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Milton and Mane
Welcome to Milton and Mane, the City of Milton, Georgia's official podcast—a dynamic space where community connection meets insightful conversation. Whether you're a resident, local business owner, neighboring government official, or a curious listener from afar, this podcast is your gateway to understanding Milton on every level.
Each episode is designed to bring you closer to the heart of our city, offering behind-the-scenes stories that humanize the people who keep Milton running. You'll gain valuable insights into local government operations, discover new opportunities, and hear from the voices that shape our community. Expect to learn about our rich history, stay updated on future developments, and explore the vibrant arts, culture, and sustainability initiatives that make Milton unique.
Join us as we celebrate our community, encourage civic engagement, and share inspiring stories that resonate beyond our city limits. Subscribe today and be part of the conversation that's building a better Milton, one episode at a time.
Stock Music provided by ikoliks, from Pond5
Milton and Mane
Let's Talk Parks: Fields of Fun with Tom & Micaela!
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The fun in Milton is growing, and this episode gives you a peek at what’s coming next. Parks and Rec Director Tom McKlveen and Specialist Micaela Burke join host Christy Weeks to talk about two big projects: a long-awaited new park in Deerfield and major upgrades at Milton City Park and Preserve.
You’ll hear how community input, creative planning, and a lot of heart are shaping the future of recreation in our city. From ballfields to playgrounds to pool parties, this one’s packed with reasons to get outside and get involved.
You won't want to miss this one, it is packed full of information and of course includes your daily dose of laughter. It's Parks & Rec, how can you not?
Ready to get involved? Visit MiltonGA.gov and head to the Parks and Rec tab to discover upcoming events, register for programs, and stay connected with all the exciting developments happening in our parks. Your perfect "third place" is waiting!
With the community in mind, this podcast explores the stories, people, and initiatives that make our community unique. Each episode offers insights into local government, highlights Milton's history and future developments, and showcases the vibrant arts, culture, and sustainability efforts shaping our city. Join the conversation, celebrate our community, and discover how we're building a better Milton together.
Do you have an idea for an episode or would like to request a specific topic to be covered? Email Christy Weeks, christy.weeks@miltonga.gov
Learn more about the City of Milton at www.miltonga.gov.
Welcome to Milton and Maine
Speaker 1Welcome to Milton and Maine, the official podcast for the city of Milton. We want to bring you closer to the heart of our community through stories that inform, inspire and connect. Each episode offers a behind-the-scenes look at the people, projects and priorities shaping Milton, covering everything from local government and future development to arts, culture, sustainability and public safety. Whether you're a resident, a local business owner or just curious about our city, this is your front row seat to what makes Milton special. Welcome back to Milton in Maine.
Speaker 1I'm your host, christy Weeks, the communications manager for the city of Milton, and today we've got a great episode lined up. Joining me is someone who's no stranger to making things happen in Milton, and not just regular things, fun things. I'm speaking, of course, of our Parks and Recreation Director, tom McElveen, and whether you've seen him at community events, checking in on a youth program or walking a park or a trail, tom plays a big role in helping shape Milton's outdoor spaces, as does our other guest we have, michaela Burke. She is the Parks and Recreation Specialist and I know for a fact that she has her hands in just about all things park and rec. So thank you both for being here. I'm really excited about this and I know Tom is too.
Speaker 2Christy, thanks for having me. It's going to be great. Thanks for having me.
Meet The Parks & Rec Team
Speaker 1It's going to be great, michaela, glad you could be here. So today's conversation could go just about anywhere and, to be honest, with these two, it probably will. So we're just going to roll with it. But we're going to focus on a couple of exciting topics the new active park plan for the Deerfield area and the updates that are going on out at MCPP. So all things are still in the early stages, but there's a lot of interest and a lot of anticipation, so we'll dig into what's being imagined, what's possible and what's going to happen next. But first we are kicking things off with a little game called who Said what? All right, yes, so I reached.
Speaker 2I feel like Makayla already knows this was coming.
