REGINA - The efforts of Regina’s Public Works employees were highlighted Thursday at an open house event on Albert Street.
Public Works Day took place Thursday afternoon, May 23 at the Public Works Yard. It was the highlight event in Regina of Public Works Week, running May 19-25.
The event was open to the public and also welcomed about 300 pre-registered school kids from grades two to four. Those kids had a chance to see for themselves the equipment used by public works crews on a regular basis in Regina, including the equipment used for summer road and undergrounds construction as well as during the winter to clear the ice and snow.
The theme for the week is “Advancing Quality of Life for All.” The event was designed to showcase the work and dedication of public works employees in the city.
“Honestly, it’s a really important message to get out,” said Mayor Sandra Masters. “If you think about it even if you look at our budgets, we know that begin roadways, water and sewer, that is a significant portion of our budget, but it’s also a significant thing the community depends upon. So we never want people to take it for granted. we don’t want our workers to feel like they’re taken for granted. They do a lot of good work, a lot of unsung heroes here. And really, from a child’s perspective it is very much about how things work. So they get to see some pretty cool machinery, they get to talk to some dedicated city staff and maybe learn a little bit more about how the taps turn on and the toilet flush and how the roads are completely smooth once they fill the potholes.”
The event also coincides with the time of year when construction activity for public works related projects really starts to ramp up. Road closures and construction work has already started for major projects happening right now at locations such as on Saskatchewan Drive downtown and along Dewdney Ave. in the Warehouse District.
For the kids, it’s about learning about the equipment they will see in action in Regina during the city’s construction season and also during the winter months.
“When the kids are driving down the road with Mom and Dad they’re going to see the construction happening,” said Deputy City Manager for City Operations Kurtis Doney. “They’re going to say: ‘oh, I’ve seen that equipment, I’ve seen individuals working on that.’ It makes it real for them to know that the important work that we do to repair the roads and fix the water is really improving quality of life for everyone in Regina.”
City staff were on hand to explain to the schoolkids how the various types of equipment worked and what they were used for. Among the more interesting equipment on display that Doney pointed to included aerial trucks that go high into the sky, diggers that go deep into the ground to work on sewer pipes, winter road maintenance equipment such as graders and snow plows, and street sweepers to collect the dirt and dust off the streets.
Doney said this was the first time the city had held a Public Works Week event in a number of years, going back to around 2016-17, and it was important to get back to doing these events for the public.
“It’s really important for us this year to open up to the public to encourage kids to come out to learn and share information with them. So it’s definitely something we used to do in the past; we’re bringing it back to share that information to the public and to let staff be proud of the work they do.”
