On September 10th, the Brighton Municipal Council was presented with the findings and recommendations of two research projects conducted by Loyalist students Kiel Martin and Chantal Elliott. Kiel Martin is a third-year Civil Engineering Technology student who was hired by the Municipality of Brighton to carry out data collection for the provincially-mandated Capital Asset Management program. Using Global Positioning System (GPS) equipment linked with Geographic Information System (GIS) software, he surveyed both urban and rural areas to determine the location, condition and quantity of features such as, roads, sidewalks, sewers, water mains, hydrants and streetlights.
Third-year Architectural Technology student, Chantal Elliott, was hired to create an accessibility plan for the municipality, with proposals to establish barrier-free access for the disabled. She visited all municipally-owned buildings, roadways, sidewalks and parks to locate and document barriers, and to recommend measures to remove them.
“We gained an incredible amount of knowledge from their efforts. We now have a very clear and documented understanding of the majority of our municipally-owned assets such as piping systems, roads, streetlights and fire hydrants, as well as a detailed roadmap from which we can initiate programs and projects to remove municipal barriers to accessibility in Brighton,” said Bruce Davis, Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), Municipality of Brighton. “These two projects showcased in a very vivid way the importance of applied education, and how a municipality can partner with its local college to derive significant two-way benefits. A special thanks goes to Professor Michael Nitsch, who devoted his time on several occasions to attend progress meetings and to provide mentorship, not only to the students, but to my staff as well. A scan of our municipal staff reveals that seven of our 34 employees are Loyalist grads and four others are graduates of other community colleges. A great testament to community college education.”
“I was extremely proud to have been associated with Chantal and Kiel and enjoyed working with them and the staff at the Municipality,”
added Professor Michael Nitsch. “Both presentations were very clearly and professionally done and it was obvious that the entire audience was impressed. I hope that we can continue the relationship we’ve established with Brighton and perhaps establish similar ones with other municipalities in our area.”
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Media Contact: Marilyn Warren, Communications, Loyalist College (613) 969-1913, ext. 2332,
e-mail: mwarren@loyalistc.on.ca , or Michael Nitsch at (613) 969-1913, ext. 2342