By: Pam Wright, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Chatham Voice
Chatham-Kent has spent thousands on specialized computer software for housing, but has yet to use it.
As part of a joint project with other southwestern Ontario municipalities, Chatham-Kent has forked out $78,400 over the last 11 years, amounting to an average of $7,126 per year.
But not all is lost, according to C-K corporate communications manager Eric Labadie. He said there’s still potential for the housing services team to utilize the technology.
“This enhanced software will be able to be integrated into our current system,” Labadie told The Voice in a recent interview. “In addition, we are paying a reduced rate for this property management system since we are part of this project.”
According to Labadie, Chatham-Kent completed user acceptance testing last November, calling it a “big step forward to the conclusion of the project”.
However, he said that housing services will need to conduct an internal review of the final version of the software and compare it to other software on the market to determine which software is best for Chatham-Kent.
What Chatham-Kent has spent pales in comparison to the City of London, which doled out $1.3 million in the last decade. A total of $933,000 of that went to BSA Consulting hired in 2015 to handle software development.
Led by the City of London, the consortium of service managers includes Windsor, Hamilton, Waterloo, York, Halton, Ottawa and Chatham-Kent.
The idea for the custom software project began in December 2011, previously published reports state, with London taking the lead. Windsor, Hamilton, Waterloo, York, Halton and Ottawa are part of what’s called the Housing Collaborative Initiative (HCI), along with Chatham-Kent.
London’s spending on the HCI, which was largely untracked and unreported, has led to calls by that city’s councillors for better oversight and reporting on spending.
All told, the eight municipalities have spent more than $2.6 million on the project.
