Municipalities: Town of Camden and Village of Camden located within the Tug Hill region.

Project Description:
The Tug Hill Commission Pilot GIS program offers a GIS Starter Kit, which has been utilized by both the Town of Camden and the Village of Camden. The program is small, and is used primarily as quick reference for planning and zoning administration. The program is operated by the Codes and Zoning Enforcement Officer for the Town and Village.

The Tug Hill Commission created a free GIS Starter Kit for the Camden jurisdictions and also provides training on the use of the Kit. It contains the free ESRI ArcExplorer viewer and customized GIS data on a CD. It is user-friendly and has become more and more popular with the other towns in the region. Approximately ten towns and seven villages are using the program for their GIS needs. The municipalities must have some computer savvy and their own equipment before getting a GIS CD. Tug Hill serves as an Intermediary Custodian of the data from the NYS Data Sharing Cooperative. As an Intermediary, they can download any data, reproject it and pass it along to Cooperative member municipalities in their territory.

Project Status and Schedule: Demand within the Tug Hill Region for the kit is increasing steadily.

Barriers and Impediments/How Overcome:
There is now a high demand for the Starter Kit, but limited staff at Tug Hill to provide the training and technical assistance needed. They deal with the demand as their resources allow. Tug Hill is hoping that other organizations within the region will help with technical assistance and support in the future.

Resources/Funding Sources:
The Tug Hill budget supports the Commission’s GIS efforts. The Town and Village bought the equipment for Codes needs and were reimbursed in 2000 through the Code Enforcement program. They put the Codes and GIS programming on this equipment.

Involved Agencies:
The Agencies involved are the State Data Sharing Cooperative, the Town and Village of Camden, the Tug Hill Commission and the Northern Oneida County Council of Governments.

Supporting parties are:
Town and Village of Camden leadership support this project, along with the Tug Hill Commission.

Benefits to Community/cost savings:
The Camdens’ zoning operation is much more efficient. The system provides for a more accurate and faster process and, in one case, eliminates most of the need for the NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation to perform a wetlands delineation. Personnel costs are contained in that there is only one system operator for both municipalities. GIS information and services are now available to residents free and from one location, saving them time and money.

Program Costs:
Tug Hill experiences the costs of staff and time, along with CD costs. Service is free to the communities. Costs to the municipality include equipment and personnel to operate the system. Service to the residents of the municipalities is free.

Member of Data Sharing Cooperative: Both Camden municipalities are members. They access Cooperative data through the Tug Hill Commission.

Collaborative Effort:
The Tug Hill Commission working with the Camdens and other municipalities, and them in turn working with each other, to build and maintain a GIS demonstrates a solid collaborative effort. One person working for both Camdens demonstrates an efficient use of resources.

Model Features:
The Tug Hill Commission as Intermediary Custodian between the NYS Data Sharing Cooperative and the member municipalities may serve as a useful model for other similar entities to emulate. In addition, the simplicity of implementation and operation of the program is another incentive. This also is a good quick-start model for small municipalities to implement GIS at fairly low cost, with the assistance of an entity like the Commission.

Keys to Success:
Educating the communities as to the benefits of GIS and the Starter Kit, prior to installation of the Kit, proved beneficial to project success. Tug Hill marketed the Kit at conferences, meetings and through a newsletter. The Commission provides the Kit, training and some technical assistance. This process simplifies and lowers the cost of entry into a GIS program for the municipalities, making it an attractive and beneficial venture. Leadership support in the municipalities, as well as personnel to operate the system, also contributes to the success of the program. The Kit is easy to operate, requiring a PC with Windows 95.

Demographics:

Contacts: