Stouffville Public Works Open House Returns After More Than a Decade
● Stouffville's Public Works Open House takes place Saturday, May 24, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 5061 Bethesda Side Rd.
● The event features a 'Touch-a-Truck' experience, games, ice cream, hands-on activities, and a colouring contest.
● Visitors will meet the people behind the roads, water, and infrastructure projects that keep the Town functioning.
● The open house concludes the Town's celebration of Public Works Week, which showcased the division's wide-ranging contributions to residents' everyday life.
● Stouffville's Engineering and Public Works Division includes Development Engineering, Capital Projects, Transportation and Fleet Services, and Environmental Services.
Residents are invited to get an inside look at the people, equipment, and services that keep Stouffville running during the Town's Public Works Open House on Saturday, May 24. The event, held at the Operations Centre at 5061 Bethesda Side Rd., runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., marking the first time in over ten years that Stouffville has opened its doors to the public in this way.
The family-friendly event features a 'Touch-a-Truck' experience where visitors can explore Public Works vehicles up close. Ice cream, games, and hands-on activities are planned, along with a colouring contest offering young artists the chance to be featured on the Town's social media channels.
Beyond the fun, the open house will provide a rare behind-the-scenes look at how Public Works supports daily life in Stouffville.
The event concludes the Town's recognition of Public Works Week, which featured a weeklong spotlight on each department within the Engineering and Public Works Division. Together, these teams manage road maintenance, infrastructure development, water and waste systems, and the planning and delivery of capital projects.
Development Engineering oversees all engineering aspects of master planning, land development, and infrastructure projects. The team reviews submissions and development applications and inspects construction sites to ensure compliance with Town standards and alignment with Regional and Provincial policies.
The Capital Projects team manages the full lifecycle of major infrastructure, from environmental assessments and public consultations to design, construction, and final delivery. Their work includes building roads, watermains, and pathways.
Focusing on long-term sustainability and growth, the department conducts technical studies and community engagement to ensure projects meet resident needs. Each new build or upgrade follows detailed investigations and regulatory compliance.
Responsible for maintaining 544 kilometres of roads and 136 kilometres of sidewalks, the Transportation and Fleet Services Department keeps Stouffville's streets safe and navigable year-round. The team conducts regular inspections and repairs, including pothole patching, crack sealing, and sidewalk replacement.
A specialized fleet of 39 vehicles supports winter plowing and salting, stormwater management, street sweeping, and roadside maintenance such as signage repair and ditch mowing. The department also handles right-of-way management, issuing permits and regulating development and utility work in the public realm.
Environmental Services manages the infrastructure delivering safe drinking water to homes and businesses in Stouffville, including systems serving Ballantrae, Musselman's Lake, and remote Town facilities such as Bethesda Sports Fields.
While York Region treats and distributes the water to lower-tier municipalities, Stouffville ensures it reaches taps safely. This includes maintaining watermains, sampling stations, and more than 1,500 fire hydrants. In 2024 alone, over 6,000 water samples were tested for chlorine levels, bacteria, and metals to ensure compliance with Provincial safety standards.
The department also coordinates garbage, recycling, organics, and yard waste collection. Its diversion programs, which include electronics drop-offs, curbside giveaway days, and battery and textile collection, contributed to diverting over 100 tonnes of waste from landfills in 2024.
'Our Public Works teams go above and beyond to ensure our community remains safe, clean, and connected,' Mayor Iain Lovatt said in a press release last week. 'Their behind-the-scenes work is vital to our residents' everyday lives, and this week, we proudly recognize their efforts, dedication, and professionalism. Thank you to each team member for helping to build and maintain the town we're all proud to call home.'
