RM of Montcalm Receives Its First Ever National Public Works Week Award

On Wednesday, the Rural Municipality of Montcalm was presented the Canadian Public Works Association (CPWA) National Public Works Week Award.

This is the first time an RM in Manitoba has won an award in any of the CPWA award categories.

"It's a way of thanking the Public Works employees and staff," said CPWA Director Steve Blayney of Winnipeg.

"Often they're not thanked for getting up in the middle of the night to clear the streets during a snow storm, the regular maintenance, making sure that when you go to the shower in the morning the water is working," he added.

Blayney said the RM stood out because of their outstanding open house event in May, and their public outreach in the community.

"The board, when we voted, everyone was so impressed that a municipality with 1,200 and a bit... people in the community were able to surpass larger cities like Nanaimo and New Westminster, and they just did an excellent job," said Blayney.

Montcalm's open house event was well attended. Students from École St. Jean Baptiste toured the Public Works yard and played on the fire trucks, and $440 was raised for the Manitoba Firefighters Burn Fund.

"We showed them kind of a little bit of everything that we do," said RM of Montcalm Public Works Manager Chad Buhlin.

"We did have a lot of our water works stuff... the valves and plumbing and stuff that we have underground. We had a lot of our surveying gear there to show them how we do our ditching program. We did have an area set up with all of our current and future projects, so the public was able to come in and see drawings of the projects that are being worked on currently and how we control our drawing systems, as well as it gave them the opportunity to come and see the equipment that we use."

The event was open to all residents and neighbouring rural municipalities, and staff members were available to answer any questions.

"It's great to see that we were recognized against some much larger cities and towns," said RM of Montcalm Reeve Derek Sabourin.

He added the Public Works employees also used the open house in May to inform the ratepayers of current and upcoming projects.

"At the open house... we had a lot of information about the lagoon, projects that we're doing, and other projects within the municipality," said Sabourin.

The RM competed for the award against 5 other municipalities that entered the contest in the First Time Entry category.

National Public Works Week annually recognizes the tens of thousands of men and women in North America who provide and maintain the infrastructure and services collectively known as public works.