- April 23, 2024
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The City of Port Orange asked, the residents responded, and now officials are putting together a citizens academy to educate locals on the services and functions provided in the area.
The "Port Orange University" was created to with the intention of helping citizens become more acquainted with the function of their government and provide them with insight on the variety of departments within Port Orange. The free program will start on Monday, Sept. 11 and run for nine weeks.
"We are currently in the developing stages of the program agenda," Port Orange Public Information Officer Christine Martindale wrote in an email. "But each week, we will focus on a specific city department such as public utilities, public works, fire and rescue, parks and recreation, community development, police department and more, and will be taught by senior city staff."
Martindale explained that these department heads were chosen to teach the classes due to their knowledge in their specific city area.
"Our goal is very simple: it's to make the citizens aware of everything that goes into providing the utilities services they receive in their city." Public Utilities Director Lynn Stevens.
As for the reason behind this academy, it all started with the annual Citizen Survey done by the city. This year's survey, conducted between January and February, included asking residents if they would be interested in attending interactive sessions to learn about the functions and services provided by the city. More than 300 people responded with 242 saying yes, they would be interested in doing this.
The city also asked how often interested citizens would like to have the classes offered. Almost 150 people responded that they would like the class to be weekly and last for two hours.
As of Thursday, July 13, three applicants have already registered, according to Martindale. Classes will be filled on a first come first served basis and will be limited to the first 25 participants. The application deadline is Friday, August 25.
For the 25 that do participate, they will not only be able to hear about what makes the city run but will be able to experience it. One example is the session being taught by Public Utilities Director Lynn Stevens.
"We're going to be taking them through the water treatment process and show them how the water is purified and put into the distribution system prior to entering their homes," Stevens said. "Our plan is to give them a tour of each of the two treatment plants."
Stevens, who has lead similar classes, added her goal is to make residents aware of everything that goes into providing the utilities services that they receive. She also hopes to educate participants about environmental awareness and how this is connected to waste and water treatments.
"We want to provide that information to our residents so that they know we take our jobs seriously. We're out to protect the environment as well as to protect the public," Stevens said. "Our goal is very simple: it's to make the citizens aware of everything that goes into providing the utilities services they receive in their city."
Director of Community Development Wayne Clark, who will also be teaching, plans to show participants what is being built and what the zoning is so they can understand what is going to be constructed in the future.
Clark said sometimes residents may not be aware of how city development works and that he wants to go over what is allowed for development and how this process occurs.
He noted there is also a building official that can help residents avoid conflicts with contractors as well as inform people how to be smart when involved with construction projects.
"A lot of it is a better understanding of how development occurs in the city," Clark said.
Additionally, Clark said this is a way for the city to "create a connection between the people who live here so they see that there's a person they know that they can talk to and ask questions."
Martindale noted that by educating the citizens of Port Orange through these classes, they hope to improve communication about the services the city provides as well as give them a better idea of why and how they do this.
"We are excited about further developing the relationship between our citizens and the city with our first citizens academy, Port Orange University," Martindale said.
