50
focus to to Parks and Recreation and ultimately graduate with a
3:54
bachelor's degree. So you went on to hold
3:57
leadership roles at a variety of public parks for years.
4:02
Let's maybe pick your time at Genesee County Parks.
4:06
Can you talk about a pivotal moment or lesson from your time
4:11
there that helped to shape your approach to leading such a large
4:16
regional system today? Absolutely.
4:19
So I came to the Genesee County parks in September of 1999
4:25
where, you know, there were all these things going on out the
4:27
environment. We, you know, the year 2000 was
4:29
coming. We didn't know what was going to
4:31
happen. And I came to Genesee County,
4:33
which is the, pardon me, the 5th largest county in the state of
4:38
Michigan. The Genesee County parks are the
4:40
largest county park system in the state with 11,000 acres.
4:45
And I came from a really small town called the city of
4:48
Ypsilanti, where we had very few resources.
4:51
And so even when I went to Genesee County, which had very
4:55
few resources, it's I felt rich, right, because it's all
5:00
relative. And when I came to the county
5:04
park system, it had been on sort of a downward trend for a while
5:08
and there wasn't a lot of public confidence in the parks system.
5:14
And I remember the first day that I stepped foot in one of
5:19
the parks are called Blue Bell Beach.
5:20
And looking out on the water and seeing the sun shine and just
5:26
having this moment where it's we can, we can do this, we can make
5:30
a difference. We can turn these parks around.
5:33
We can utilize grants, we can work with partners.
5:36
We can establish ourselves as a as a part of the community, as a
5:41
benefit, as a value to this community.
5:43
And it was just that moment of inspiration and that belief that
5:49
that really charted the entire path forward that we had while I
5:53
was in Genesee County. And then how did the opportunity
5:57
to join Huron Clinton Metroparks come about?
6:01
So actually, I kind of rejoined the Huron Clinton Metroparks in
6:06
2018 because a long, long time ago I was an intern at Metro
6:13
Beach, which is now called Lake Saint Clair at Metro Parks.
6:15
And I remember being there and thinking, someday I'm going to
6:20
be the director of the Huron Clinton Metro.
6:23
Yeah, Well, I was 22, right? So I thought that day was going
6:26
to be the next day after I graduated, as, you know, being
6:30
only as as optimistic as somebody at that age can be.
6:35
And I'd always wanted to come back to the Metro Parks.
6:38
And really the only reason I ever would have left the Genesee
6:42
County Parks, which I loved so dearly, and the the greater
6:47
Flint community was to return to the Metro Parks.
6:50
So when the position became available, I had the great good
6:54
fortune to be selected from a pool of really talented folks.
7:01
And then, you know, as we touched on in the intro, the
7:04
Huron Clinton Metro Parks was created to address a lack of
7:09
public parks, excuse me, in southeast Michigan.
7:12
What kind of challenges did you initially face in continuing
7:16
that original mission? Sure.
7:19
So we are 85 years old this year and you know, I think we look
7:22
pretty darn good for 85. One of the the challenges in an
7:30
older organization is ours is always infrastructure, right?
7:33
So we're concentrating all the time on updating our
7:37
infrastructure. We just spent nearly $4,000,000
7:40
to replace an electrical system at Lake Saint Clair, that park
7:43
that I internship or I interned at, because if it failed, the
7:48
entire park would have come offline, right?
7:51
But I think for us at the Metro Parks, one of the biggest
7:55
challenges we've faced has been this internal culture of the
7:58
Metro Parks because of the way that we're funded and the
8:02
consistency of our funding over time.
8:05
There was a long time when the Metro Parks were this really
8:08
inwardly focused organization, right?
8:10
We're like, hey, we're the Metro parks and we didn't need a lot
8:14
of outside support. And so it was great that people
8:18
came, it was great that we had this really wonderful
8:21
reputation, but we didn't do a lot of of outreach.
8:27
And so that is really been my focus as it comes to the Metro
8:31
park. Sure, we've got to we've got to
8:33
focus on our infrastructure. We have to, you know, meet the
8:37
ongoing needs of the region that we serve.
8:40
But really part of meeting that, that need, part of being part of
8:45
the community is looking externally, right?
8:49
So how do we partner with schools on the ground?
8:52
How do we help teach kids to swim throughout the region where
8:56
our, our rates of drowning are just tragic?
9:02
And so that's been the the primary focus of the work that
9:07
we do. That's been new since I've come
9:09
back to the Metro Parks. And so when you say, you know,
9:13
sort of reaching out to the community, it's sort of asking
9:17
yourselves, how can we use all the resources that we have here
9:20
to help more people in our area? Is that sort of the thought
9:23
process? Right.
9:25
So everybody who lives in the five counties that we serve pays
9:29
a tax. The Metro Parks, it's it's
9:31
levied year after year and we want to make sure that we are
9:34
getting that everybody gets that value.
9:37
And so one of the things that is so incredibly exciting to us,
9:42
and it's coming up in the next few weeks, is we will have the
9:47
first on the ground, Metro Park in the city of Detroit when it
9:54
opens as part of Ralph C Wilson Junior Centennial Park on the
9:58
riverfront late in October. The Metro Park Detroit is the
10:02
largest community in our five counties, right?
10:05
And we've never had a park there.
10:07
There's been a lot of discussion about it over the years.
10:11
Some things, you know, big discussion, they kind of fell
10:14
apart. But we made this commitment and
10:17
this investment three years ago that constructions almost done.
