By CRAIG FREILICH

CANTON – The Town Council and the Village Board of Trustees have agreed to rejuvenate the joint town and village economic development effort.

At a meeting Monday, Dec. 19, the two governing boards met together on moving forward with their plans for using the recently announced $231,274 in grants for riverfront development projects at downtown sites along the Grasse River.

The plans are for a pedestrian bridge connecting two Grasse River islands, and establishing a welcome center at Riverside Drive.

“We are trying to come up with a solid development plan for that CFA,” including for the welcome center, said Mayor Mike Dalton. “That could still be in the mix” in spite of an earlier setback that caused friction between the town and village when a prospective developer backed out, and the village pulled out of another grant application for that, Dalton said.

“The town and village decided to pool their resources and engage again to do economic development in concert,” said Supervisor David Button. “We should do more of these meetings,” he said.

“Because economic development knows no physical boundaries, and community and economic development go hand in hand, it is the recommendation of the Economic Development Steering Committee and the joint Town/Village Economic Development Committees that Canton’s development efforts be unified in one Community Economic Development Office,” said a memorandum of understanding issued at the meeting.

The MOU includes some specific provisions, such as having the town appropriate $20,000 a year to the village to support what is now the village’s economic development office. All funding of a Economic Development Consortium funding will go to the village for the Community Economic Development Office.

The economic development office and its staff will remain part of village government but will support both village and town efforts.

The village will hire a grant administration assistant for the village’s director of economic development, who will also provide general support, according to the MOU.

The Director will receive guidance and oversight from the Towm=n and Village Boards and Economic Development committees,” the MOU says.

The MOU was signed by Mayor Dalton and Supervisor Dalton.

The meeting and the MOU were devised to reconcile differences between the town and village over parts of the recent grants to Canton, particularly those related to the waterfront development plans announced by the state.

Dalton said before the meeting that they had decided that if they got the state awards “we would sit down and talk about village and town involvement, that it would be best if both boards sat down together.”

“This saves the taxpayer money and also makes sure we’re using all our resources to focus on the really important things in the community,” Supervisor Button said.