For municipalities

Who owns it, who looks after it, and what happens if we leave

Plain answers for council, the CAO and your IT reviewer, before you sign anything.

The short answer

With Cor Pathway 360 the town owns the system and its data, with no licence fee and no per user fee. The town pays for setup and a service package with a two year minimum. If the town leaves, the system keeps running and the town keeps everything.

Book a municipal walkthrough Call Blake 780-832-5158

Ownership

The town owns the system and the data

Cor Pathway 360 for municipalities keeps resident reports, permits, bylaw cases, work orders, purchase orders, town assets, facility bookings, cemetery records and the health and safety program in one system. You do not need to understand databases or hosting to use it. That is what the service package is for.

The town owns the code and the data: There is no licence fee and no per user fee. Add every office worker, seasonal operator and summer student.
There is no switch that turns it off: The code is published under an open source licence, so there is no licence server and no subscription that can shut the town's system down, including by us.
The accounts are in the town's name: Hosting and the database belong to the town. We are a member the town invites in, and the town can remove us at any time.
Each town is separate: Every town's records are locked to that town in the database itself, so one town cannot read another town's records even outside the screens.

The service package

The two year service package is the whole relationship

The software itself costs nothing. What the town pays for is setup, and then a service package with a two year minimum. In plain language, the monthly price pays for four things.

Anything that goes wrong, we fix: Every problem that comes up is ours to sort out. Staff call, and it gets handled, with no ticket queue between them and the person who set the system up.
Two to three improvements every month: New screens, better reports and changes your departments ask for, so the system keeps getting more useful instead of aging.
Error checks every night: The town's system is checked every night for errors, failed jobs and anything that did not send.
Security monitored automatically: Automated checks confirm the system is up and raise an alert on errors, failed backups or failed emails, and security patches go on as soon as they are released.

Why two years

Setup is a lot of work up front. Departments, staff, forms, fleet, assets, permit types and the public pages all go in before anyone sees the benefit, and a few months is not enough time to judge it fairly.

After two years, we expect the service to have earned the renewal. If it has not, the town leaves with everything. See leaving, renewal and handover.

One system, switched on a part at a time

What is included, and what is not

Parts can be switched on one at a time. Start with what hurts most and add the rest when the town is ready. Nothing has to change for everyone on the same day.

Public Works: Work orders, fleet pre-trips, fuel and warranties, purchasing and stock, and assets with their condition and replacement year.
Resident reports: Residents report a problem, a pothole for example, with a photo and a map pin and no account. It becomes a work order, and the resident is updated when it is closed.
Planning and Development: Permits and licences from application to issue, inspections, and an applicant portal.
Municipal Enforcement: Bylaw cases from complaint to compliance, with site visits, notices and follow-ups.
Community Services: Bookings for halls, rinks, fields and parks. Each one is checked for conflicts and closures, with the insurance certificate kept on file.
Clerk and Legislative: Cemetery plots and interments, and public notices emailed by neighbourhood.
Health and Safety: Inspections, hazard assessments, incidents, corrective actions and worker tickets, with a council safety report.

Every request, work order, purchase order and staff member belongs to a department, so each department head sees only their own queue and spend. The system works offline in the yard and syncs when the signal returns.

Not included. These stay in your existing systems

Finance. Taxes and utility billing stay in the town's existing system, and this system does not take payments.
Recreation program registration and memberships.
Council agendas and minutes.
Tenders and job postings.
Text message or emergency alerting. Public notices go out by email, and emergency alerts remain the job of the provincial emergency alert system.

What it costs

Comparison table.
Item	Price
Software licence	$0. The town owns it. No licence fee, no per user fee
Setup	$3,000 to $10,000, set by the size of the town: staff, infrastructure, tools and trucks
Service package	From $1,500 a month, two year minimum. A city of about 70,000 people is closer to $3,000 a month
Small town example	About 15 employees: $3,000 setup, then $1,500 a month. $39,000 over two years
Larger city example	About 70,000 people and about 100 employees: about $10,000 setup, then about $3,000 a month. About $82,000 over two years
Hosting and infrastructure	Included in the service package
Billing	Invoiced monthly, payment due within 30 days
If the town leaves	No export fee and no wind down charge

Scroll the table sideways to see every column. The first column stays in place.

All prices are in Canadian dollars, plus GST. Towns in between get their own number on a call, worked out from staff count and fleet.

The full municipal pricing.

Behind the screens

We look after the backend, so town staff do not have to

“Backend” simply means the hosting, database, updates and checks that keep the system running behind the screens your staff see. Under the service package, that work is ours, not the town's.

We set the system up department by department, load the town's own forms, fleet and assets, and train each department on its own screens.
We apply routine upgrades every month and security patches as soon as they are released, and check them.
We run the nightly error checks. A failed check raises an alert, and we look at it the next business day.
Hosting and infrastructure are included in the service package. There is no separate hosting bill.
Staff do not need to know what a database or a hosting account is. They use the screens for their department, and we look after the rest.