10:22
We have this gorgeous water water garden in the park and
10:27
it's got our name on it, big letters.
10:28
And we could not be more excited.
10:31
How big is this new park going to?
10:32
Be well, the entire park is about 25 acres, so compared to
10:35
most of our parks, it's small, right?
10:38
Still in the middle of the city. Right on the riverfront, right?
10:42
It's it's this world class gorgeous, incredibly beautifully
10:48
designed with just an insane amount of community input over
10:52
the years to make it exactly what the community wants.
10:55
And our name is going to be on one of the the primary features
10:59
at the the park. We are thrilled beyond words.
11:03
And why would somebody want to come, like make a little pitch
11:06
here right now? Somebody lives somewhere near in
11:09
the area. What?
11:10
What's the draw? Oh, so Ralph C Wilson Junior
11:14
Centennial and Park. I think it's probably going to
11:15
end up calling Ralph Wilson Park, but it is the Water
11:19
Gardens fantastic. It is so cool right there
11:22
adjacent to the river. The river flows into and out of
11:24
it. We're going to have all kinds of
11:26
great programming about the history and the natural
11:29
character of the area. And then there is the death of
11:33
the Delta Dental Playground and which has the it's called the
11:38
Bernstein Bear. We have the sponsor of it's the
11:40
Bernstein firm, but it's this humongous, I don't know, couple.
11:45
It feels like it's a couple stories high Bear.
11:49
That's a slide. They were that whole playground
11:52
was designed and built in Copenhagen and it's one of the
11:55
first in Michigan here. It's so great.
11:59
The pathways throughout the entire program, the Davison
12:02
Field House that riverfront staff is going to do a great job
12:07
in programming it through confession.
12:10
I'm a member of the riverfront board.
12:11
So I am a little bit biased about what a great team they're
12:15
they have there, but just huge it's it's a centerpiece really
12:21
of of the the the Renaissance of the city of Detroit.
12:28
So we are, we are thrilled and, and for us, in addition just to
12:31
the overall insanity of greatness there, this is an
12:37
equity issue, right? City of Detroit residents have
12:40
been investing in the metro parks for decades, and now the
12:43
metro parks are going to be in the city of Detroit.
12:47
You know, and you touched about on this a little bit, I'd like
12:50
to hear more in detail how the park system is funded.
12:54
You mentioned that everybody in the area, they, they pay taxes.
12:57
What? What kind of taxes and and and
13:00
Are there other forms of funding?
13:01
Yeah. So when we were created 85 years
13:04
ago in 1940, the citizens of Southeastern Michigan said that
13:07
they would pay 1/4 of a mil of property tax in perpetuity to
13:12
support the Metro Parks. And so that's about half of our
13:16
funding. The next highest amount of our
13:19
funding comes from our entrance fees to the Metro Parks.
13:23
You can buy a daily permit, you can buy an annual permit.
13:26
And then our third highest source of revenue is golf.
13:29
We have 7, 7 regulation courses throughout our system that have
13:35
a great level of play. They're always ranked among the
13:38
best public courses throughout our region.
13:41
We've kind of hit on this a little bit, but I want to see if
13:44
you've got more to say about the overall importance of Metro Park
13:48
systems. I mean, people are paying taxes
13:51
in your area. They're paying entrance fees.
13:52
Why is it so important to set aside so much land, so many
13:56
resources and tax dollars to make this happen?
14:00
Sure. So I, I am so incredibly
14:06
grateful for the, the, the foresight and the commitment
14:09
that our legislature saw 85 years ago right across the
14:14
board. Our, our legislature came
14:17
together and said this is something that we need to do for
14:20
the residents of, of southeastern Michigan.
14:24
Because really those 25,000 acres I talked about earlier,
14:27
those, those 13 parks soon to be 14 with when the water garden
14:33
comes online in the upcoming weeks, they'd be subdivisions
14:38
right now, right? And we have, we certainly need
14:42
to have places for people to live in southeastern Michigan,
14:46
but this land would be gone. It would be out of the public
14:49
realm forever had they not thought about it.
14:52
So one of the things that is true of the Metro parks, that's
14:57
true of every public park system is good public parks, well
15:01
maintained public parks, safe public parks, increase property
15:05
values right there. They are reasons why people come
15:10
to areas to live and they're why they're reasons why people stay
15:14
in areas to live by having great outdoor recreation here in the
15:17
Metro Parks. We also, we essentially manage
15:24
millions of gallons of storm water every year by virtue of
15:29
the fact that we have these great public facilities, these
15:32
public parks water that storm water doesn't go into our lakes
15:37
and our rivers and streams. It helps improve water quality
15:40
here. People who come to the Metro
15:42
Parks on their way here eat at local restaurants.
15:45
They buy gas, they buy bicycles at Kensington Metro Park, where
15:49
my office is, every single day, I see people with, with cameras
15:55
that have lenses as long and as big as my legs.
15:58
Right. And so we measure the economic
16:01
impact of of the metro parks to demonstrate the return on that
16:06
investment. You know, they contribute to, to
16:10
public health, physical health and and well-being.
16:15
They are part of the character of our communities and, and that
16:21
doesn't even get into the programming side where, you
16:23
know, our, our interpreter staff is teaching kids about the
16:26
outdoors and, and connecting them to nature.
16:29
So they're good stewards going forward and bringing people into
16:34
those careers. We're a big employer in the
16:36
area. During the summer, we have 1000
16:38
employees at the Metro Parks. Wow.
