BY ADAM ATKINSON

North Country This Week

CANTON -- The village board is mulling their funding contribution to the Canton Chamber of Commerce in light of the COVID-19 shutdown, and some board members are questioning the taxpayer investment.

Canton Chamber board members attended the village board meeting Monday, Sept. 21 to discuss the issue.

"I know money is tight all over. And we are here to plead our case for what we do for the village," said Carol Spadiccini, the current president of the Canton Chamber.

Chamber board member Ben Dixon outlined several of the chamber's programs and events for consideration by the board as they consider their budget.

"As we move forward here in the coming weeks and months . . . we're really, I think, diving into a phase of strategic planning in the Canton Chamber board, this is driven by a few things. One of which obviously is the COVID pandemic we have been living in in the past 6 months and its impact on the local economy," said Dixon.

The chamber like many organizations around the county canceled several of its biggest annual events due to the pandemic shutdown.

Dixon said another factor is the chamber integration study that is underway which seeks the benefits of combining the various chambers of the county into one organization.

Dixon said the chamber is planning to circulate a survey among its member businesses to find out what they think the chamber should be providing. Dixon said this may lead to considering new activities.

Dixon said the organization is looking into ways they can modify existing chamber events to adhere to public health guidelines.

Trustee Anna Sorensen said return on investment is what she is considering as a member of the board's economic development committee. "My concerns are, as what you are foreshadowing here, is what is going to take the place of the events, which many in our community look forward to. . . but aren't going to be done. What, in light of COVID and in light of our current situation, what is the chamber doing to support our businesses?" Sorensen asked Dixon. "And to just be perfectly honest, in the documents we received (from the Chamber) I'm not sure I know the answer to that."

"As somebody who needs to be able to justify where the taxpayers' money is going, I don't have all of the answers that I need. And, it sounds a little bit to me like you all don't have the answers you need yet," Sorensen said.

Dixon said he and Spadaccini would take back any questions and feedback from the village to the chamber board for further consideration.

Trustee Carol Pynchon pointed out that the Chamber is budgeted in the village's current fiscal year already. The village's fiscal year begins June 1. "That said, what we need to decide is what portion of that allotted amount can we afford to pay given the activities we've seen over the last 6 months and what we understand now is anticipated," Pynchon said.

"I would go so far as to say there wasn't any activity coming from the chamber at that time. Meanwhile our Community and Economic Development Office was churning stuff out. So does it really make sense for us to be spending the budgeted, the allotted amount for that full amount of time when in fact it didn't feel to us that things were happening?" Pynchon said.

"Our budget is done so it's a question of how to decide how to allocate what is in the budget," Pynchon said.

Pynchon said the board has been discouraged by what they viewed as a lack of support from the Canton Chamber during the COVID shutdown, but that the village wants the Chamber and village relationship to work. However, Pynchon said later that she didn't feel that the return on investment warranted giving the organization the entire allotment of taxpayer budgeted money for the last 6 months of activity.

The village trustees and mayor decided to wait until next month's meeting to see if the Chamber board could provide additional feedback on the discussion before making a decision on what allotment the village might give the organization.

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