Security, in plain language

Monitored automatically: An automated check confirms the system is up every few minutes, and errors, failed backups and failed emails raise an alert. This is automated monitoring, not a person watching a screen.
Separated by town: Records are locked to their own town at the database level.
Public pages show only what they should: A resident can see only their own request or application, and nothing else. A bylaw complainant's name never reaches the property owner.
Public forms are protected: They check for spam, limit how often one sender can submit, and check that uploaded files are what they claim to be.
No resident password to leak: Permit applicants sign in with a single use link sent by email.
Hosted in Canada: The town's records, files and backups are hosted in Canada by Canadian-owned providers. Before you sign, the town gets a written hosting statement naming each provider.
If there is a security incident: Any confirmed or suspected unauthorized access to, or loss of, town data or accounts is an incident. We tell the town within 24 hours of confirming one, with the facts it needs for its own report to the privacy commissioner, then send a written report on the cause and the fix.
No certification claimed: Neither we nor our host hold an independent security certification such as SOC 2 yet. Ask us for the current position before you sign.

Privacy and public records

Resident reports, permit applications and bylaw complaints contain personal information. The protections above are built into the public pages: a resident sees only their own request, and a complainant's name never reaches a property owner.

The town is the custodian of its records and owns them. We are a service provider acting on the town's instructions.
Records are kept for as long as the town's own retention schedule says, set inside the system. The activity log of who viewed or changed each record is kept for 3 years.
The town leads any access to information or deletion request. We export or delete records on the town's written instruction within 10 business days.
The system is built to support the town's duties under its province's access and privacy law. We do not claim it is "FOIP compliant", and in Alberta FOIP has been replaced by the Access to Information Act and the Protection of Privacy Act.
No privacy impact assessment has been done on our side yet. If the town does one, we provide the information it needs.
The resident-facing pages are built to meet WCAG 2.1 AA.

Backups and support

These are the first questions a careful CAO and council ask.

Backups and recovery

The database is backed up every day, and every night an encrypted copy of the database and files goes to a second Canadian provider, outside our host's control. That copy keeps daily versions for 35 days and monthly versions for 13 months. All backups stay in Canada.

Every quarter we rebuild a complete test town from that off-site copy alone, to prove it works. Restoring from a backup is our job, and the recovery time measured in those drills goes in the town's hosting statement.

Support: who you call

Support is a direct call to the person who set the system up, with no ticket queue in between. That direct contact is a strength of a small, founder-led service, and it is different from a 24/7 support desk.

Support hours are Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mountain time. Call or text 780-832-5158 when something is urgent, and email blake@corpathway.com for routine questions. Outside those hours, the phone is for a system that is down. There is no staffed 24/7 support desk.

Support response times by priority
Priority	First response	Then
System down	Within 1 business hour	An update every 2 hours until it is back
A department is blocked	Within 4 business hours	A daily update until it is sorted
Routine question or request	Within 1 business day	Handled in the normal run of work

If the town leaves

Leaving, renewal and handover

The system keeps running: If the town stops the service package, the system does not switch off.
The town leaves with everything: The application, the data, the documents and the accounts stay with the town.
Credentials are handed over: We hand over every credential we hold and step out.
No export fee, no wind down charge: Records sit in a standard database, and export is a normal export.
Help moving, then a deletion certificate: When the package ends, the town gets a full export in a standard format and 30 days of help moving it. Then we delete our copies from every system, backups included, and give the town a written certificate.
Renewal at the same price: After two years the package renews at the same price, unless we give the town 90 days' written notice of a change.
Ending early: The town can end the package before two years with 90 days' notice and no penalty. The setup fee is not refunded.
Not renewing: Either side gives 90 days' written notice before the end of the term.
If we cannot continue: The town gets 90 days' notice, a full export of its data, and the choice of keeping its project running or moving it to another provider.
Our access can be removed at any time: The town can remove us during the package as well as at the end, because we are an invited member on the town's accounts.

Questions council and the CAO usually ask

Do we own it, or are we renting it?

The town owns it. The software licence is $0, the hosting and database accounts are in the town's name, and there is no per user fee. The service package pays for setup support, fixes, improvements, nightly checks and security monitoring, not for permission to use the software.

What happens if we stop paying?

The system keeps running. The town keeps the application, the data, the documents and the accounts, we hand over any credentials we hold, and there is no export fee or wind down charge.

Why is there a two year minimum?

Because setup is a lot of work before the benefit shows, and a few months is not a fair trial. Two years gives departments time to adopt it and gives the improvements time to add up. After that, the service has to have earned the renewal.

Can we start small?

Yes. Switch on one part at a time, for example resident reports and work orders first, and add permits, bookings or safety when each department is ready.

Does it replace our finance or tax system?

No. Taxes, utility billing and payments stay in your existing systems. This system handles operations: reports, work, purchasing, assets, bookings, permits, bylaw and safety.

Do residents need an account to report a pothole?

No. A resident picks a category, drops a pin, adds a photo and gets a ticket number. When the work order is closed, the resident gets an update.

Checklist for your IT reviewer

Hosting and database accounts in the town's name, with vendor access that is invited and removable
Database level separation between towns
Public pages that show a resident only their own record and keep a complainant's name private
Public forms that check for spam and file types and limit how often one sender can submit
Single use email sign-in for permit applicants
Records, files and backups hosted in Canada by Canadian-owned providers, with an independent encrypted backup copy at a second Canadian provider
Breach notice to the town within 24 hours of confirming an incident
Public pages built to meet WCAG 2.1 AA
Standard database export, with no export fee
Open source software (AGPL-3.0-or-later), with no licence server that can switch the system off
Provider names, data centres, recovery times and continuity cover: confirmed in the town's written hosting statement before you sign

Next step

Book a fit call to work out your town's setup and monthly number from your staff count and fleet. Blake Cowan, Yeti Digital Services Ltd., Barriere, British Columbia. blake@corpathway.com.