MOUNT PLEASANT - Public service is in Mount Pleasant Village President Carolyn Milkie's blood.

Her father served on the County Board for 40 years and her mother was on the Town of Mount Pleasant Board for a dozen years.

"I guess growing up and seeing your parents involved in the community at such a level, you want to do the same, you want give back to the community," said Milkie, who has been involved in public service for the past 12 years, the first seven in Sturtevant where she served as village president.

That community spirit continues to be the driving force behind Milkie today as she helps forge the future for Mount Pleasant while dealing with the village's growing pains.

"It's a challenge. You have to weigh everyone's comments and listen. You have to look at 25 or 30 years from now because they are going to look back and say that we did it right or that we messed up big time," she said during a recent interview. "It's like planting a tree. You don't plant a tree for today, you plant it for 30 years from now."

The village has in the works two tax incremental districts that call for major development during the next two decades. The municipality must build adequate infrastructure to handle the growth. Some of those projects, such as the reconstruction of Stuart Road, along with the pace the village is growing, has been controversial.

But from Milkie's vantage point, this is an exciting time for the village that requires focused leaders who are willing to listen.

"We listen. We listen to every comment that is made," Milkie said of her fellow Village Board members and village officials.

Village Administrator Mike Andreasen called Milkie an invaluable asset to the village.

"She's level-headed and compassionate about what she does," he said. "Carolyn is oftentimes, I think, misunderstood because she is relatively quiet, but she is very thoughtful and very measured. She is a very straight-shooting individual."

Andreasen said that being village president is a challenging role, given the amount of debate that occurs when important decisions need to be made.

"Carolyn has the proper perspective in order to do what she sees fit for the village as a whole," he added.

Milkie is a Mount Pleasant native and a graduate of St. Catherine's High School. The 53-year-old has been married 34 years and has two grown sons, one who lives in the area and the other who lives in Kansas City.

Family and the weather have kept Milkie in the area her entire life.

"I don't know if I could live where it's the same all year around," she said.

Milkie is a technical specialist at SuperValue's regional distribution center in Pleasant Prairie. She is currently involved with 2008 Easter candy order guides and verifying advertising. During her spare time, she is an avid gardener who enjoys the seasons.

"I like to see spring with its growth and fall with everything going to sleep and the anticipation of winter of what's going to be coming," she said.

She also spends her free time as a photographer and as a classic car collector with her husband and sons, who own a 1954 Ford F-100 truck.

"A lot of sweat and tears went into making something that you really like," she said. "It's a part of history, too. I view them as works of art."