Saturday's event is an opportunity to not just meet some of those individuals, but to gain a better understanding of the services that keep the town running smoothly—crucial work often done quietly and without fanfare.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News24
31-05-2025
- News24
IDT mistrust: Minister Zikalala's whitewash that secured IDT CEO Malaka her job
Evidence suggests that interventions by former public works minister Sihle Zikalala and his close comrade, then-IDT chair Kwazi Mshengu, stifled Treasury investigations into allegations against then-acting CEO Tebogo Malaka and substituted a superficial probe by Zikalala's department. Nine days before the 2024 national elections, Zikalala endorsed Malaka's elevation from acting to permanent CEO on the basis that his probe 'found no wrongdoing' against her, but the probe had not been mandated to investigate Malaka. Last month the IDT was slapped down in its attempt to review the contract that Malaka was accused of mishandling after Malaka herself had deposed the founding affidavit. Former public works minister Sihle Zikalala downplayed the findings of an investigation he had commissioned, paving the way for Tebogo Malaka's appointment as chief executive of the Independent Development Trust (IDT) despite her involvement in a R45 million lease scandal. Part one of this series showed how Kwazi Mshengu, Zikalala's confidant and then-IDT chair, led the board in abandoning a National Treasury investigation into the parastatal's procurement of a new head office lease – even refusing to be briefed on its provisional findings. Mshengu and the board asked Zikalala to have his Department of Public Works and Infrastructure, of which the IDT is an implementing agency, investigate instead. The current story shows that while departmental auditors went on to produce a damning report on procedural irregularities, they had also warned Zikalala they were unequipped to probe and could not investigate substantive allegations against Malaka and others – a limitation he readily accepted. Despite the auditors recommending a further probe by the department's anti-corruption unit, Zikalala instantly wrote to Mshengu endorsing Malaka's appointment, claiming the auditors had 'found no wrongdoing' on her part. This was on 20 May 2024, just nine days before the national elections that ushered in the government of national unity. Mshengu signed off on Malaka's appointment six weeks later, as new ministers – including the DA's Dean Macpherson, Zikalala's successor – were being sworn in. Zikalala's exoneration of her had proved decisive for Malaka, whose elevation from acting to permanent chief executive was blocked after she had entered a five-year, R45 million lease with politically connected Moepathutse Property Investments behind the board's back. This followed a procurement process marred by allegations of favouritism. Moepathutse, which has denied wrongdoing or any relationship with Malaka, sued the IDT for damages and costs, which the IDT itself estimates amount to almost R14 million, after it failed to occupy the building. The IDT responded by washing its dirty linen in court. It argued that the lease was invalid because tender specifications had been 'tailormade' for Moepathutse's Irene property and because Malaka had signed without the requisite board authority. The IDT's defence took a potentially fatal hit two weeks ago when the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria dismissed a review application it had brought to set the lease aside. The judge found that the IDT had failed to prove the lease was 'tainted by any illegality' in any way. Malaka – despite being heavily conflicted – had deposed the IDT's founding affidavit. Malaka has not responded to detailed questions. Under pressure In response to amaBhungane's questions, Zikalala, now deputy to Macpherson, did not address why his endorsement of Malaka had claimed 'no wrongdoing' despite the probe's limited remit. He said, however, that he had held back Malaka's appointment for over a year pending the investigations and that she had 'engaged in legal challenges through her lawyers relating to [her] appointment'. Zikalala said that when he became minister in March 2023, his predecessor, Patricia de Lille, had already recommended Malaka to Cabinet. 'I am the minister who withdrew the [recommendation] for investigations to be conducted.' As detailed in part one, the board then considered procuring a forensic firm to conduct a probe, but hesitated to entrust the process to IDT management, then led by Malaka in acting capacity. One thing led to another and National Treasury, assisted by law firm ENS, commenced a forensic investigation on the board's behalf. Towards the end of the year, a reconstituted board, now chaired by Mshengu, canned the Treasury investigation and asked Zikalala to have his department investigate internally instead. The board's resolution still targeted Malaka though, calling for Moepathutse's selection to be probed 'specifically relating to the relationship between the lessor and the acting CEO'. But the new probe was neither forensic nor focused on Malaka. Zikalala – who said he was committed 'to serve with integrity, transparency and accountability' – shared the final report with amaBhungane. READ | This report shows that the request to investigate had been routed through the department's inter-governmental relations unit to internal audit, not its governance, risk and compliance (GRC) branch, whose remit includes fraud and corruption investigations. The audit unit agreed to help, but only with an 'assurance audit' to check compliance with control prescripts. 'Internal audit performs assurance audits and not investigations/forensic audits which reside within GRC.' So concerned were the auditors that the limitations of their approach be understood that they insisted on Zikalala's approval and board concurrence before they start. 'The minister approved the proposed assurance audit approach on the 15th of March 2024.' The internal audit chief signed off on her team's report two months later. Within its narrow lane, the report was damning. It was 'unable to provide reasonable assurance that the procurement process was fair, transparent and regular'. It identified multiple gaps in the procurement file and 'material non-compliance to procurement policies, laws and regulations'. However, the report also reiterated that 'our audit did not cover the review of conflict of interest of executive management, the board members, [and supply chain management] officials to any bidder, especially to the recommended bidder'. This, it said, 'requires special tools that we do not have'. The auditors went on to recommend that the board, in consultation with the minister, ask the GRC's anti-corruption unit after all 'to investigate further the areas' they could not cover or where information had been unavailable to them. No wrongdoing Zikalala wasted no time, least of all to initiate the deeper investigation. Instead, on 20 May 2024 – the same day the audit report was signed – Zikalala addressed a letter to Mshengu in his capacity as board chair. 'You will recall the proposal,' he wrote, 'to hold in abeyance the matter of the confirmation of Ms Tebogo Malaka… pending the conclusion of the investigation… The investigation by the department has been completed and no wrongdoing was found on the part of Ms Malaka. 'As such, I want to confirm my concurrence to the board's decision to appoint Ms Malaka as the IDT chief executive officer.' Zikalala did this knowing his audit team had not probed allegations against Malaka – and despite briefings from the previous board that Treasury had been tasked to do just that. Zikalala sent the letter nine days before the elections resulted in the ANC losing its majority and Zikalala his post. Mshengu signed off on Malaka's appointment on 3 July 2024, the day new ministers, including Macpherson, were sworn in. Both Mshengu and Zikalala denied there was any connection between their respective actions of canning the Treasury probe, declaring Malaka cleared by the department, and getting her appointed before Macpherson took charge. Mshengu, whom Macpherson removed from the board, said, 'You would also know that IDT is a state entity and its operations are not subject to changes in government. Therefore, the appointment of Ms Malaka as CEO had nothing to do with changes in government. In any event, no one knew what would be the outcomes of the national general elections.' Zikalala said the board had terminated the Treasury investigation of its own accord and that there was 'no so-called 'haste' on my part' to appoint Malaka. He reiterated that he had ordered investigations after becoming minister and had paused the appointment 'for a period of more than a year until there were legal procedures initiated against me as minister'. Another investigation Zikalala also stressed that Malaka's appointment was not the end of the road and that the GRC anti-corruption unit had in fact 'commenced its deeper investigation' as recommended by the internal auditors. That probe only started last November, months after Zikalala was replaced as minister. The department confirmed that the investigation was concluded in mid-February but was awaiting the director-general's sign-off. Its terms of reference included 'determining whether there was irregular, improper and/or criminal conduct by IDT official(s) and/or third parties'. AmaBhungane has submitted a request under the Promotion of Access to Information Act for the canned Treasury investigation reports and will do the same for the anti-corruption unit report. Who will pay? Meanwhile, the costs of this debacle continue to mount. When Moepathutse filed its damages claim, the IDT responded with a special plea, claiming that the bid had been tailored to suit Moepathutse's building and that Malaka had concluded the lease without board approval, which was required due to its value. The IDT asked the court to pause the damages suit it applied in order to review its own decision and void the lease. When the IDT finally filed the review in March 2024, the deponent to its founding affidavit was none other than Malaka – hopelessly conflicted. She put hardly any admissible evidence on the table and the outcome was predictably dire. In a judgment delivered on 16 May, acting judge S J Myburgh complained repeatedly that the IDT had provided no evidence that its decisions were improper. 'The IDT has failed to show that the agreement concluded between itself and the respondent was tainted by any illegality. I thus find myself in agreement with the argument made by the respondent that this application is simply an attempt by the IDT to avoid liability in terms of the now cancelled agreement.' The court dismissed the IDT's application with costs and Moepathutse's damages claim, which the IDT's latest annual report says now stands at almost R14 million, is effectively irresistible, unless, perhaps, the IDT throws Malaka under the bus. The bills are coming. The question is, who will pay?