16:42
That's impressive. And structurally, how is the
16:45
group organized? I'm guessing non for profit?
16:48
Or is this like a government arm or how how is the set up?
16:52
So we are actually our own form of government.
16:54
We are formerly we're the Huron Clinton Metropolitan authority.
16:58
We go by here on Clinton Metroparks.
17:01
But an authority in Michigan is was is created specifically to
17:05
do 1 task and one task only. So in Michigan, there are some
17:10
roads authorities and, and, but the metro parks are an
17:14
authority, are sole focused. The only reason we exist, the
17:18
only job we have to do every day is to take care of the Metro
17:22
Parks, to bring that value back to the people who live in our
17:26
region. And that's what we do.
17:29
We have a 7 member board. Our board is nonpartisan.
17:33
Five of those seven folks represent one each of the five
17:38
counties that we serve. And are they elected?
17:40
No, they're appointed. So they're appointed by their
17:44
county boards or their County Executive.
17:46
It's a little bit different from county to county.
17:49
And then the governor appoints two people to four year terms
17:54
and those governor appointees generally live in our region,
17:59
but their job is to also represent the the state as a
18:02
whole. Fascinating.
18:04
So it's a type of government entity.
18:08
OK, what are you most excited about other than the new park
18:14
opening up that's coming around the bend for the park system?
18:21
Well, it's always that's like, it's kind of like asking you to
18:25
pick your favorite child, right? But there are a bunch of things
18:30
that I'm super excited about. We have a ton of projects going
18:34
on right now that are meant to improve accessibility in the
18:38
parks that are meant to improve connectivity.
18:41
The original vision for the Metro parks was this create was
18:45
to link all of our parks to one another by a roadway.
18:49
And that never happened over the years for a whole bunch of
18:51
reason reasons. Pardon me, but our, our vision
18:56
has shifted a little bit and to connect all of our parks by non
19:00
motorized pathways, right. So in our region, trails are
19:03
always the number one priority across the board when we do
19:07
community surveys. And we're working mile by mile,
19:11
section by section to bring that vision to life.
19:15
And we have a big project we're working on right now with the
19:19
DNR and m.and a couple of local partners, including the
19:24
Livingston County Road Commission, to use funds that
19:28
then Congresswoman Slatkin, now Senator Slatkin brought back to
19:32
us for designing a, a bridge that goes over US 23 so people
19:40
can bike and walk safely and connect that side of our system.
19:44
So, so incredibly excited about that.
19:50
We are just wrapping up the summer version of our Everyone
19:55
in the Pool program, which is teaching kids throughout
19:59
Southeastern Michigan. Pardon me, I get really excited
20:01
and I talk too fast how to swim. And we're headed into the school
20:06
year where we're funding swim lessons for with for kids
20:11
throughout the school year. So we're so proud of that and I
20:16
work with partners throughout the region.
20:18
And then? My interpretive department,
20:22
which is won awards all over the place, created this program
20:25
three years ago. Go to it's called supplemental
20:29
science, which sounds not exciting at all, but really
20:32
actually is where our team goes into schools every day of the
20:39
week and and really sort of takes over science classes,
20:42
right. And, and they do this all year
20:44
long with our schools who are partners.
20:47
And you can see the video on our website about how kids
20:53
experience with science, how they think about themselves and
20:56
they think about their connection to the outdoors has
20:59
changed as a result of this program.
21:02
And so that kind of. Changed in what way?
21:06
You know, we often hear kids, you know, I think science is You
21:09
know, I thought science was boring or I thought I wasn't
21:12
smart enough or I didn't think that, you know, I didn't
21:14
understand how science and nature are connected.
21:17
And so when you, if you see that video, you can see how kids like
21:21
I am smart enough. I think this is super cool.
21:24
Now I'm going to think about going to college and learning
21:27
about this particular thing so I can change the world in this
21:30
particular way. And I mean, it's, it's just like
21:36
the greatest thing ever. Yeah, sounds like a wonderful
21:39
feeling inside. Do you ever find it difficult to
21:44
kind of balance, you know, you're trying to enhance public
21:50
access to the resources, which means more development and
21:55
obviously, you know, being part of the park system, there's
21:57
obviously this this feeling of environmental stewardship.
22:02
Do those ever feel conflicting to you?
22:09
At this point in our in our like place as an organization, not as
22:14
much directly for us, right, 'cause we're a mature park
22:17
system, we have these 25,000 acres.
22:20
We've been really intentional about how we've put all of the
22:26
these parks and acreage together.
22:28
I know a lot of a lot of my colleagues at the local level
22:32
struggle with that a little bit more than than than we do here
22:36
at the Metro Parks and certainly across the US and in communities
22:40
that are large urban communities that are fully developed.
22:43
It can be really hard. I know for example, in LA, being
22:48
able to acquire property for public land is really hard.
22:53
The City Parks Alliance does a great job in assisting Parks and
22:59
Recreation organizations throughout the the US.
23:01
Would that work? Is there any particular
23:05
environmental initiative that you've been a part of that
23:08
you're particularly proud of? Well, so one of the in a the big
23:16
sense, the thing that I'm most proud of is that we have our own
23:19
natural resources department here at the Metro Parks.
23:22
We intentionally created a department to do this work to
23:27
focus in on water quality, to focus in on invasive species to,
23:33
to set goals for storm water management to do all of this
23:38
work and to do it on a really hands on and focused way because
23:45
it requires intentionality to get that done right.