Speaker 3No, I'm totally innocent. I have no idea, you have no idea.
Speaker 1So I reached out to your team and I can see you trying to see my notes and I know you're tall and you can see over everything. Quit looking, I won't cheat, you're cheating. And they gave me a few quotes, a couple of tidbits and some behind the scenes gems. So your job is to figure out who said what.
Speaker 2This will be easy.
Speaker 1Yeah, how well do you know your team? All right, so the first one.
Speaker 2We might need to edit this.
Speaker 1Maybe, maybe. Let's see First one. Short and sweet, I will say that Matthew. Yes, the next one. Tom is the brother I never had Jen. Ooh, good job, look at you. Go this one For such a busy guy. Tom always has time for his staff.
Speaker 2My team, so I'm going to go with my team, your team Dang it, you can hold off.
Speaker 1Hold off, let's listen to the next one. This is a longer one, so you've got to pay attention. My favorite fun fact about Tom is that he loves the feeling of a low-grade fever.
Speaker 2Oh, this is Emily.
Speaker 1Being chilly but feeling warm under the covers Weird fact, but it encapsulates everything about Tom. He's not afraid to say what his favorite things are like really, who likes the feeling of a low-grade fever? And he's never afraid to do the little jobs. Need someone to handle trash? It's Tom. Need someone to grab ethanol-free gas? It's Tom. Need someone to go to lunch with? It's Tom, which PS is his favorite meal of the day and, while still a leader, he's always available when you need him, and he's an important part of the team. Wasn't that lovely?
Speaker 2Yeah, she's very infatuated with my low grade fever thing. Well, it is a little strange she talks about it all the time.
Speaker 1I'm not going to lie that it is a little strange because I hate a fever of any sort.
Speaker 2The whole world's going to think I'm strange.
Speaker 1Well, you know, at least those here in Milton. Well, you are, you're so go, go, go.
Speaker 3I feel like maybe, if you get sick and you have an excuse to like, take it easy maybe is that what you like, I don't know, cause you're so busy. Yeah, that's it, that's it, that's it.
Speaker 1Here we go. Now I do have a couple of extras. Here's a quote provided by one of your team members. Taking on a challenge is a lot like riding a horse, isn't it? If you're comfortable while you're doing it, you're probably doing it wrong, ted Lasso.
Speaker 2I have no idea on this one.
Speaker 1Who provided that quote?
Speaker 2Yeah, I'll go, thomas, on that one.
Speaker 1Nope Jen.
Speaker 2Jen. I was going to say Jen. I already said Jen, though.
Speaker 1And here's one from the mouth of babes, which is only appropriate for a Parks and Rec person. Only appropriate for a Parks and Rec person. He's getting so irritated with me. He's like I'm so over this. No, just that, I got too wrong. The question was asked did you know it's Mr Tom's birthday on Thursday? How old do you think he is?
Speaker 2And the kiddo replied 61.
Speaker 3Oh, that had to be Max.
Speaker 2That was Max. That's my seven-year-old.
Speaker 1I got a kick out of that one because we're going to leave my age out of this. So the other one. Do you want to take a guess? Say it again, I'll try one more time For such a busy guy. Tom always has time for his staff.
Speaker 2I mean, it's true.
Speaker 1It is true, they all say it. And for this I feel, I feel like it is so obvious just by the demeanor of it, Thomas.
Speaker 2Yes.
The New Deerfield Active Park Plan
Speaker 1Thomas, that was really fun for me. Thank, you?
Speaker 2Did you have to? Did you send out an email to everyone to give you the questions she did?
Speaker 1I did, you can blame me. So, with all that, let's get into the parks, let's talk about some things. So I'm going to let you give us a little history, short, on Deerfield and what's coming and where we're at right now.
Speaker 2Well, I'm going to start by saying I'm not going to give too much away. This Thursday, at the Parks and Rec Advisory Board meeting, we are going to be revealing some final master concepts for the park that are going to incorporate everything that we've seen and heard from the public. But that property was acquired and was slated for the active park. It's a very unique shape, the way that the property is laid out.
Speaker 1So tell me again how many acres, 23 in all.
Speaker 2Two transactions, nice, two pieces of property, so we are kind of limited on where things can go based upon the shape of it. However, there's still so many options available to what we can do with some of the other areas outside of what we've identified as the real need for this park which is the baseball slash, softball fields and the multipurpose rectangles that we're going to put out there. But then there was a lot of input from the community, stakeholders to you know, help, guide us to.
Speaker 1How many of those sessions did you guys hold?
Speaker 2We had two public meetings, we had online surveys, and then we've had parks and rec board meetings as well, which I would count as public opportunities as well, and you had a lot of great response from those. Yes, we did. We even had public comment at council meetings too. That's awesome. So we feel like we got well-rounded results out of all those different methods of gathering information. Now we're kind of in the final stage here of releasing what the park really could look like.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2It goes into pretty good detail. We have exact number of parking spots it could have if parks and rec advisory board and council would approve this plan. It goes down to that level of detail. So we haven't seen that yet. We've had estimates on parking and how high we think walls could be in different areas, things like that. But it's every step of the way it gets more and more real and we get real tighter information on what it could look like.
Speaker 1It's really exciting from this side. I was going to say that's got to be really cool to take a concept that you know the community needs and be able to inch your way through creating this vision and making it start to come to life. I think that's super cool.
Speaker 2Yeah, yeah, our community is so engaged and we got great input in the public meetings even. Um, sometimes, you know, you don't really know what to expect, but we had good turnout in both of them, and it was wide varieties too, it wasn't just one group or supportive, you know.
Speaker 2Oh yeah, you know we're going to come out and we're going to push for this splash pad and we're going to have a hundred people show up. There was a wide variety and it was great to see that the community cared so much. We got an online. Results were really good.
Speaker 1And you had to sort through all those.
Speaker 2Yeah, yeah, yeah, we did, we did, and thankfully we have great consultants that help with that and kind of pump out all the information to us for us to look and see, and so you know what was reflected is in the plans.
Speaker 1That's awesome and that comes out Thursday, yeah.
Speaker 2Yes, and I think the community is going to be happy to see what it looks like.
Speaker 1So I do kind of have a question, just because I'm relatively new out on this side and sorry folks who have listened to me blather on about this in every single podcast, about how new I am to the city. It's true, and until they hire somebody after, me, I'm still the new person.
Speaker 2Is that the rule?
Speaker 1Apparently, until you stop saying it. What triggered it? I know fields were busy, I know we're packed to the brim on a lot of things, but this particular location, was it because?
Speaker 2this was a great location mainly due to the density in that area and there's really no active park over on that deer field side of town where we have really it is our greatest density in the whole city Bell Memorial Park. While it's not far from there, it's not in Deerfield.
Speaker 1And it's busy.
Speaker 2Bell Memorial. Yeah, oh, absolutely, absolutely, no matter where this park got put both are going to be busy, correct? But just due to the location and how many people can now walk to this park from their house, it was a no brainer and we're going to get more foot traffic through this park probably than any of our parks we have just from folks. I mean even Freedom Park. You know, I go to Freedom Park. I always see a couple of people that pass through Freedom.
Speaker 1I really like that park.
Speaker 2Yeah, well, now that there's all these other amenities at this park playground fields. There is going to be a trail loop there that's going to generate some use.
Speaker 1You betcha and with that being paired with destination deer field in the same yeah, it will, it's an idea benefit that side of the community.
Speaker 2You bet so much more yep, yep and now and now the destination deer field, you know, can plan around what this park has.
Speaker 1Right.
Speaker 2To round out the other features, if we're talking parks, yeah. In that plan there's going to be, you know, small pocket parks and things like that. So now we can kind of shape what those look like based upon what this park has.
Speaker 1And parks are so important. And I still cling to the one comment that Emily made in our very first podcast that we all did together, when she started talking about the third place. Everybody's got that third place. It's not home, it's not work, it's that third place in your life, that where you spend your time and for so many parents I mean your life is driven.
Speaker 2My personal life is driven by spending Monday through Thursday at a park.
Speaker 1Yeah, yeah, your kids are that age Me too.
Speaker 2Yeah, monday, wednesday till 630 and Tuesday, thursday till eight.
Speaker 1Yeah, that's. That's a lot. I do remember that I miss those days at the park. I mean I suppose I could go and drop in on y'all and go, hey, I'm here to enjoy your kids at the at the park, but it sounds a little creepy if you ask me. So what else do you want to tell us about that park, as as to what's going on and what happens after we go through Thursday?
Speaker 2So Thursday we will hopefully get the guidance we need from the Parks and Rec Advisory Board, then we'll tee it up to council for them to also approve that plan and then the next step after that would be going into contract for construction documents, something that we can physically bid out to build the park.
Speaker 1And in the perfect world, if I can ask, what's a timeline like that look like.
Speaker 2If I can ask, what's a timeline like that look like To get the contract put together? We're probably looking at nine months, six to nine months for doing the construction documents and then another 12 to 16 months to construct the park. There's a lot of earth that needs to be moved for this project. The topography is there's a lot of drop from one side of the park to the other. It can be done. It's just a little more complex than your typical park for fields would be a lot of trees out in that area.
Speaker 2Yeah, yeah, yeah, the property is very treed.
Speaker 1Yes, pretty typical georgia. Y'all have a lot of trees out here. I mean I love them, but you do Cool, you got anything you want to drop in that, Michaela.
Speaker 3I'm just looking forward to it, because my kids are in sports and then it'll be so nice to oh, take them to their practice or game. Fill up the car, grab dinner, drop into Target for the 80 things I feel like I have to buy every week.
Speaker 1Target is great for that Cool. What else we got going on with the park? Anything that we need to know about at this point? Or is there just more coming our way?
Speaker 2More coming our way. We are definitely, I'm more comfortable at this point pushing the concepts forward. Yeah, we do have an agreement in place with one of the neighboring properties to help us with the parking shortages that we have now, oh, right on. A little sneak peek for Thursday Some of that shortage of parking is solved within the plan, which is great, but we do have an agreement that we'll be going in front of council in the next couple of meetings that will relieve that parking concern that we had.
Speaker 1Was there a part of this process that you hard to say that you enjoy putting together the things like this, but I mean there had to have been something really cool about this project that got you all excited, just besides the need.
Speaker 2It was the need, though.
Speaker 3It really was.
Speaker 2We've had. We've had the master plan in 2017, said that this park was needed in 2017.
Speaker 1Oh wow.
Speaker 2So the fact that you know the land and the right location was identified and we were able to pull the trigger on it and put the park there. That's what got me all giddy inside Like, oh my gosh, this is going to happen. You know, I've been with the city since 2015. You know this was a long time coming. Now I'm also excited at the prospect of pickleball being in Milton.
Speaker 1Pickleball yeah, Are you a pickleball player? I'm good at pickleball only because of my length.
Speaker 2I was going to say you're like um and I was, and I was a tennis player as a as a kid, and I played through college. But cause you're not, not, not as a collegiate athlete but I played while I was in college.
Speaker 1You're six, five, yeah, our digits are completely opposite. I'm literally five, six a little vertically challenged over here.
Speaker 2Yeah, so I'm a much better pickleball player now than I am a tennis player, just due to the fact that I don't have to move as much.
Speaker 1My arms can cover like the whole field, without the whole court without even like taking but two steps. Tom's reading his text on one hand and he's hitting the ball with the other Oops. Christy would be running one side running to the other side.
Speaker 3Have you played pickleball?
Speaker 1No, why not? It seems like a team sport it doesn't have to be first of all.
Speaker 3I can play pickleball by myself.
Speaker 2Oh well, you have to play with somebody, okay, I can play pickleball by myself.
Speaker 3Oh well, you have to play with somebody, okay. Okay, well, tom can teach us how to play. When this new park is built, then.