CBS News
31-05-2025
- CBS News
Camden County Public Works crews, residents and businesses brace another round of rain in New Jersey
Beginning at 6 a.m. Friday, Camden County Public Works crews were making the rounds with the threat of heavy rain and potential flooding. "Checking the inlets, all the storm inlets, all the drainage outlets, making sure they're clear of any debris," said Bob Harris, director of Public Works. CBS News Philadelphia caught up with the team in Bellmawr near Kings Highway and West Browning Road. Most of the storm drains were clear, but some had to be vacuumed out in order for the water to flow freely. "The pipe could back up in several directions and it could affect the other side of the road, you'll get water ponding on the road," Harris said. Perhaps no one knows the impact of flooding like Vinny Morelli. "It's a low point here and the next thing you know, within a matter of minutes, we got three foot of water out here," Morelli said. Morelli recorded video about two weeks ago when he said part of the Black Horse Pike flooded, and the water started filling his family's store, Tony Morelli's Market in Glendora. Now, he's bracing for another round of rain. "Before we leave tonight, we'll make sure everything is off the floor, we go into our flood protocol," he said. Morelli said compressors on the store's refrigerators have broken, doors have been damaged, and he's hoping for a long-term solution before heading into summer. "I was in contact with the mayor's office three times already this week. They say they got engineers from the state and local levels, they got things going," Morelli said. Back in Bellmawr, as crews packed it in for the day, they said they will also be ready to respond later Friday night. "We'll have a standard crew on call just in case we get a tree, an issue with a tree or a tree limb, same thing if there's flooding," Harris said.
Epoch Times
27-05-2025
- Epoch Times
San Francisco Launches New ‘Power Washing' Street Cleaning Initiative
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie has announced a new initiative to increase neighborhood street cleaning through a 'power washing program' in high-traffic commercial areas. The plan is in partnership with and backed by $3 million in funding from Avenue Greenlight, a new philanthropically funded community-driven 'It's one of the several public-private partnerships we're launching to help clean our streets, support our neighborhoods, and prioritize the long-term economic growth of our city, and it works with what we've already put into motion,' Lurie said at a May 22 announcing the partnership. Trucks and manual street cleaners will target the Mission, Sunset, Tenderloin, Richmond, Chinatown, North Beach, and Fillmore neighborhoods, and provide additional cleaning during critical afternoon hours. 'We have to take care of the basics. That means clean and safe streets,' the mayor said at the press conference. 'If our neighborhoods feel dirty or neglected, people spend less time there. But when our streets are clean, when they are vibrant and cared for, people come out, they stay, they shop, they believe in the city again.' According to a , the partnership will be developed with support from the San Francisco Department of Public Works. It will expand on the department's existing street cleaning operations, which currently include a weekly deep-clean that power washes sidewalks, removes graffiti, and flushes roadways. Related Stories 5/9/2025 4/21/2025 Additionally, Public Works' Block Sweepers initiative employs street cleaners to clean more than 700 blocks in busy commercial areas and mechanical street sweepers that cover a collective 150,000 miles of curbside lanes annually. Avenue Greenlight President Maryo Mogannam said at the press conference that while San Francisco and Avenue Greenlight can come in and clean the streets, he really wants to inspire the citizens of the city to help keep the streets clean. 'It's easier to keep the garbage off the street than it is for us to come clean up after you,' he said.
