After nearly four decades of working for the City of Swift Current, Andy Toth has decided to retire.

Toth started working for the City on June 2 of 1981 at the age of 20 working as the Recreation Centre Caretaker. In 1985 Toth was later hired as a park labourer where he would later get promoted to Subforeman II in 1989. Three years later he was promoted to Parks Foreman, and in 1995 he would take on his current role as Parks Manager for Recreation and Parks.

Toth said that the biggest change over his time working for the City has been the technology advances.

"Back in those days our irrigation capabilities were always manual systems," he said. "We utilized a lot of students to keep the parks green. Over the years we are now 95 per cent automated, where it comes on at night and conserves water. I think our play units and outdoor recreational facilities are in much better shape that it was. I think a lot of that is attributed to the introduction of annual capital maintenance and replacement and moving along with the growth development of parks."

Toth said that one of the many highlights of his time has been how ACT Park turned out.

"ACT Park turned out very well in terms of people using it and it was the City’s first all accessible park with a good size play unit, parking lot, a new building for the outdoor rink and some extensive tree planting there," he said. "The whole theme of that park turned out really well and we get a lot of visitors in the park, so it's turned out into a destination park, something that you would typically see in a larger park."

Toth said that overall his proudest moment was the team he put together.

"Just seeing the City grow, good organization, a good management team, and good support team," Toth said when talking about what he is most proud of. "I owe an awful lot to out staff, but our support staff outside, we are all on the same page. We have a mandate and our mandate is to always provide the best parks in Saskatchewan for our residents and our community and I think we've achieved that and I think that's something our residents should be proud of and that I'm certainly proud of."

Toth is set to retire at the end of the year and has put some thought into what he will do in his retirement.

"I have a son that's quite active in hockey and baseball, and I'll be heavily involved with that. I've got projects at home and I have a couple of old classic cars that I can tinker with," he said. " I think it's more, being able to have the time to do the things for yourself that sometimes can't get done because of other commitments. I think those are the things that I'll be paying attention."

Toth added that though he is looking forward to his retirement, it's going to be difficult for him to walk away and not report to work.

Currently, there is no replacement or anyone set to replace Toth, but Swift Current does have a job posting for the position.