The Municipality of Chatham-Kent, Chatham-Kent Hydro Inc. and the Chatham-Kent Public Utilities Commission have received an Award of Excellence from the Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. Canada (ESRI). This award recognizes the three partners for their leadership in integrating into a single, seamless and fully leveraged Geographic Information System (GIS) platform.

“The Award of Excellence is presented to an organization that has demonstrated strategic spatial thinking from the start,” says Alex Miller, President of ESRI Canada. “By staying true to their vision, they were able to incorporate their hydro, wastewater and municipal networks to create a seamless platform architecture to truly improve workflow efficiencies.”

“Chatham-Kent has been recognized as a leader in partnership initiatives,” says Helen McLaren, Director of Information Technology Services. “We have streamlined our business processes and now have a unified Geographic Information System where enhanced services will be delivered that will benefit the citizens within our community.”

Since amalgamation in 1998, The Municipality, Chatham-Kent Hydro and Chatham-Kent Public Utilities Commission have been committed to streamlining business processes to better serve ratepayers. Municipal Administration developed a GIS strategic implementation plan to support a vision of the future that involves the use of information and communication technologies in new and innovative ways to empower its residents, institutions and regions as a whole.

“As a Municipality we have been leading the way since we started back in 1998”, says Scott Praill, General Manager of Chatham-Kent Public Utilities Commission. “This new ESRI initiative will continue to allow us to lead the way in this ever evolving new field”.

“Looking forward, this platform will help us move towards other goals which include integrating our key corporate systems such as Smart Meters, SCADA and our modelling software,” says Dave Kenney, President of Chatham-Kent Hydro Inc.

During the Council Meeting on April 16th, Acting Mayor Frank Vercouteren accepted the award that was originally bestowed at ESRI Canada’s Southwestern Ontario Regional User Conference held in London on April 2 and 3, 2007.

For more information, please contact:

Catherine Fitzgerald, Manager Corporate Applications
Municipality of Chatham-Kent
315 King Street West
Chatham ON  N7M 5K8
1-519-360-1998 Ext. 3743
CKgis@chatham-kent.ca