Speaker 1Listen, I chose independent sports coming up. I mean cheer is technically an independent sport. I mean you are relying upon your team for certain things, but overall it just terrified me because I never wanted to let anybody down Like worst volleyball player on the planet. Badminton, not my thing, I do suck at ping pong.
Speaker 2I do suck at ping pong, you might not have a lot of hope in pickleball yeah.
Speaker 1I'm guessing that's not my sport, because I've never played tennis.
Speaker 3Well then she can cheer us on on the sideline and then we can play and you can beat me, since you have a really long wingspan and I don't. Let's shrink the court.
Speaker 1And tie one of Tom's hands behind his back. I don't need both.
Speaker 2We'll do an employee appreciation event. Oh yeah, we'll do a uh employee. We'll do an employee appreciation event.
MCPP Updates and Grant
Speaker 1Oh yeah, we'll do a tournament trying to eliminate me right off the top, aren't you? Let me tell you at the olympics thing that y'all did when I was brand new to the city and I had to jump rope in front of everybody, I killed it I mean, I could jump rope. I don't even know who won that, but I was a little upset. It wasn't me. But anyway, another one of those fun Parks and Rec things that we do. What do we got going on over at MCPP.
Speaker 3We won a grant for $500,000, and we are going to redo the parking lot and put in more parking spots. We have four tennis courts and we will have six new tennis courts and then we will have a playground behind the building.
Speaker 1Right on, so we have a cool grant going on. Any other details? The playground, big, one little one. What are we looking at?
Speaker 2I guess you're looking at me now. It's going to be small. It's just going to accommodate our summer camp and give them another activity to do, and the families that go to the pool there's really not room back there and we really don't want to get rid of that view shed when you look out the back patio and see that meadow back there, so we don't want to take away from that.
Speaker 2We get a lot, lot of rentals there and I know that view is part of it, part of the reason you would want to utilize that space, but, that being said, it's still a spot to have a playground and it would definitely get utilization. It would be in the. It is going to be in the back of the building, but it's really the only spot we have. The back of the building, meaning Behind the like, essentially behind the pool, so like if you're looking at the back doors to the right oh, I gotcha yeah okay, I gotcha yeah well, that's cool.
Speaker 1You guys have a lot of programming going on out there and y'all are getting ready to come into summer season, where the entire parks and rec floor is going to be vacant up here because y'all are going to be other places.
Speaker 2So yeah, yeah, the summertime is our wild time really, in parks and recreation. Your break time is maybe a week during the holidays, yeah, and then you transition from one season to another season to another. We just wrapped up our spring. Well, we were supposed to wrap up spring baseball this past weekend, oh, canceled. Yeah, well, we got a respectable amount of games in before the rain just finally took the fields out of commission, but they, I think about one o'clock is when we called the game. So half of our championships are over.
Speaker 1I'm about done with the rain now. We can switch.
Speaker 2I don't even know why the sun's out right now. It's kind of weird. Shh, leave it alone.
Speaker 1Sorry, I like it. Okay, I like it. This is all kind of cool because, if I remember correctly, when we first chatted, y'all told me that up until about two years ago, it was literally just you and Thomas.
Speaker 2It was me and Thomas. In 2020 and in 2021, about summertime, we became three and then we were three for a long time.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 3So just until a couple of years ago, we were three then me and thomas and me and thomas did it ourselves and prior to thomas, it was just to also me and the previous director.
Speaker 3So when I was researching stuff on milton's website before um I came in for my interview and I was looking at the parks and rec page and it just had tom and thomas. I was oh, I was just assuming, there was like an army of, like you know, other people or part-time yeah, underneath them. When I came in for my interview and Tom was like no, it's just us two, I was flabbergasted, like you guys do all this stuff with two people.
Speaker 1You all have expanded the programming. I mean that's true, yep. Hand over fist.
Speaker 2Yes, you know what I mean. Every year we get increases in our participation. It has not declined once. I love that, and you guys just are wrapping up.
Speaker 1as we're kind of closing this conversation out, I think it's really important to let everybody know that y'all are wrapping up the activities guide for fall and winter and that's coming out this month.
