Transforming Public Recreation: Amy McMillan’s Journey Leading Southeast Michigan’s Metroparks

Anthony Codispoti (00:01)
Welcome to another edition of the inspired stories podcast where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from their successes and be inspired by how they’ve overcome adversity. My name is Anthony Cotispodi and today’s guest is Amy McMillan, chief executive officer of Huron Clinton Metro Parks. This organization was founded in 1940 to address a shortage of public parks in Southeast Michigan and its mission is to preserve natural resources

while offering a variety of outdoor activities that enhance the health and quality of life for local communities. Amy brings a wealth of knowledge to her role, backed by a Bachelor of Arts in Parks and Recreation Administration and a Master’s in Administration with a focus on public policy from Central Michigan University. She has led leadership roles in public parks management and has extensive experience in guiding policy initiatives that shape healthier, more accessible recreation systems.

The Metro Parks continues to grow its reputation, providing essential spaces that connect people with nature and encourage active lifestyles. Amy believes parks belong to all of us and is committed to creating equitable public spaces. Under her gardens, the Metro Parks launched Metro Parks and Me, an initiative aimed at breaking the barriers that limit access to essential health, wellness, education, and quality of life opportunities. Now, before we get into all that good stuff,

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Results vary for each company and some organizations may not be eligible. To find out if your group qualifies, contact us today at addbackbenefits.com. All right, back to our guest today, the CEO of Huron-Clinton Metro Parks, Amy McMillan. Thanks for making the time to share your story today.

Amy McMillan (02:14)
thank you for inviting me.

Anthony Codispoti (02:17)
So Amy, you have a bachelor’s degree in Parks and Rec Administration. So clearly your interest in this field goes back at least to college. What first drew you into Parks and Rec?

Amy McMillan (02:31)
So I have to confess that Parks and Recreation was actually my third major in college and just recognize that my parents were kind enough to stick with me when I changed majors in my senior year. But the reason I changed is that I had started volunteering in a program in my hometown. ⁓

in the city of Midland Parks and Recreation Department had a program specifically for kids with special needs. And one of my cousins that I didn’t know really well had special needs. My parents wanted me to get to know her better.

and to just have a bigger, broader experience. And so actually when I was 14, I started volunteering in that program in my hometown. And then I got really involved in Special Olympics. And then I went away to college and I thought, well, there’s no career in that, right? Who gets to have that much fun as their job? And ultimately I figured out there is a career in that and you have to be specifically trained and educated to be good in that.

career and that’s when I’ve changed my focus to to Parks and Recreation and ultimately graduate with a bachelor’s degree.

Anthony Codispoti (03:52)
So you went on to hold leadership roles at a variety of public parks for years. Let’s maybe pick your time at Genesee County Parks. Can you talk about a pivotal moment or lesson from your time there that helped to shape your approach to leading such a large regional system today?

Amy McMillan (04:14)
Absolutely. So I came to the Genesee County Parks in September of 1999, where you know there were all these things going on in the environment. you know, the year 2000 was coming, we didn’t know what was going to happen, and I came to Genesee County, is the, me, the fifth largest county in the state of Michigan. The Genesee County Parks are the largest county park system.

in the state with 11,000 acres. And I came from a really small town called the city of Ypsilanti where we had very few resources. And so even when I went to Genesee County, which had very few resources, I felt rich, right? Because it’s all relative. And when I came into the county park system, it had been on sort of a downward trend for a while and there wasn’t a lot of public confidence.

in the park’s system. ⁓ And I remember the first day that I stepped foot in one of the parks, they’re called Bluebell Beach, and looking out on the water and seeing the sun shine and just…

having this moment where it’s we can we can do this we can make a difference we can turn these parks around we can utilize grants we can work with partners we can establish ourselves as a as a part of the community as a benefit as a value to this community and it was just that moment of inspiration and that belief that that really charted the entire path forward that we had while i was in jennessee county

Anthony Codispoti (05:52)
And then how did the opportunity to join here on Clinton Metro Parks come

Amy McMillan (05:58)
So ⁓ actually, I rejoined the Heron Clinton Metro Parks in 2018 because a long, long time ago, I was an intern at Metro Beach, which is now called Lake St. Clair at Metro Parks. And I remember being there and thinking, someday I’m going to be the director of the Heron Clinton Metro Parks.

Anthony Codispoti (06:19)
Really?

Amy McMillan (06:20)
Yeah, well, I was 22, right? So I thought that day was going to be the next day after I graduated, being only as optimistic as somebody at that age can be. And I had always wanted to come back.

to the Metro Parks and really the only reason I ever would have left the Genesee County Parks, which I loved so dearly and ⁓ the greater Flint community was to return to the Metro Parks. So when the position became available, I had the great good fortune to be selected from a pool of really talented folks.

Anthony Codispoti (06:57)
And then, you know, as we touched on in the intro, the here on Clinton Metro parks was created to address a lack of public parks, excuse me, in Southeast Michigan. What kind of challenges did you initially face in continuing that original mission?

