Mayor of Port Maria, Bobby Montague (left), with Kevin Turner, chief operating officer of Microsoft Corporation, during his recent visit to Orlando to ink a deal with the technology company. - Contributed

Mayor of Port Maria, Bobby Montague, has inked a deal with Microsoft Corporation to provide a digital town hall for the parish, as well as 100 computers in Phase One of a comprehensive programme of information technology development.

This occurred in Orlando, Florida, recently, when Mayor Montague, Jamaica Labour Party candidate for Western St. Mary, addressed the Microsoft Global Exchange Conference. He spoke on the theme: 'People ready - to impact the world.'

Mr. Montague was the special guest of Microsoft chairman William 'Bill' Gates.

The agreement was signed by the mayor and Kevin Turner, chief operating officer of Microsoft Corporaion. The mayor said the digital town hall, located at stmaryparish council.net, enables them to put all the services of the council on the Internet text messaging to reach citizens in the parish.

"This is critical, especially when there is a need to get important information to people," Mayor Montague said. "We will also be able to offer 300,000 email addresses. Therefore, all citizens living in or outside of St. Mary will get an email address," he continued.

The 100 computers will be placed in 30 communities in the parish so that adults and students will have access to the Internet.

This deal marks the beginning of St. Mary's march into the digital age.