23:48
And we work with folks at the state level, folks at the local
23:52
level, folks at the, the federal level to bring in the resources
23:55
to get that done. And then on the education side
23:58
of that, I spoke a moment ago about our interpretive
24:01
department so that we marry those things together.
24:06
And then specifically, I would say one of the things I, I, I
24:11
think that we do that is really the most impactful is the, the
24:14
decision making that we do around storm water management.
24:17
And some of it is really as well.
24:21
It sounds simple. Sometimes it's not as
24:23
continually working to reduce the amount of, of area that we
24:28
mow, right? So that the longer the grass is
24:31
that the harder it is for the, the better it filters the water
24:35
on its way into our lakes and rivers and streams.
24:39
And that's and it helps to mitigate flood damage, which has
24:42
been a huge issue for us in Southeastern Michigan.
24:46
So all of those things kind of wrapped together are are the top
24:50
of my lists of things I'm proud of.
24:53
We're recording this interview on Monday, September 29th, 2025.
24:59
And yesterday, Sunday, the 28th of September, there was a tragic
25:04
event that took place in your very backyard.
25:07
Can you talk to us about that? Yeah, yesterday in Grand Blanc
25:12
Township, which is a community in southern Genesee County,
25:16
there was a mass shooting at a Church of the Latter Day Saints.
25:23
It's still unknown how many people will have died as a
25:26
result of this shooting because the church collapsed after the
25:34
the shooter set it on fire. At the Metro Parks.
25:39
We have our own Police Department and the Genesee
25:41
County parks have their own Police Department as well.
25:44
And so we're really connected to the law enforcement community.
25:48
Our Police Department was called out as part of mutual aid to the
25:52
scene yesterday and our drone team spent hours and hours
25:57
searching the the wreckage of the church.
26:02
One of our former officers at the Metro Parks is, is currently
26:05
an officer with the Grand Blanc Township Police Department.
26:07
And of course our officers know everyone in the, the law
26:11
enforcement community. I know a lot of folks in the law
26:15
enforcement community in Genesee County because I was there for
26:18
18 years. And I have just that the most
26:23
respect and admiration for the work that they are doing on site
26:26
and everything they do to keep us safe.
26:30
So it's, it's, it's a, it's a really somber day for, for us.
26:38
Yeah. And, you know, as people across
26:40
the country have watched this news unfold, obviously it hurts
26:45
all of our hearts. There's something different that
26:48
happens when it's in your backyard.
26:51
It hits you in a different way. And when you know people who are
26:56
at the front line responding, it becomes even more real.
27:01
And so it's clear you've got a heavy heart.
27:05
The folks that you work with now are they're trying to make sense
27:10
of what just happened. How as a leader, do you sort of
27:17
put yourself in front of that group and encourage people to to
27:20
move forward? What's is there a speech that
27:24
you can give? Is there some guidance that you
27:26
can provide in a moment where things just don't make sense?
27:34
You know, I, I wish there were just sort of the words that we
27:37
could call immediately to, to mind that would, would do that.
27:42
And I'm not certain that there ever are really any for us here.
27:48
Over the course of the last 24 hours or so, it has been, it's
27:52
been reaching out to each other, right, And to our, our, our
27:57
folks in the, the law enforcement community, providing
27:59
support for our officers who've been on scene.
28:04
It's trying to, to dial down the temperature, right, to be
28:12
respectful of one another, to understand the value that, that
28:17
people, pardon me, bring. And so that's how that, how we
28:22
try to address it here at the Metro Parks.
28:25
We were talking earlier in our conversation about the programs
28:30
that we're doing, you know, in terms of access and education
28:34
and, and that that focus of equity, right?
28:37
So that everyone feels welcome in our parks, everybody has a
28:43
place to come and experience the the peace and the healing that
28:48
nature provides. And so we try to do that on a
28:51
really, really practical way and to be here to, to listen and,
28:59
and to be part of our community and provide that support that's
29:02
needed. You've talked before about the
29:07
pride that you have and all the different training programs that
29:11
you provide for your staff internally.
29:14
Is this something that is part of that training?
29:18
Can you plan for something like this?
29:21
So I think unfortunately everybody has to plan for
29:24
something like this, right. First, we, we plan to try to
29:27
prevent some tragedy like this from happening and, and we also
29:33
plan on how to respond if such a an event occur.
29:36
And this is something our, our Police Department trains around
29:41
internally, we train with local departments.
29:45
We're part of a regional training initiative.
29:48
We work to make certain that we have great equipment, right?
29:52
So we have a drone team, we have, we have a canine officer
29:57
who is all too often called out when threats are called into
30:02
schools, right, to help make sure that there are no bombs on
30:07
site. We have a pretty sophisticated
30:13
communication system within the metro parks to, to warn, you
30:19
know, to warn our staff and, and others to communicate
30:22
immediately should such a, an incident occur.
30:28
So we, we, we, we don't think it could never happen to us, right?
30:40
We pray, we we, we hope that it never will, but we know that it
30:47
could, and so we do our best to prepare, to prepare if it does,
30:52
and to prevent if we can. Moving to something a little bit
30:57
lighter, you talk about the training and the preparation
31:02
that goes into an event like this.
31:04
Talk to me in general about the level of training and prep that
31:08
you're able to provide to your team members.