Amy McMillan (07:16)
So we are 85 years old this year and you know, think we look pretty darn good for 85. ⁓ One of the challenges in an older organization as ours is always infrastructure, right? So we’re concentrating all the time on updating our infrastructure. We just spent nearly $4 million to replace an electrical system at Lake St. Clair, that park that I interned at.

Because if it failed, the entire park would have come offline, right? But I think for us at the Metro Parks, one of the biggest challenges we’ve faced has been this internal culture of the Metro Parks. Because of the way that we’re funded and the consistency of our funding over time,

There was a long time when the Metro Parks were this really inwardly focused organization, right? We’re like, hey, we’re the Metro Parks, and we didn’t need a lot of outside support. And so it was great that people came. It was great that we had this really wonderful reputation, but we didn’t do a lot of outreach. ⁓

And so that has really been my focus as it comes to the Metro Park. Sure, we’ve got to focus on our infrastructure. have to ⁓ meet the ongoing needs of the region that we serve. really part of meeting that need, of being part of the community is looking externally.

So how do we partner with schools on the ground? How do we help teach kids to swim throughout the region where our rates of drowning are just tragic? ⁓ And so that’s been the primary focus of the work that we do that’s been new since I’ve come back to the Metro Parks.

Anthony Codispoti (09:08)
And so when you say, you know, sort of reaching out to the community, it’s sort of asking yourselves, how can we use all the resources that we have here to help more people in our area? Is that sort of the thought process?

Amy McMillan (09:20)
Yeah,

right. So everybody who lives in the five counties that we serve pays a tax to the Metro Parks. It’s levied year after year and we want to make sure that we are getting that everybody gets that value. And so one of the things that is so incredibly exciting to us and it’s coming up in the next few weeks is we will have the first on the ground Metro Park in the city of Detroit.

when it opens as part of Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Centennial Park on the riverfront late in October. The Metro Park Detroit is the largest community in our five counties, right? And we’ve never had a park there. There’s been a lot of discussion about it over the years. Some things, you know, big discussion, they kind of fell apart.

But we made this commitment and this investment three years ago that construction’s almost done. We have this gorgeous water garden in the park, and it’s got our name on it, big letters, and we could not be more excited. Well, the entire park is about 25 acres. So compared to most of our parks, it’s small, Kensington.

Anthony Codispoti (10:27)
How big is this new park gonna be?

But still in

the middle of the city, that’s…

Amy McMillan (10:37)
right on the

riverfront, right? It’s this world-class, gorgeous, incredibly beautifully designed with just an insane amount of community input over the years to make it exactly what the community wants. And our name is going to be on one of the primary features at the park. We are thrilled beyond words.

Anthony Codispoti (11:00)
And why would somebody want to come like make a little pitch here right now? Somebody lives somewhere near in the area. What’s the draw?

Amy McMillan (11:08)
Oh, so Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Centennial Park, I think it’s probably going to end up calling Ralph Wilson Park, but it is the water gardens. Fantastic. It is so cool right there adjacent to the river. The river flows into and out of it. We’re to have all kinds of great programming about the history and the natural character of the area. And then there is the Delta Dental Playground and which has the

called the Bernstein Bear. have the sponsor of it, the Bernstein firm, it’s this humongous, I don’t know, couple, it feels like it’s a couple stories high bear that’s a slide. were, that whole playground was designed and built in Copenhagen and it’s one of the first in Michigan here. It’s so great. The pathways throughout the entire program, the Davison Field House, the Riverfront staff is going to do a great job in programming

it. True confession, I’m a member of the Riverfront Board, so I am a little bit biased about what a great team they have there, but ⁓ just huge. It’s a centerpiece really of the renaissance of the city of Detroit. ⁓ So we are thrilled. And for us, in addition just to the overall

insanity of greatness there. This is an equity issue, City of Detroit residents have been investing in the metro parks for decades and now the metro parks are going to be in the City of Detroit.

Anthony Codispoti (12:44)
You know, and you touched on this a little bit. I’d like to hear more in detail how ⁓ the park system is funded. You mentioned that everybody in the area, they pay taxes. What kind of taxes and are there other forms of funding?

Amy McMillan (12:58)
Yeah, so when we were created 85 years ago in 1940, the citizens of southeastern Michigan said that they would pay a quarter of a mil of property tax in perpetuity to support the metro parks.

And so that’s about half of our funding. ⁓ The next highest amount of our funding comes from our entrance fees to the Metro Parks. You can buy a daily permit, you can buy an annual permit. And then our third highest source of revenue is golf. We have seven ⁓ regulation courses throughout our system that have a great level of play. They’re always ranked among the best public courses throughout our region.

Anthony Codispoti (13:38)
I’m kind of hit on this a little bit, but I want to see if you’ve got more to say about the overall importance of Metro Park systems. mean, people are paying taxes in your area, they’re paying insurance fees. Why is it so important to set aside so much land, so many resources and tax dollars to make this happen?

