Public Works open house event

The City of St. Augustine invited all Historic City News readers to join governmental entities across the nation in celebration of National Public Works Week, May 15th through 21st with an open house on Saturday, May 21st.

The event is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. at the city’s Public Works Facility, 254 W. King St., just west of the Palmer Street – Pellicer Lane intersection.

The open house will include a wide variety of activities that are sure to entertain and inform every member of the family with drawings for door prizes and free hotdogs, drinks and popsicles.

Attendees will have the opportunity for up-close and hands-on activities including touch-a-truck display with truck descriptions, match-a-truck game, exhibition of a fire hydrant flow test, and a demonstration of how to read a water meter.

Sure to be a favorite will be the ‘utility locate hunt’ offering children the opportunity to look for underground pipes with the same equipment professionals use.

Educational information will include the city’s recycling program, tours of the water treatment plant and Adopt-a-Waterbody, which has been a popular program in St. Augustine, a community bounded on nearly every side by water.

Special giveaways for children include stickers and construction hats at check-in.

With over a hundred employees, Public Works is the city’s largest department and includes a variety of services that likely touches every resident and business in the city every day, including Streets and Grounds; Solid Waste and Sanitation; Water and Wastewater Treatment; Engineering; Transmission and Distribution; Pump Stations; and Meter Maintenance.

Certainly, the department provides and maintains the infrastructure and services of the city to maintain the health, safety and comfort of the city’s residents and businesses.