Norwich — City Council members and utilities commissioners will get to play tourists in their hometown Saturday, with a workshop on Norwich Public Utilities operations followed by a tour of the utility’s facilities throughout the city and beyond.

NPU officials hold such workshops and tours every two years for new and veteran City Council members, along with the Board of Public Utilities Commissioners, NPU spokesman Chris Riley said. The group will borrow a large van from the Rose City Senior Center for the tour of facilities expected to take about an hour.

The workshop is open to the public, Riley said, and public participants will be accommodated in the best way possible.

The group first will meet at 9 a.m. at NPU headquarters, 16 S. Golden St. in Greeneville, for an overview of issues currently on the table, including the proposed $167 million sewage treatment plant upgrade.

Following the presentations, the group will tour the sewage treatment plant on Falls Avenue, the compressed natural gas facility on Wawecus Street, the hydropower facility and fish elevator at the Greeneville Dam on 10th Street and the NPU water treatment facility in Lebanon. Riley said the order of the tour sites could change, based on participants’ schedules.

The tour is expected to end between 11:30 a.m. and noon.

“We’ve always found it to be a great commercial on the wide variety of facilities we have and services we provide,” Riley said.

By city charter, NPU must turn over 10 percent of the utility’s gross revenues in electric, water and gas divisions to the city each year. The payment last year totaled $8.8 million.

Mayor Peter Nystrom agreed that the tour is a good idea for both new and veteran council members. In his State of the City address on Monday, Nystrom touted NPU as an asset in economic development projects, and visiting some utility sites up close can help people visualize the services provided.

“They make themselves available, so everyone is aware of the assets inside and outside the city,” Nystrom said of NPU, “so we have an understanding. It’s important that everyone understands what an asset NPU is.”

c.bessette@theday.com