31:11
So here at the Metro Parks, one of the things I love about
31:15
absolutely every segment of our workforce, I park maintenance,
31:20
interpretive, police, HR, accounting, you name it, our our
31:25
workforce is really dedicated always to improving their
31:29
skills. And I can't tell you how many
31:31
times a week I am signing somebody's training request to
31:35
to go to a conference, to be part of a workshop, to
31:39
participate in a webinar. We offer our full time employees
31:44
tuition reimbursement and our our team is really great at
31:50
that. And in fact we do a bunch of
31:52
trainings with our partners throughout the region.
31:55
Our interpretive department hosts teacher trainings for,
31:59
for, particularly for science teachers throughout the area.
32:04
It's, they're just a really dedicated workforce to, to
32:11
learning and, and to keeping up and knowing what the best
32:14
practices are and putting those practices to, to use.
32:17
So that we are leading the trend, right, and that we are
32:20
inspiring others to be part of this work.
32:24
That's great. You mentioned the tuition
32:26
reimbursement. I'm curious, are there are other
32:29
approaches you found that make the park system such an
32:33
attractive place to work that helps with that recruiting?
32:36
And then once you hold on to good folks, you know how, how do
32:38
you retain them? So one of the things we've been
32:43
really lucky about at the Metro Parks is first, we have a
32:45
really, we have a, a long time workforce, right?
32:49
When people get a job at the Metro Parks, they tend to stay
32:53
for their careers because it is, I mean, of all the public park
32:58
systems in the state of Michigan, which are all great in
33:02
their own way, there's something really magical about working at
33:06
the Metro parks. Seriously, to, to pull me out of
33:11
of Genesee County. It really speaks to the just the
33:15
organization and the mission and the work that we we do here.
33:20
We try, we work really hard to be competitive with our wages
33:24
and our benefits. And of course that gets harder
33:28
every year during the the summer for the seasonal and part time
33:32
staff we offer, we offer bonuses throughout the summer.
33:37
So if you stay for a certain number of days, you get a
33:40
certain number of dollars on your hourly wage bonus.
33:44
And then that escalates throughout the summer.
33:47
So, so people have an incentive to stay.
33:51
They have an incentive to to come back.
33:56
And, you know, we do all the things that like everybody else
33:59
does too. You know, we do community
34:00
outreach and those sorts of things.
34:01
But right now we're interviewing for a position in our
34:05
interpretive department and all four of the finalists are from
34:10
outside of the state of Michigan.
34:12
They're from the West Coast. They're from.
34:15
Yeah, I know, right. So we love bringing people back
34:23
to, to Michigan, right? People who might have left and,
34:26
or have not considered Michigan because we're we think this is a
34:30
great place. My family's lived in Michigan,
34:32
farmed here for 135 years. And so, yeah, it's all of those
34:39
things that that come together are pride of place.
34:41
The work experience, the culture that we work to build.
34:45
We think that's what makes U.S. special.
34:48
You mentioned before, you know some place like LA really hard
34:53
for them to be able to acquire new land to add into their park
34:56
system. But generally speaking for you,
35:00
how does that process generally work?
35:02
How are you identifying opportunities to acquire land?
35:08
Are you generally acquiring them from private owners?
35:11
Is there some sort of a special transaction that takes place
35:14
there 'cause obviously the parks have, you know, a limited budget
35:17
to work with? I I'm curious to hear how that
35:19
works. Over time, most of our property
35:22
has come from private owners and that's one of the things I
35:26
always think about. We have, there's this particular
35:29
area at Stoney Creek, which is called the Sheldon Trails and
35:35
it's named after the Sheldon family and it has some remnants
35:38
of the the foundations of the historic buildings that were
35:41
there at one time. And I always have this feeling
35:44
about how lucky we are to have this property because I will,
35:51
you know, absent a huge lottery win, right, I would never have
35:56
the opportunity to be on, on property like this, to connect
36:01
with nature like this, to be outdoors in this way, if it
36:06
weren't for the foresight of the people who had acquired that
36:08
property. And and now we have our property
36:13
acquisition goals are really centered around areas if they
36:17
have like a specific interest from an ecological perspective
36:22
or if they abut our existing properties.
36:25
So that we are continuing to provide a buffer from from those
36:30
areas. Are these ever these properties
36:34
ever donated or is it always, you know, like a traditional
36:38
cash transaction? We haven't had any properties
36:42
donated in quite some time. Over in early acquisitions going
36:50
back to like around the 70s, there were probably people who
36:54
donated like part of the cash value of the property, but most
36:58
of it was acquired either directly utilizing our own funds
37:02
or utilizing grants. In Michigan we have a grant
37:05
program called the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund and
37:09
it helps communities by I think it provides about 75% of the
37:17
funds to acquire part property. So in Michigan, that's a really
37:22
great tool for communities that are still trying to to acquire
37:27
property. But for you it sounds like
37:30
that's much more limited in scope now.
37:32
It yeah, it is. Thankfully, people who did all
37:36
of the hard work and heavy lifting of that preceded me.
37:40
Well, what's something about your job, Amy, that most people
37:43
would find surprising? Well, one of the questions in,
37:51
you know, people in public parks work always to hear from the
37:54
public is like, well, what do you do when summer's over?
37:57
I mean, we hear that a lot in Michigan, right?
37:58
Because they, they, and it's just like, Oh my, if you looked
38:01
at my calendar, you'd, you'd know that really it's, it's an,
38:07
it's, it's always all hands on deck every minute of every day.