Amy McMillan (13:56)
So I

I am so incredibly grateful for the foresight and the commitment that our legislature saw 85 years ago, right? Across the board, our legislature came together and said, this is something that we need to do for the residents of southeastern Michigan. ⁓ Because really, those 25,000 acres I talked about earlier, those 13 parks, soon to be 14 ⁓ when the water garden comes online,

⁓ in the upcoming weeks, they’d be subdivisions right now, right? ⁓ And we have, we certainly need to have places for people to live in Southeastern Michigan, but this land would be gone. It would be out of the public realm forever had they not thought about it. So one of the things that is true about the metro parks, that’s true of every public park system is

good public parks, well-maintained public parks, safe public parks, increased property values, right? ⁓ They are reasons why people come to areas to live and they’re reasons why people stay in areas to live by having great outdoor recreation. Here in the Metro Parks, we also, ⁓ we essentially manage millions of gallons of stormwater. ⁓

every year by virtue of the fact that we have these great public facilities, these public parks. ⁓ Water that stormwater doesn’t go into our lakes and our rivers and streams. It helps improve water quality here. People who come to the metro parks on their way here eat at local restaurants. They buy gas. They buy bicycles at Kensington Metro Park where my office is. Every single day I see people with ⁓

with cameras that have lenses as long and as big as my legs, right? And so we measure the economic impact of the metro parks ⁓ to demonstrate the return on that investment. ⁓ They contribute to public health, physical health and wellbeing. ⁓

They are part of the character of our communities. And ⁓ that doesn’t even get into the programming side where our interpretive staff is teaching kids about the outdoors and connecting them to nature. So they’re good stewards going forward and ⁓ bringing people into those careers. We’re a big employer in the area. During the summer, we have 1,000 employees at the Metro Parks.

Anthony Codispoti (16:38)
That’s impressive. And structurally, how is the group organized? I’m guessing non for profit or is this like a government arm? How is this set up?

Amy McMillan (16:49)
So we are actually our own form of government. are formally with the Heron Clinton Metropolitan Authority. We go by Heron Clinton Metroparks. But an authority in Michigan is created specifically to do one task and one task only. So in Michigan, there are some roads authorities and… ⁓

But the Metro Parks are an authority, our sole focus, the only reason we exist, the only job we have to do every day is to take care of the Metro Parks, to bring that value back to the people who live in our region. And that’s what we do. We have a seven member board. Our board is nonpartisan. Five of those seven folks represent each of the five counties that we serve. then, no.

Anthony Codispoti (17:36)
And are they elected?

Okay. Okay.

Amy McMillan (17:38)
They’re appointed. So

they’re appointed by their county boards or their county executive. It’s a little bit different from county to county. And then the governor appoints two people to four year terms. And those governor appointees ⁓ generally live in our region, but their job is to also represent the state as a whole.

Anthony Codispoti (18:00)
Fascinating. So it’s a type of government entity. ⁓ What are you most excited about other than the new park opening up that’s coming around the bend for the park system?

Amy McMillan (18:04)
Yes.

well, it’s, ⁓ that’s like, it’s kind of like asking you to pick your favorite child, right? but there are a bunch of things that I’m super excited about. have a ton of projects going on right now that are meant to improve accessibility in the parks that are meant to improve connectivity. The original vision for the Metro parks was this create, ⁓ was to link all of our parks to one another by a roadway.

And that never happened over the years for a whole bunch of reasons, me, but…

our vision has shifted a little bit and to connect all of our parks by non-motorized pathways, right? So in our region, trails are always the number one priority across the board when we do community surveys. And we’re working mile by mile, section by section to bring that vision to life. And we have ⁓ a big project we’re working on right now with the DNR and MDOT and a couple of local partners, including the Living

County Road Commission to use funds that then Congresswoman Slotkin, now Senator Slotkin, brought back to us for designing a bridge that goes over US 23. So people can bike and walk.

safely and connect that side of our system. So incredibly excited about that. ⁓ We are just wrapping up the summer version of our Everyone in the Pool program, is teaching kids throughout south, southeastern Michigan, pardon me, I get really excited and I talk too fast, ⁓ how to swim and we’re headed into the school year where we’re funding swim lessons for kids throughout

the school year. ⁓ So we’re so proud of that and our work with partners throughout the region. And then my interpretive department, which has won awards all over the place, created this program three years ago.

⁓ to it’s called supplemental science, which sounds not exciting at all, but really actually is where our team goes into schools every day of the week and really sort of takes over science classes, right? And they do this all year long with our schools who are partners and

⁓ You can see the video on our website about how kids experience with science, how they think about themselves and they think about their connection to the outdoors has changed as a result of this program. And so that kind of generates.

Anthony Codispoti (21:01)
changed in what way?

Amy McMillan (21:03)
You know, we often hear kids, you know, I think science is, you know, I thought science was boring or I thought I wasn’t smart enough or I didn’t think that, you know, I didn’t understand how science and nature are connected. And so when you, if you see that video, you can see how kids are like, I am smart enough. I think this is super cool. Now I’m going to think about going to college and learning about this particular thing so I can change the world in this particular way. And

I it’s just like the greatest thing ever.