Speaker 2This month yes for sure.
Speaker 1So if you're interested, if you haven't already snagged the spring-summer one, which is available on the website wwwmiltongagov, under the Parks and Rec tab, you will find all the good stuff going on, because the amount of programs and cool stuff, everything from rafting camps, fishing camps, we've got. Michaela runs the book club Mahjong.
Speaker 3You guys really read a book a month. My goal every year is to read one book a week. I never meet that goal, maybe when my kids are older, you have children.
Summer Programs and Pool Opening
Speaker 1I was looking to get my teeth brushed, let alone read books, lord. So Toddler Tuesday, every Tuesday-ish.
Speaker 3We'll bring it back August 12th. That's when we start for the next school year.
Speaker 1That's awesome. The cutest photos came out of the Earth Day one. Yeah.
Speaker 2That was really cute.
Speaker 1Y'all did some good programming for that.
Speaker 2That was a good Toddler Tuesday.
Speaker 1Love that. And then Mahjong, and then, if you're looking for exercise, there's yoga. We've now got romans kicks and tricks that's very cool. I'm excited about that one non-contact martial arts well, you know what? I will tell you a little secret. I used to take kickboxing class.
Speaker 3And.
Speaker 1I used to teach like a turbo kickboxing class, which is non-contact, but I used to take an actual kickboxing class from my son's wrestling coach at his gym when we were in California. It was Mark Munoz. He was the Filipino wrecking machine in the UFC Amazing fighter, one of the nicest guys you will ever meet in your life. So it is contact. And I am holding pads for this very petite, pretty blonde and I have my pads up guarding my face and she's supposed to punch them. Well, I didn't realize she was going to hit that hard and it popped back and caught me in the nose before I had a family reunion type thing. So I roll in, I got a big old black eye.
Speaker 1It's like, yeah, this cute little blonde did it to me. I couldn't even go. Oh, you should see her. It wasn't even like that. I was so humiliated. And she's like, oh, I'm so sorry. It's like it's fun, though I do like kickboxing, it's a great sport, one of those things. What else do we have? I think we have water aerobics this summer.
Speaker 2We are working on it. We're working on getting water aerobics at the pool. We are.
Speaker 1Cool.
Speaker 2The pool is opening.
Speaker 1What's the day? Memorial Day, weekend day weekend. That saturday do we have an event?
Speaker 3going on at the pool? Sure do, christy. We have opening day. Uh, the pool opens at 11 am and that's when the event kicks off. It's from 11 am to 2 pm. We'll have two inflatable water slides. Kid create, one of our program providers will be there with a craft table. Yeah, uh, play well. Technologies is another program providers. We'll be there with a craft table. Yeah, playwell Technologies is another program provider and they'll be there with Legos.
Speaker 1I love all their themes that they come up with. Yeah, that's awesome. I would hate to be the one to have to clean up all those Legos. Yeah, cause you know I'm going to step on them.
Speaker 3I'll have the toddler Tuesday toys out. We'll have hamburgers on the grill. Fun, a DJ at the pool.
Speaker 1Is there registration for any of this, or is this open? Just show up, just show up.
Speaker 2No charge.
Speaker 3Ooh, that's great. Everything except, oh, Kona Ice will be there from noon to two. That's the only thing that you would have to pay for.
Speaker 1Cool, everybody likes Kona Ice. What else?
Speaker 2we got. I always give my kids a hard time about Kona ice. I'm like it's just sugar and water.
Speaker 1Right, exactly, I'll make you some at home. I got some vanilla extract.
Speaker 3You know, I bought one of those like the cranks for the ice, and I did it one time for my kid's birthday party because I was trying to save money.
Speaker 1And then I was like you know what.
Speaker 3I still have it somewhere, but I don't know.
Speaker 1Fun fact about Michaela she is literally the best baker. So if there's anybody around here and she has cooked more personal cakes and cookies and things for people's birthday, even mine- Awesome, and the coolest thing about it is she's not afraid to do something she's never done before for your birthday. Are you looking at? Are you looking at me? Because I won't play pickleball, Cause I'm afraid to play pickleball.