38:12
It is I, I, I, I never get to spend as much time in my parks
38:20
as as I would like to because leading a large system and
38:24
making sure that our business operations are focused on
38:28
bringing in the revenue that we were required to sustain the
38:31
parks. Developing partnerships at the
38:34
the community and regional level and beyond funding initiatives.
38:38
All of these things that we do to make, make it look like it's
38:46
easy our that's what we do all the time.
38:50
And so different people don't really necessarily understand
38:53
every day. And it's it's great that they
38:54
don't. Well, so let's dive into that
38:57
just a little bit. Like what?
38:59
What happens that's different in the winter, right?
39:02
Because, right, things get cold there, they freeze over, people
39:05
stop going to the parks as much What?
39:08
What does your winter schedule look like?
39:10
So winter, the start of winter is really all about the budget,
39:15
right? Developing the budget for the
39:17
upcoming year, forecasting revenues and doing a ton of the
39:23
work that is required to to bid and purchase everything that's
39:27
required in the parks during the summer time.
39:31
For me, I spend a lot of time year round really interacting
39:36
with partners, developing initiatives, working on funding.
39:40
Our marketing of course is year round because if you can't tell
39:44
the story of what you do, people don't have access to it, right
39:49
and I can't. We love our parks, so we love to
39:52
tell the stories about our parks.
39:55
I sit on a number of of committees and initiatives
39:59
throughout the region that are looking at larger issues.
40:03
We have a really active climate Action Group that meets year
40:07
round internally. That develops goals for us as
40:11
relates to climate action also on our website.
40:15
And so that's all about the program development, the
40:18
management of those programs in its own way.
40:22
It's, you know, we're, we're a public business, right.
40:26
We just have a really, you know, we have a really great break
40:29
room. A really great break room the
40:32
the parks. The parks, yeah.
40:35
I like that. Amy, what's a serious challenge
40:38
that you've overcome earlier in your life?
40:42
How'd you get through that and what did you learn?
40:48
Just personally, I, I, I think that, you know, like so many
40:51
people, like the biggest challenge I've always had it
40:54
has, has, has been managing grief.
41:01
You know, I and I, we talked a little bit about the
41:04
circumstances that happened in, in Grand Blanc Township the day
41:10
before this interview, But I, both of my parents have passed
41:16
away in recent years. And so really coming to terms
41:22
with that and you know, that that just they were such great
41:28
people and such wonderful parents, they made my entire
41:32
life possible. Is, is, I think probably the
41:38
biggest personal challenge that I've always said, you know,
41:40
other things go up and down in the, in the way that everybody's
41:43
life does, but that's something that sticks with you and, and
41:48
making, you know, being able to find your path forward in a way
41:53
that that honors them, right? Not just in terms of
41:59
achievements, but yeah, I think just like, I'm sure like most
42:07
parents, the thing my parents wanted most for me and my
42:10
brothers was for us to be happy, right?
42:12
And so figuring out how to to do that is always a work in
42:19
progress. I'm, I'm really lucky in that I
42:22
have, I have a great job, right? I'm surrounded by people that
42:26
are important to me and that, you know, have, you know, think
42:32
I'm a good person and in a great community.
42:35
But I would say that's just like the biggest, that's the biggest
42:39
life challenge. What were each of your parents
42:42
names and when did they pass Amy?
42:45
So my my mom's name was Patricia Marie O'Sullivan McMillan.
42:51
Just a little bit Irish. Just a little bit Irish.
42:53
And yes, she, she passed away four years ago.
42:59
And my dad's name was Don McMillan, not Donald, but Don.
43:03
And he passed away 24 years ago this year.
43:09
They were married all of their lives.
43:11
They, they were just, they were really great parents.
43:18
Not that, you know, take us to Disney World every other weekend
43:21
type of thing, but they, they taught us great values.
43:27
The family was the center of their lives.
43:31
They, you know, they were, they were each born in 1938.
43:36
So when they got married at 25, they were old for their
43:39
generation to get married, but they had done the things they
43:41
wanted to do and they wanted to have a family.
43:43
So they were really intentional about that.
43:46
And you know, one of the things my parents did for me that has
43:51
really kind of set the course for my entire life is when I was
43:57
young, they told me if I worked hard enough, I could do anything
44:02
I set out to do. Now, they never thought I'd
44:04
think I'd wanted to be like the president of the United States
44:07
or anything like that. But but I came up through my
44:10
profession at a time when most of the leadership was men right.
44:14
And public parks often really struggled to find a place in in
44:19
budgets and in priorities in local government.
44:22
And so it probably never occurred to me as a kid that I
44:28
shouldn't believe my parents when they told me something.
44:30
And so I believed that with my my entire being.
44:35
And that's what's it allowed me to be successful and, and stick
44:41
to, yeah, stick to my path and times that were uncertain or or
44:48
challenging. So I'm just, you know, greatest
44:51
gift ever. What have you found to be
44:55
helpful for you, Amy, in the grieving process?
44:58
That maybe is a lesson you can share with our listeners.
45:03
OK, I I know this is going to sound biased because we're
45:06
talking about but serious. Being outdoors, being in nature,
45:10
moving. I have I have dogs and horses.
45:16
Being with my animals is really healing for me.
45:22
I spend a lot of time with my family.
45:23
I have 3 nieces and they're in their 20s now and I love that.
45:31
But I just, I don't know, I take a lot of comfort from the work
45:38
that we do because I know that other families take comfort in
45:43
that. I know that we are creating
45:44
memories for families every single day there.