Anthony Codispoti (21:35)
Yeah, sounds like

a wonderful feeling inside. Do you ever find it difficult to kind of balance? ⁓ You know, you’re trying to enhance public access to the resources, which means more development. ⁓ And obviously, you know, being part of the park system, there’s obviously this, ⁓ this feeling of environmental stewardship. Do those ever feel conflicting to you?

Amy McMillan (22:04)
⁓ At this point in our place as an organization,

not as much directly for us, right? Because we’re a mature park system. have these 25,000 acres. We’ve been really intentional about how we’ve put all of these parks and acreage together. I know a lot of ⁓ my colleagues at the local level struggle with that a little bit more than we do here at the Metro Parks. And certainly across the US in communities that are large urban communities that are fully developed, it can be

really hard. know for example in LA being able to acquire property for public land is really hard. The City Parks Alliance does a great job in assisting parks and recreation organizations throughout the US with that work.

Anthony Codispoti (22:59)
Is there any particular environmental initiative that you’ve been a part of that you’re particularly proud of?

Amy McMillan (23:09)
Well, so one of the, ⁓ in the big sense, the thing that I’m most proud of is that we have our own natural resources department here at the Metro Parks. We intentionally created a department to do this work, to focus in on water quality, to focus in on invasive species, to set goals for storm water management, to do all of this work.

and to do it on a really hands-on and focused way ⁓ because it requires intentionality to get that done, right? And we work with folks at the state level, folks at the local level, folks at the federal level to bring in the resources to get that done. And then on the education side, I spoke a moment ago about our interpretive department so that we marry those things together. ⁓

And then specifically, I would say one of the things I think that we do that is really the most impactful is the decision making that we do around stormwater management. And some of it is really as, well, it sounds simple sometimes, it’s not as continually working to reduce the amount of area that we mow.

So the longer the grass is, harder it is for the, or the better it filters the water on its way into our lakes and rivers and streams. ⁓ And that’s, and it helps to mitigate flood damage, which has been a huge issue for us in Southeastern Michigan. So all of those things kind of wrapped together are the top of my lists of things I’m proud of.

Anthony Codispoti (24:50)
We’re recording this interview on Monday, September 29th, 2025. And yesterday, Sunday, the 28th of September, there was a tragic event that took place in your very backyard. Can you talk to us about that?

Amy McMillan (25:06)
Yeah, yesterday in Grand Blank Township, which is a community in southern Genesee County, there was a mass shooting at a church of the Latter-day Saints. ⁓ It’s still unknown how many people ⁓ will have died as a result of the shooting because the church ⁓ collapsed after the shooter set it on fire. At the Metro Parks,

We have our own police department and the Genesee County Parks have their own police department as well. And so we’re really connected to the law enforcement community. ⁓ Our police department was called out as part of mutual aid to the scene yesterday and our drone team spent hours and hours searching the wreckage of the church. ⁓ One of our former officers at the Metro Parks is currently an officer with the Grand Blank Township Police Department and

Of course, our officers know everyone in the law enforcement community. I know a lot of folks in the law enforcement community in Genesee County because I was there for 18 years and I have just the most respect and admiration for the work that they’re doing on site and everything they do to keep us safe. So.

It’s a really somber day for us.

Anthony Codispoti (26:35)
Yeah. And you know, as people across the country have watched this news unfold, obviously it hurts all of our hearts. There’s something different that happens when it’s in your backyard. It hits you in a different way. ⁓ and when you know people who are at the frontline responding, it becomes even more real. And so it’s clear you’ve got a heavy heart. The folks that you work with now are.

They’re trying to make sense of what just happened. How, as a leader, do you sort of put yourself in front of that group and encourage people to move forward? Is there a speech that you can give? Is there some guidance that you can provide in a moment where things just don’t make sense?

Amy McMillan (27:30)
You know, I wish there were just sort of the words that we could call immediately to mind that would do that. And I’m not certain that there ever are really any. ⁓ For us here over the course of the last 24 hours or so, it has been.

It’s been reaching out to each other, right? And to our folks in the law enforcement community providing support for our officers who’ve been on scene. It’s trying to ⁓ dial down the temperature, right? To be respectful of one another, to understand the value that people bring. ⁓

And so that’s how that how we try to address it. Here at the Metro Parks, we were talking earlier in our conversation about the programs that we’re doing, you know, in terms of access and education and in that that focus of equity, right, so that everyone feels welcome in our parks. Everybody has a place to come and experience the

peace and the healing that nature provides. And so we try to do that in a really, really practical way and to be here to listen and to be part of our community and provide that support that’s needed.

Anthony Codispoti (29:01)
You’ve talked before about ⁓ the pride that you have and all the different training programs that you provide ⁓ for your staff internally. Is this something that is part of that training? Can you plan for something like this?

