By ADAM ATKINSON
North Country This Week

CANTON -- The village board voted to spend $900 to participate in an additional geographic information systems (GIS) mapping project to be conducted by the Development Authority of the North Country.

DANC representative Star Carter attended the board's online meeting held on Zoom Monday, May 18 to give details on the project.

Carter said DANC is applying for a New York State's Local Government Efficiency Implementation grant, through the Department of State, to pay for enhancement to its GIS mapping project for client communities in Franklin and St. Lawrence counties. The village of Canton currently participates in DANC's GIS mapping project and is eligible for the new round of mapping as a client, Carter said.

"Our original funding source, that the village of Canton participated in several years ago, really focused on water and sewer," Carter said. "That was what we were mapping at the time." In the new project, DANC will focus on highway and public works data in the grant-funded project. "Things like bridges and culverts, road and street signs, sidewalks and curbs, municipal owned cemeteries, electric systems and we do have a few communities that need their water and sewer mapped as well," Carter said.

Carter said the Village of Canton has already been proactive by cataloging much of tha information and mapping in the village will deal with street signs, bridges and culverts. The project is expected to start in January 2021 and last three years to map all of the municipalities in the two counties. Carter anticipated the village's portion would probably be done towards the end of the first year or beginning of the second.

The grant DANC is applying for requires a 10 percent match on the part of the clients who participate in the GIS project. The $9,000 cost to inventory and map Canton's street signs, bridges and culverts will result in a $900 bill for the village which would be due in the first year of the project.

Carter said the newly mapped data will be uploaded directly into the village's current GIS mapping portal that they already have through DANC.

The information on the street signs would include date of installation which could help the village DPW to determine when replacement is needed more easily.

The village would be a partner in the grant process and would not be required to do any of the grant administration, Carter said.

For more information on DANC's GIS services visit https://www.danc.org/gis.

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