45:47
There's somebody in southeastern Michigan who's always
45:50
remembering a family reunion that they had at Lower Huron,
45:53
right? Or when they went on a bike ride
45:57
with their their sister or their best friend.
46:01
And so that all ties us together that way.
46:04
And I think it gives us purpose, and having purpose gives me a
46:08
tremendous amount of comfort. Setting all humility aside, Amy,
46:14
how would you characterize your superpower?
46:20
I think my superpower is that I've had incredible mentors over
46:29
the course of my career that we're their superpower was being
46:35
patient with me, right? Because when you start in a
46:38
professional career as a, as a director at 24 years old, a lot
46:43
of patience is required. And so the fact that people saw
46:52
some potential in me and that they supported me and guided me
46:58
and encouraged me everywhere that I've been and at some point
47:05
that I've listened to them, I think that's a superpower that
47:11
has helped me be where I'm at today.
47:14
So interesting to me your answer about what your superpower is.
47:20
You're actually giving credit to your mentor.
47:23
Your superpower, you're telling me, is the mentors who were
47:27
behind you. Yeah, it really is.
47:33
And what has that helped to develop in you?
47:39
So I think, you know, working in government is hard and when you
47:46
work in small communities, the metro parks is, is really
47:49
different in this way. It gets it can get really
47:52
personal and just I don't know if I have really polite words to
47:58
describe some of those experiences over time, right.
48:03
And so being able to develop that sense of stick to
48:07
itiveness. There are there's a saying in
48:11
the private sector that time kills all deals, right?
48:14
But in the public sector it's really different.
48:16
It's like you have to have time to make things happen.
48:21
And there, for example, in in Genesee County, one of the
48:28
things that we had started talking about when I arrived in
48:32
the county was how the county could help the city parks, parks
48:40
in the city of Flint in particular, because the city
48:42
parks had been in decline for a couple of decades and there were
48:46
no, there were no Genesee County parks in the city of Flint, sort
48:50
of like there was no metro park in Detroit here.
48:54
And so park by park, we developed this vision about how
49:01
the county could collaborate with the city to, to make that
49:05
happen. And it took forever.
49:08
And so I was, people will talk about that even now when I go
49:12
back and I'm like, yeah, they're like, it took eight years and 5
49:16
minutes. And it was the 5 minutes of
49:19
finally getting to yes, that made it happen.
49:22
So having that vision, sticking with the understanding that you
49:29
know you're going to have, you're going to take one step
49:33
forward, 2 steps to the side, a step and a half back.
49:36
But you have to do that over and over and over to make those
49:42
things happen. Our goal this year was to teach
49:46
over 4000 kids to swim for free in southeastern Michigan.
49:50
We met that goal. Next year it's 5000.
49:52
The year after that is 6. You know, three years ago we
49:56
were teaching zero kids. The metro parks were teaching
49:59
zero kids to swim for free in southeastern Michigan.
50:02
So it's, you know, having that vision, believing that you can
50:08
make it happen, figuring out the pieces, being open to the idea
50:15
that your original idea of how it's going to work might not be
50:20
the the way that it actually works and just sticking with it.
50:25
That's, that's how things happen.
50:27
That's how we change our communities, we change our
50:30
organizations. We, you know, we change our
50:33
lives that way. To get you to be prepared every
50:37
day to face these challenges, are there things that you do to
50:41
start your day? Some habits or rituals that you
50:44
engage in. Well, I'm a big fan of caffeine,
50:48
which I'm not sure is the, the best thing, but you know, I try
50:51
to do the things that everybody else does.
50:53
I get, you know, get some sleep, get some exercise.
50:58
I, my house is a 30 minute walk from the barn where I board my
51:03
horses. And so I like to go out in the
51:04
morning and give them a banana and, you know, clean them off so
51:10
that they're clean and happy when they go outside.
51:15
I taught, I have an 89 year old aunt who is the, the last living
51:20
member of the general of my parents families.
51:23
And I talk to her every morning at 7:00 in the morning and every
51:27
evening on my way home from work, having that.
51:30
And I used to do that with my, my parents as well, you know, So
51:35
having those, those relationships, those
51:37
connections, that and, and knowing that's, that's there
51:41
something to look forward to, that's what works for me.
51:46
If you had to recommend a book, a podcast, maybe even a course
51:50
that you've taken to our listeners that was really
51:52
helpful for you, what would you suggest?
51:58
I OK, so I read about 800 pages every weekend.
52:03
I love to read and I have a hard time remembering titles of books
52:10
from one book to another. So rather than pointing out when
52:15
I would say read just like seriously like flat out read.
52:20
Read for entertainment, read for enjoyment, read for learning
52:27
too. But just that idea of putting
52:29
yourself in a different place. And I listen to a ton of
52:34
podcasts. They vary depending on what I, I
52:38
need and I try to, to understand different points of view to
52:45
write so that I'm not like locked into my own world.
52:49
So I would say like, seriously, be curious, right?
52:53
Dial something up. Oh, and I, I, I'm a little
52:57
obsessed with the New York Times.
52:59
So I do my New York Times app is like, I probably my favorite
53:03
reading and I always, I always start with the great read.
53:08
Every day there's a section called The Great Read that is
53:12
always really wonderful. I always learn something from
53:14
it. I love that.