Amy McMillan (29:18)
So I think, unfortunately, everybody has to plan for something like this, right? First, we plan to try to prevent some tragedy like this from happening. And ⁓ we also plan on how to respond if such an event occur. And this is something our police department trains around. Internally, we train with local departments. part of a regional training initiative. We work to make certain that we have

great equipment, right? So we have a drone team. have ⁓ a canine officer who is ⁓ all too often called out when threats are called into schools, right? To help make sure that there are no bombs on site. ⁓ We have a pretty sophisticated ⁓ communication system within the metro parks to

to warn our staff and others to communicate immediately should such ⁓ an incident ⁓ occur. ⁓

We don’t think it could never happen to us, right? ⁓ We pray, we hope that it never will, but we know that it could. And so we do our best to to prepare if it does and to prevent if we can.

Anthony Codispoti (30:53)
Moving to something a little bit lighter, ⁓ you talk about the training and the preparation that goes into an event like this. Talk to me in general about the level of training and prep that you’re able to provide to your team members.

Amy McMillan (31:08)
So here at the Metro Parks, one of the things I love about absolutely every segment of our workforce, I…

Park maintenance, interpretive, police, HR, accounting, you name it. Our workforce is really dedicated always to improving their skills. And I can’t tell you how many times a week I am signing somebody’s training request to go to a conference, to be part of a workshop, to participate in a webinar. We offer our full-time employees tuition reimbursement and our…

Our team is really great at that. And in fact, we do a bunch of trainings with our partners throughout the region. Our interpretive department hosts teacher trainings, particularly for science teachers throughout the area. ⁓ They’re just a really dedicated workforce to.

to learning and to keeping up and knowing what the best practices are and putting those practices to use so that we are leading the trend, right? And that we are inspiring others to be part of this work.

Anthony Codispoti (32:21)
That’s great. You mentioned the tuition reimbursement. I’m curious if there are other approaches you found that make the park system such an attractive place to work that helps with that recruiting. And then once you hold on to good folks, how do you retain them?

Amy McMillan (32:38)
So one of the things we’ve been really lucky about at the Metro Parks is first we have a really, we have a long time workforce, right? When people get a job at the Metro Parks, they tend to stay for their careers because it is, I mean, of all the public park systems in the state of Michigan, which are all great in their own way, there’s something really magical about working at the Metro Parks.

Seriously, to pull me out of Genesee County, really speaks to the just the organization and the mission and the work.

that we do here. We try, we work really hard to be competitive with our wages and our benefits. And of course that gets harder ⁓ every year during the summer for the seasonal and part-time staff. offer ⁓ bonuses throughout the summer. So if you stay for a certain number of days, you get a certain number of dollars on your hourly wage bonus, and then that escalates throughout the summer. ⁓

So people have an incentive to stay. They have an incentive to come back. ⁓ And we do all the things that everybody else does too. We do community outreach and those sorts of things. But right now we’re interviewing for a position in our interpretive department. And all four of the finalists are from outside of the state of Michigan. They’re from the West Coast. They’re from…

Yeah, I

know, right? So we love bringing people back to Michigan, right? People who might have left and or have not considered Michigan because we’re, we think this is a great place. My family’s lived in Michigan and farmed here for 135 years. And so, yeah, it’s all of those things that come together, a pride of place, the work experience, the culture that we work to build.

⁓ We think that’s what makes us special.

Anthony Codispoti (34:44)
You mentioned before, ⁓ you know, some place like LA, really hard for them to be able to acquire new land to add into their park system. But generally speaking for you, how does that process generally work? How are you ⁓ identifying opportunities to acquire land? Are you generally acquiring them from private owners? Is there some sort of a special transaction that takes place there?

Obviously the parks have a limited budget to work with. I’m curious to hear how that works.

Amy McMillan (35:17)
Over time, most of our property has come from private owners. And that’s one of the things I always think about. have, ⁓ there’s this particular area at Stony Creek, ⁓ which is called the Sheldon Trails. And it’s named after the Sheldon family. And it has some remnants of the foundations of the historic buildings that were there at one time. And I always have this feeling about how lucky we are.

do have this property because I will absent a huge lottery win, right? I would never ⁓ have the opportunity to be on property like this, to connect with nature like this, to be outdoors in this way if it weren’t for the foresight of the people who had acquired that property. ⁓ And

And now we have our property acquisition goals are really centered around areas if they have like a specific interest from an ecological perspective or if they abut our existing properties so that we are continuing to provide a buffer ⁓ from from those areas.

Anthony Codispoti (36:29)
Are these ever these properties ever donated or is it always you know, like a traditional cash transaction?

Amy McMillan (36:37)
We haven’t had any properties donated ⁓ in quite some time. ⁓

In early acquisitions, going back to around the 70s, there were probably people who donated part of the cash value of the property. But most of it was acquired, either directly utilizing our own funds or utilizing grants. In Michigan, we have a grant program called the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund. And it helps communities ⁓ by, I think it provides about 75 %

of the funds to acquire park property. So in Michigan, that’s a really great tool for communities that are still trying to acquire property.

