When Cort Wilson joined Skagit PUD in 2014 as a mapping technician, the district already had a digital mapping system. Crews didn't trust it.

They relied on paper maps instead. The data existed, but it wasn't accurate enough to use in the field.

So Cort went to the source: the people actually using it. He got out from behind his desk, worked alongside field crews, learned their workflows, and paid attention to how his decisions affected their work. When something created extra work or didn't land the way it should, he acknowledged it and corrected it quickly — building trust through accountability and follow-through.

Over time, the work shifted. Instead of handing crews a system to use, Cort brought them into building it. The district invested in high-accuracy GPS and put it in their hands. Crews began contributing directly to the data and seeing it improve month by month.

Over the next twelve years, Cort grew from mapping technician to asset management supervisor, building a team and a program that connects mapping, asset management, and infrastructure planning across the district.

Today, when leadership sits down to decide which pipes to replace, the conversation is no longer based on incomplete records or best guesses. The data shows where lines have failed, how often, and what it will cost if we don't act.

When Sean Carson, asset analyst – GIS, joined the team, his first impression was immediate. "The processes, the workflows, the way things are set up — it was impressive," he said. "And I know it took a lot of hard work and relationship building to get there."

Cort is quick to share the credit. The data got better, he says, because the crews believed in it. And they believed in it because they helped build it.

In a district where nearly every dollar comes from ratepayers, that matters. Better data leads to better decisions — and better decisions mean those dollars go where they'll make the biggest difference.