Speaker 2I feel like that was directed. I'm just saying, oh, I like this very weird obscure dessert. She'll be like, okay, I'll make it, and she's never made it before, and then it turns out amazing. That's awesome, you know a lot of people like have their one special thing and they can bake it up and it's great every time. Well, it doesn't matter. With Michaela she can just do anything.
Speaker 3I attempt. I have no patience for cooking, though.
Speaker 2Oh me neither.
Speaker 3My husband's a cook, I'll bake.
Speaker 1And there is a difference between cooking and baking. Yeah, a hundred percent. Yeah, like I'm a terrible cook, but I used to be able to bake when I wanted, all that stuff in my house when my kids were around. And now they're not around and nobody eats it, and then I eat it and it's a whole thing, and then I have to play pickleball to balance things out and I don't play pickleball, well, ball.
Speaker 3So we'll then just come to water aerobics then.
Speaker 1Oh, it sounds like it's an individual sport but I'm not sure We'll think about that.
Parks & Rec Website and Final Thoughts
Speaker 1I'll come, I'll get back to you on that one. So anything else you guys want to throw in there that everybody needs to know that's going on. If I can tell you anything, take a look at the website. Go over to the parks and rec tab and if you're interested in any programs, if you go down to the register for a program tab underneath Parks and Rec, you are going to get transferred over to something called Civic Rec where everything is. You can pick your tab if you're looking for arts or sports or camps. It's all there. Take a look, because there is literally something for everyone.
Speaker 2That's true. That's true Even. Even our program providers that are take the registration outside of Civic Rec. There's still a link to get you to their website and see what they've got to offer.
Speaker 1Yes, for sure. So take a look at it. It could be a great summer. Keep your kids busy, keep yourself busy, if you're looking for something like that. But head on over www. I'll say it again MiltonGAgov, check out our Parks and Rec Department, because when I tell you they're awesome, they literally are, and they do so much.
Speaker 3We know we're awesome, Christy.
Speaker 1I know I don't know why I had to throw that in there, but I felt like it was my duty. I don't know why I had to throw that in there, but I felt like it was my duty. But yeah, no, it's. It's fun sharing a floor with y'all. They allow me to sit in on their meetings and chime in when I have nothing to really input.
Speaker 3But we'll have the time where, like, oh my gosh, we have to remember to tell communications this or that, and then it's convenient. Hey, christie, oh yeah. I'm sitting there.
Speaker 2We are really rude and we do our staff meetings in this open space that's about 10 feet from Christy's desk.
Speaker 1I'll hear my name. What?
Speaker 2She'll hear her name and she'll like slide back in her chair and look over and be like do you want to join us?
Speaker 1And half the time she's like okay, well, you know, I do get to contribute a little bit and help with some flyers and signs. Which is the very cool part about my job is getting to do that stuff. So I do appreciate that.
Speaker 2Does that mean that you want us to send you more? No, I'm good, I'm just curious. I'm good.
Speaker 1Matthew has me busy until like next. July seriously with all his programs, but it's really a great opportunity for me and it's fun. I mean, you never not laugh. So while we're talking about Parks and Rec, I will go ahead and push out there that we do have a Wildlife 101 webinar coming up y'all this week. We had Yesterday's which was on frogs. If you want to see the frog one, go ahead head over to the website. It is there. You can view it for free at your leisure. The webinar for June is bears.
Speaker 2There's going to be some interesting facts about bears that come out.
Speaker 1I just I love bears, the frogs. Frogs are amazing. I find them hilarious, I don't know why, because there's always a little tree frog that snugs up on my window, so then you get to see the bottom of his feet.
Speaker 3I'll make sure I get one on my kitchen window and I'll just eat it while I'm washing dishes. It drives my cat nuts.