Anthony Codispoti (37:25)
But for you, sounds like that’s much more limited in scope now.

Amy McMillan (37:28)
Yeah, is. Thankfully, ⁓ people who did all of the hard work and heavy lifting of that preceded me.

Anthony Codispoti (37:37)
What’s something about your job, Amy, that most people would find surprising?

Amy McMillan (37:45)
Well, one of the questions in people in public parks, we’re always hear from the public is like, well, what do you do when summer’s over? We hear that a lot in Michigan, right? And it’s just like, if you looked at my calendar, you’d know that really it’s always all hands on deck every minute of every day. It is.

I never get to spend as much time in my parks as I would like to because leading a large system and making sure that our business operations are focused on bringing in the revenue that we were required to sustain the parks, developing partnerships at the community and regional level and beyond funding initiatives, all of these things that we do to make it look like.

It’s easy. ⁓ We do all the time. And so that’s what people don’t really necessarily understand every day. And it’s great that they don’t.

Anthony Codispoti (38:47)
So.

Well, so let’s dive into that just a little bit. what, what happens that’s different in the winter, right? Because, right. Things get cold there. They freeze over. People stop going to the parks as much. What, what does your winter schedule look like?

Amy McMillan (39:07)
So ⁓ winter start, the start of winter is really all about the budget, right? Developing the budget for the upcoming year, forecasting revenues and doing a ton of the work that is required to ⁓ bid and purchase everything that’s required in the parks during the summertime.

⁓ For me, I spend a lot of time year round really interacting with partners, developing initiatives, working on funding. ⁓ Our marketing, of course, is year round because if you can’t tell the story of what you do, people don’t have access to it, right? And again, we love our parks, so we love to tell the stories about our parks.

⁓ I sit on a number of committees and initiatives throughout the region that are looking at larger issues. We have a really active climate action group ⁓ that meets year round internally that develops goals for us as relates to climate action also on our website. And so that’s all about the program development, the management of those programs. ⁓

in its own way, it’s, you we’re a public business, right? We just have a really, you know, we have a really great break room.

Anthony Codispoti (40:23)
Yeah.

A really great break room, the parks. I like that. ⁓ Amy, what’s a serious challenge that you’ve overcome earlier in your life? How’d you get through that and what did you learn?

Amy McMillan (40:28)
Yeah, the parks, yeah.

Just personally, I think that, you know, like so many people, like the biggest challenge I’ve always had has been managing grief. You know, and I, talked a little bit about the circumstances that happened in Grand Blank Township the day before this interview, but.

both of my parents have passed away in recent years. so ⁓ really coming to terms with that and you know that that just ⁓ they were such great people and such wonderful parents. They made my entire life possible. ⁓

is I think probably the biggest personal challenge that I’ve always said, you know, other things go up and down in the way that everybody’s life does. ⁓ But that’s something that sticks with you and making, you know, being able to find your path forward ⁓ in a way that ⁓ honors them, right? Not just in terms of achievements, but… ⁓

I think just like I’m sure like most parents, the thing my parents wanted most for me and my brothers was for us to be happy, right? And so figuring out how to do that is always a work in progress. I’m really lucky in that I a great job, right? I’m surrounded by people that are important to me and that…

⁓ you know, you know, think I’m a good person and ⁓ in a great community. But I would say that’s just like the biggest, that’s the biggest life challenge.

Anthony Codispoti (42:37)
What were each of your parents’ names and when did they pass, Amy?

Amy McMillan (42:41)
So my mom’s name was Patricia Marie O’Sullivan McMillan. Yes, just a little bit Irish. ⁓ yes, she passed away four years ago. And my dad’s name was Don McMillan, not Donald, but Don. And he passed away 24 years ago this year. ⁓ They were married all of their lives. They… ⁓

Anthony Codispoti (42:46)
⁓ just a little bit Irish.

Amy McMillan (43:10)
They were just, they were really great parents. Not that, you know, take us to Disney World every other weekend type of thing, but ⁓ they taught us great values. Family was the center of their lives. They… ⁓

You know, they were each born in 1938, so when they got married at 25, they were old for their generation to get married, but they had done the things they wanted to do and they wanted to have a family, so they were really intentional about that. And, you one of the things my parents did for me that has really kind of set the course for my entire life is when I was young, they told me if I worked hard enough,

I could do anything I set out to do. Now they never thought I’d think I’d wanted to be like the president of the United States or anything like that. ⁓ But I came up through my profession at time when most of the leadership was men, right? And public parks often really struggled to find a place in budgets and priorities in local government. so, ⁓

it probably never occurred to me as a kid that I shouldn’t believe my parents when they told me something. And so I believed that with my entire being. that’s what’s allowed me to be successful and stick ⁓ to my path in times that were uncertain or challenging. ⁓ So I’m just, know, greatest gift ever.

Anthony Codispoti (44:50)
What have you found to be helpful for you, Amy, in the grieving process that maybe is a lesson you can share with our listeners?

