Local Government Week in North Frontenac

Corey Klatt | Oct 25, 2012

On Oct. 15, 40 Clarendon Central students from all grades attended the municipal office for Local Government Week activities. This was  a great opportunity for the kids and teachers to see what is involved with the day-to-day operations in North Frontenac Township.

The kids started their day at the CAO’s Office. CAO Cheryl Robinson explained what a municipality does, the role of Council and her role as the Chief Administrative Officer. She discussed how there are many different departments and managers and the importance of her job in bringing back directions from Council to ensure the various departments work together to make North Frontenac a happy, healthy and safe place to live.

At the building department, George Gorrie showed student plans for a home an explained the pupose of building permits, and the importance of building inspection, to ensure homes are being built safely.

Evan Sepa did a mapping exercise with them, having a large map for them to place pins in, to show the location where they live. This map will be going to the school for display. Evan also showed the kids the 911 signs and the road signs and explained how he makes them. The biggest thrill for the kids was seeing the great big printer that is in Evan’s Office. 

Jenny Duhamel explained her role as Clerk and talked about planning.  She also gave a brief explanation on zoning and showed the kids her zoning maps. The children enjoyed this and showed Jenny where they lived on her maps. In the tax department, Andrea, Angela, Kelly and Naomi explained the purpose of taxes, so that the munipality can provide a rink to play at, community halls and other services.

Corey Klatt explained about the Crown Land Stewardship Program, community halls, streetlights, trails. The kids were particularly interested in the maps with the campsites and the picture of the night sky from our recent star gazing party.

The children met Jim Phillips, who taught them about the roads, waste sites, recycling, etc. Then they toured the garage, where they had questions for Jeff the mechanic, who happened to be replacing brakes on one of the 550s. They were amazed at the equipment in the garage and how big it was. From there the kids went to the sand shed and sat in the loader, grader and dumptruck. The kids asked if all the sand in the shed would be used this winter, how the brine works and what it does, and were amazed by the computer in the dumptruck. They loved honking the horns in the loader and the dumptruck.

Paramedics (Donna and Michelle) from Frontenac County and the North Frontenac EFR  team brought along an ambulance. Students were put on a stretcher and a backboard and loaded into the ambulance and were also allowed to sit in the driver’s seat and go through the back to see all the equipment.  A highlight for the kids was having their blood pressure, oxygen level checked, assisted by the EFR team. Kids asked how the bed stays in the ambulance, how fast the ambulance could go, what the equipment does, what the straps are for on the backboards, how to talk on the radio.

Students learned about fire prevention, the importance of immediately getting out a burning house, learned proper technique to operate fire extinguishers, discharging a fire extinguisher with Eric Korhonen. Thes made bird houses from recycled pop bottles and javex jugs with Brenda & Judy to promote the importance of recycling by re-use of a material in North Frontenac Twp. Brenda  had given a recycling presentation  at the school last spring, she was impressed by how much the students remembered from her previous presentation.

Afterwards, members of the fire department barbecued hamburgers and hot dogs for the kids. It was a fantastic day and everyone worked together to make it a huge success.