Speaker 1He's like I just want the frog. But yeah, we've got bears coming up. I cannot recall at this moment what July is, but August will be. Albeit it's not wildlife, it is very fascinating and it is about mushrooms, and we have some previous webinars also listed on our website If you're interested in any of them. All very interesting information and fun. So there's my parks and rec push.
Speaker 2This was fun too.
Speaker 1See, I told you, I told you it was fun, I had to convince him.
Speaker 2I like to make her nervous. You are the last person that makes me nervous Like she's like oh God, why are you have such a straight face, tom?
Speaker 1Oh, he did. He came in here he looked just baffled and I was like oh Lord, now I got to get him talking and he was fine. But I do remember. I think I said this in the interview. I just remember laughing because Tom was sitting to my left in my interview.
Speaker 2Yes, I was.
Speaker 1And I'm not sure at this point, if the HR person at that time said your last name, right, and you were like sure, yeah. And I was like are you sure that's your name? And I was like what made me think that was funny in my interview? I left there going, oh, christy, in your mouth.
Speaker 3Anytime I'm in my car and he calls me, it says it's from Tom McElveen. I like it, cracks me up.
Speaker 1Well, there are a lot of consonants.
Speaker 2Five in a row.
Speaker 1Someone did not know how to spell someone as soon as you said that, I started like counting in my head. Is that even legal? Someone got off the boat and it's misspelled it, and then that's just what it was for the rest of time, and now we have tom mickleveen mcleven oh is it mcleven.
Speaker 2Mcleven is the most common miss it's mackElveen.
Speaker 1Yes, okay, there's missing an A and like another E or an I or something, but I got it. I did have to ask a few times, I'm not going to lie he finally saw his new nameplate for his office after a month.
Speaker 3Oh, was that the?
Speaker 1oh, that was the After I had.
Speaker 3David change his nameplate as his April Fool's little gag.
Speaker 2And then he didn't notice.
Speaker 3What did it say?
Speaker 2What did it say, or what does it say what?
Speaker 1does it say oh, is it still hanging?
Speaker 2Huh.
Speaker 1It's still up. Yeah, I didn't change it.
Speaker 2Well, it used to say King of Parks, and then she changed it to the Mac Daddy of Parks, because at a Hall of Fame fame ceremony.
Speaker 3A council member called it, so that's what I changed it to oh I'm gonna start addressing you as that in all my emails.
Speaker 1Thank you for that mr mac daddy dear mac daddy, this is how it's going every day from now on. I'm just going to think of things to email you now, just for fun.
Speaker 2This conversation has turned parks and rec.
Speaker 1It has, it has and it is on my left. After attending y'all's last meeting, it is on my new watch list that I do. In order to understand 90% of what y'all are talking about, I have to watch parks and rec.
Speaker 2The fun fact about me is I have not watched. I mean, I've seen episodes here and there, but I have not like that is illegal.
Speaker 3That is illegal to be in the way that parks and recreation and have not watched show.
Speaker 1I feel like it's a prerequisite that needs to be on the job descriptions at this point. But anyway, thanks so much for joining me today. It was a lot of fun, as I knew it would be, despite Tom's face when he walked in and sat down, and I may share that picture later on. We'll never, you never know when it'll pop up.
Speaker 2Can that be like the podcast cover for today? Oh, it can. It absolutely can.
Speaker 1That's a great idea. I can work wonders with that, but I appreciate y'all being here, thank you, christy, you bet. Absolutely not the last time you'll be here, so stay tuned. I will email you probably sooner than later. Thanks so much for joining us today. I appreciate y'all tuning in and listening to what's going on around Milton and stay tuned, there's more coming your way.
Speaker 2Have fun out there.
Speaker 1Thanks for listening to Milton in Maine. We hope this episode gave you fresh insights into what makes our city so special. Stay connected and don't miss an episode by subscribing to this podcast on your favorite platform and following us on social media for all updates. And following us on social media for all updates. And, of course, if you want to learn more about the city, visit us online at wwwmiltongagov for resources, news and upcoming events. Until next time, thanks for being part of the conversation and we'll see you on the next Milton in Maine.