Amy McMillan (45:00)
I know this is going to sound biased because we’re talking about but serious being outdoors, being in nature, moving. ⁓ I have, I have dogs and horses being with my animals is really ⁓ healing for me. I spend a lot of time with my family of three nieces and they’re in their twenties now and I love that. But I just,

I know. I take a lot of comfort from the work that we do because I know that other families take comfort in that. I know that we are creating memories.

for families every single day. There’s somebody in Southeastern Michigan who’s always remembering a family reunion that they had at Lower Huron, right? Or when they went on a bike ride with their sister or their best friend. ⁓ And so that all ties us together that way. And I think it gives us purpose. And having purpose gives me a tremendous amount of comfort.

Anthony Codispoti (46:06)
Setting all humility aside Amy, how would you characterize your superpower?

Amy McMillan (46:14)
you

I think my superpower is that I’ve had incredible mentors over the course of my career ⁓ that were, their superpower was being patient with me, right? Because when you start in a professional career ⁓ as a director at 24 years old, ⁓ a lot of patience is required. And so,

the fact that people saw some potential in me and that ⁓ they supported me and guided me and encouraged me ⁓ everywhere that I’ve been. And at some point that I’ve listened to them, I think that’s a superpower that has helped me be where I’m at today.

Anthony Codispoti (47:11)
So interesting to me, your answer about what your superpower is. You’re actually giving credit to your mentor. Your superpower, you’re telling me, is the mentors who were behind you.

Amy McMillan (47:23)
Yeah.

Yeah, it really is.

Anthony Codispoti (47:29)
And what has that helped to develop in you?

Amy McMillan (47:34)
⁓ so I think, you know, working in government is hard. ⁓ and when you work in small communities, the Metro parks is really different this way. gets, it can get really personal and just, I don’t know if I have really polite words to describe some of those experiences over time, right? ⁓

And so being able to develop that sense of stick to itiveness, there are, there’s a saying in the private sector that time kills all deals, right? But in the public sector, it’s really different. It’s like you have to have time to make things happen. And ⁓ there, for example, in in Genesee County, one of the things that we had started talking about when I arrived in the county was

how the county could ⁓ help city parks, parks in the city of Flint in particular, because the city parks had been in decline for a couple of decades. And there were no Genesee County parks in the city of Flint. Sort of like there was no Metro Park in Detroit here. so, park by park, we developed this vision about how the county could collaborate.

with the city to make that happen. And it took forever. so people will talk about that even now when I go back and I’m like, yeah, they’re like, it took eight years and five minutes. And it was the five minutes of finally getting to yes, that made it happen. having that vision, sticking with the understanding that, you know, you’re going to have

you’re going to take one step forward, two steps to the side, a step and a half back, but you have to do that over and over and over to make those things happen. Our goal this year was to teach

over 4,000 kids to swim for free in southeastern Michigan. We met that goal. Next year it’s 5,000. The year after that is six. You know, three years ago we were teaching zero kids, the Metro Parks were teaching zero kids to swim for free in southeastern Michigan. So it’s, you know, having that vision, believing that you can make it happen, figuring out the pieces, being

open to the idea that your original ⁓ idea of how it’s going to work might not be the way that it actually works and just sticking with it. That’s how things happen. That’s how we change our communities. We change our organizations. We change our lives that way.

Anthony Codispoti (50:31)
to get you to be prepared every day to face these challenges. Are there things that you do to start your day, some habits or rituals that you engage in?

Amy McMillan (50:43)
Well, I’m a big fan of caffeine, which I’m not sure is the best thing. But I try to do the things that everybody else does. I get some sleep, get some exercise. ⁓ My house is a 30 minute walk from the barn where I board my horses. And so I like to go out in the morning and give them a banana and clean them off so that they’re clean and happy when they go outside. ⁓

I taught, I have an 89 year old aunt who is the last living member of the, of my parents’ families. And I talked to her every morning at seven o’clock in the morning and every evening on my way home from work having that. And I used to do that with my, my parents as well. You know, so having those, those relationships, those connections that, and knowing that’s, that’s there, something to look forward to. That’s what works for me.

Anthony Codispoti (51:41)
If you had to recommend a book, a podcast, maybe even a course that you’ve taken to our listeners that was really helpful for you, what would you suggest?

Amy McMillan (51:55)
I, okay, so I read about 800 pages every weekend. I love to read. And I have a hard time remembering titles of books from one book to another. ⁓ So rather than pointing out one, I would say read, just like, seriously, like flat out, read, read for entertainment, read for enjoyment. ⁓

Read for learning, too, but just that idea of putting yourself in a different place. And I listen to a ton of podcasts. They vary depending on what I need. ⁓ And I try to understand different points of view, too, right? So that I’m not like locked into my own world. So I would say like, seriously, be curious, right? Dial something up. Read.

⁓ and I’m a little obsessed with the New York Times. So my New York Times app is probably my favorite reading. And I always ⁓ start with a great read. Every day there’s a section called the great read. That is always really wonderful. I always learn something from it. Yeah.