53:17
Just read and be curious and be open to other viewpoints, right
53:25
A. 100% no. You know, sometimes in our lives
53:32
we go through hard things or, you know, what we might call
53:36
mistakes in the moment. And then later in life, we look
53:39
back on those moments almost with a sense of gratitude
53:42
because what felt like an error, a mistake, a misstep in the
53:46
moment actually helped to propel us in a different direction.
53:50
Can you think of a moment like that in your life?
53:52
Oh yeah. So I'll go back to Genesee
53:56
County. The first mileage in Genesee
54:00
County, the parks are are partly funded by a mileage tax, a tax
54:06
and worked really hard the had to renew it the first in the
54:11
first couple of years I was there and it passed at a 75%
54:16
rating, which was great. I mean, it was really reflective
54:19
of the work that my team and I had done.
54:22
We even beat the the renewal for I think the EMT mileage in
54:26
Genesee County that year. So that was super great.
54:28
Felt really great about it. And so we decided we were going
54:32
to go for an increase in the mileage the next time and that
54:36
failed. It failed really big.
54:41
It was a huge failure and it required us to go back and
54:48
really understand how it failed, who we talked to, how we were
54:52
working in the community, who we were listening to, right.
54:57
And it was, it was seriously devastating.
55:03
And the next time that we we went out for an increase was in
55:09
2014. The mileage had not been
55:12
increased in Genesee County in 40 years.
55:15
And that year we passed the mileage increase by the same
55:19
margin we had lost it the time before.
55:22
And so I always say that that mileage campaign probably took
55:29
two years off my life and it was 100% worth it because it it set
55:35
the the parks in Denison County on a on a much more stable
55:38
financial path. But the first time we did it
55:42
was, it was, I can't even tell you how terrible, right?
55:46
You would. Come from this place of great
55:48
momentum from the previous time where you passed by 75%.
55:53
I don't know anything that gets passed by 75%, right?
55:56
You typically have 40% of people on one side or the other.
55:59
And it's the 20% in the middle that you're trying to, to, to
56:02
get. And so you felt good going into
56:05
it and fall flat on your face. And and So what did you learn
56:10
from that time that you changed in that that next time that you
56:15
guys were so successful? So one of the things we learned
56:19
is first of all, we had to the mileage language was difficult
56:24
to understand and that it needed to be more straightforward.
56:30
But what we also learned is the Genesee County Parks had about
56:36
200 employees at the the peak of the season.
56:40
And so one of the things that we learned in recognized was that
56:44
each one of those 200 employees had a circle of at least 10
56:50
people that were going to be voting on our park mileage
56:53
people who are their family, people, who are their neighbors,
56:56
people who are their friends. And then each of those people
56:59
had 10 people. And so we really learned to
57:04
utilize our base of employees to get our messaging out right to
57:10
because they were the people that their friends and their
57:13
neighbors trusted to, to listen to and, and feel connected.
57:18
And the idea that nobody wants to pay more in taxes, but this
57:23
is the value that you get for those, those taxes.
57:27
That's what really that involvement, that engagement of
57:30
our of our organization internally is what allowed us to
57:36
be successful externally with that issue.
57:40
Amy, I've just got one more question I want to ask, but
57:42
before I do it, I want to knock out a few things.
57:45
First of all, folks, the best way to get in touch with the
57:49
park system, you're not going to believe the domain name that
57:51
they have. It's metroparks.com.
57:55
I don't know who at what stage in the early days of the
57:58
Internet I had the foresight to grab that name, but
58:02
metroparks.com is the best way to get in touch with them and
58:05
see all the the benefits and the the services and the beautiful
58:08
parks that they have to offer. Also, as a reminder, if you want
58:13
to get more employees access to benefits that won't hurt them
58:16
financially and carries a financial upside for the
58:19
company, reach out to Add back benefits.com.
58:21
And finally, if you take just a moment to leave us a comment or
58:25
review on your favorite podcast app, we will be forever
58:29
grateful. Last question for you, Amy, you
58:32
and I reconnect a year from today, one year from now, and
58:35
you are celebrating something big.
58:37
What's that thing that you hope to be celebrating one year from
58:40
today? One year from today, I expect
58:44
that we will have, we will be doing a ribbon cutting if we
58:46
haven't yet done it on the on the reopening of the pool at
58:51
Lake Erie Metro Park. We had to close it a few years
58:53
ago. It's taken three years to put
58:55
together the funding and get it reopened.
58:59
It's a centerpiece of that community and that park, and I
59:04
cannot wait. I've told her this day, even if
59:07
it's after Labor Day, we will open that pool for one day so
59:11
everybody can be in it. And for people who maybe have
59:15
been familiar with that pool in the past, what will they notice
59:19
that's different today? Oh, it'll be more accessible.
59:22
It will they the area of the pool will look.
59:27
It will look, it will look the same but better, right?
59:30
It will look totally refreshed like it did.
59:33
And it will be the same iconic experience that they have
59:38
expected there and they have missed so greatly because every
59:41
single day, I swear to you, 100 people coming into the park ask
59:46
when it's going to be reopened. Exciting.
59:49
Well Amy McMillan from Huron Clinton Metro Parks in Southeast
59:52
Michigan. I want to be the first to thank
59:54
you for sharing both your time and your story with us today.
59:57
I really appreciate it. Thanks for the opportunity,
59:59
really it's been great. Folks, that's a wrap on another
1:00:03
episode of the Inspired Stories podcast.
1:00:05
Thanks for learning with us today.