Anthony Codispoti (53:12)
I love that. Just read and

be curious and ⁓ be open to other viewpoints. No. You know, sometimes in our lives we go through hard things or what we might call mistakes in the moment. then later in life, we look back on those moments almost with a sense of gratitude because what felt like an error

Amy McMillan (53:22)
100%.

Anthony Codispoti (53:41)
mistake, a misstep in the moment actually helped to propel us in a different direction. Can you think of a moment like that in your life?

Amy McMillan (53:49)
yeah, so ⁓ I’ll go back to Genesee County. ⁓ The first millage in Genesee County, the parks are partly funded by a millage tax, a tax.

worked really hard, had to renew it the first couple of years I was there and it passed at a 75 % rating, which was great. I mean, it was really reflective of the work that my team and I had done. We even beat the renewal for, I think, the EMT millage in Genesee County that year. So that was super great, felt really great about it. And so we decided we were going to go for an increase in the millage the next time.

And that failed. It failed really big. was a huge failure. And it required us to go back and really understand how it failed. Who we talked to, how we were working in the community, who we were listening to, right? And ⁓ it was seriously devastating. And ⁓ the next time that we…

⁓ we went out for an increase was in 2014. The millage had not been increased in Genesee County in 40 years. And that year, we passed the millage increase by the same margin we had lost it the time before. And so,

I always say that that millage campaign probably took two years off my life and it was 100 % worth it ⁓ because it set the parks in Judson County on a much more stable financial path. ⁓ But the first time we did, it was, I can’t even tell you how terrible it was. Yeah. Yeah.

Anthony Codispoti (55:43)
Right, you would come from this place of great momentum from the

previous time where you pass by 75%. I don’t know anything that gets passed by 75%. Right? You typically have 40 % of people on one side or the other, and it’s the 20 % in the middle that you’re trying to get. And so you felt good going into it and fall flat on your face. And so what did you learn from that time that you changed in that?

Amy McMillan (55:58)
exactly.

Yeah, because people.

Anthony Codispoti (56:11)
that next time that you guys were so successful.

Amy McMillan (56:14)
So one of the things we learned is, first of all, had to, the millage language was difficult to understand ⁓ and it needed to be more straightforward. ⁓ But what we also learned is the Genesee County Parks had about 200 employees at the peak of the season. And so one of the things that we learned,

and recognized was that each one of those 200 employees had a circle of at least 10 people that were going to be voting on our Park Millage. People who were their family, people who were their neighbors, people who were their friends, and then each of those people had 10 people. And so we really learned to utilize our base of employees to get our messaging out.

right? Because they were the people that their friends and their neighbors trusted to listen to and feel connected. And the idea that nobody wants to pay more in taxes, but this is the value that you get for those those taxes. That’s what really that involvement, that engagement of our organization internally is what allowed us to be successful externally.

with that issue.

Anthony Codispoti (57:35)
Amy, I’ve just got one more question I want to ask, but before I do it, I want to knock out a few things. First of all, folks, the best way to get in touch with the park system, you’re not going to believe the domain name that they have. It’s metroparks.com. I don’t know who at what stage in the early days of the internet, I had the foresight to grab that name, but metroparks.com is the best way to get in touch with them and see all the

benefits and the services and the beautiful parks that they have to offer. ⁓ Also, as a reminder, if you want to get more employees access to benefits that won’t hurt them financially and carries a financial upside for the company, reach out to addbackbenefits.com. And finally, if you take just a moment to leave us a comment or review on your favorite podcast app, we will be forever grateful. Last question for you, Amy, you and I reconnect a year from today.

one year from now and you are celebrating something big. What’s that thing that you hope to be celebrating one year from today?

Amy McMillan (58:38)
One year from today, I expect that we will have we will be doing a ribbon cutting if we haven’t yet done it on the reopening of the pool at Lake Erie Metro Park. We had to close it a few years ago. It’s taken three years to put together the funding and ⁓ get it reopened. It’s a centerpiece of that community and that park and

I cannot wait. I’ve told her this day, even if it’s after Labor Day, we will open that pool for one day so everybody can be in it.

Anthony Codispoti (59:10)
And for people who maybe have been familiar with that pool in the past, what will they notice that’s different today?

Amy McMillan (59:18)
it’ll be more accessible. will. ⁓ The area of the pool will look. It will look. ⁓ It will look the same, but better, right? It will look totally refreshed like it did, and it will be the same iconic experience that they have expected there and they have missed so greatly because every single day I swear to you 100 people coming into the park ask when it’s going to be reopened.

Anthony Codispoti (59:45)
Exciting. Well, Amy McMillan from Huron Clinton Metro Parks in Southeast Michigan. I want to be the first to thank you for sharing both your time and your story with us today. I really appreciate it.

Amy McMillan (59:55)
Thanks for the opportunity. Really, it’s been great.

Anthony Codispoti (59:59)
Folks, that’s a wrap on another episode of the Inspired Stories podcast. Thanks for learning with us today.