BECOMING A MEMBER MUNICIPALITY
The Community GIS project relies on economy of scale to provide a reliable, high-quality product to you for very low cost. Community GIS is based on a membership concept. Any municipal government located within the Southern Tier West region of Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, or Allegany Counties is eligible for membership. By becoming a member, your municipality will have continual access to GIS data from anywhere via the Internet.

Becoming a Community GIS member can be accomplished in a few easy, but important and necessary steps.

  • Your community must have a use for the system. You must understand the basic premise behind GIS and be able to demonstrate how you will use the system in your community. Practical uses include economic development, infrastructure management, planning, assessment, code enforcement, and public safety.

  • The community must commit financially to the project. Southern Tier West offers several options on how to take advantage of Community GIS. They are described under the "Structure Fee" section below.

  • Ensure that whoever will be utilizing the system has reliable Internet access and a web browser, preferably Internet Explorer 6.x. High-speed access isn't required; however higher speeds will greatly improve performance.

  • Work with Southern Tier West staff to develop a viewer that best suit your community needs in terms of data, tools, and the interface.

Community GIS Structure Fee
Option 1: Population-Based
This option involves a one-time access fee based on the population of the petitioning community. There will also be a one-time viewer creation fee as well as an annual maintenance fee. Groups of communities, or coalitions - whether formal or informal - can join the program as a single petitioning unit. If this option is chosen, the access and annual maintenance fees will be based on the combined population of the coalition. The coalition can also decide how many viewers (web pages) they want (e.g., one for the entire partnership or individual ones for each member of the partnership). There are three population thresholds being used to determine the fee structure. Communities (or groups of communities) are divided into three categories: small (less than 1500), medium (1501-5000) and large (more than 5000). The access fee for the program is as follows: Small $2,500; Medium $3,000; Large $4,000

The fee per viewer is $1,000 and each viewer comes with an annual fee of $500.

SMALL MEDIUM LARGE
POPULATION THRESHOLD 0-1500 1501-5000 5001+
ONE-TIME ACCESS FEE $2,500 $3,000 $4,000
ONE-TIME VIEWER CREATION FEE
$1,000 ea
$1,000 ea
$1,000 ea
ONE-TIME VIEWER MAINTENANCE $500 ea $500 ea $500 ea


Option 2: Tier 3 CAP Membership
This option is one that provides Community GIS participants (single community enrollees only) with the ability to access a range of other Southern Tier West programs and services at significantly reduced cost. For an annual fee of $1,500, a Tier 3 CAP Member gets complete access to and full participation in the Community GIS program. In addition, the Tier 3 Member will receive:

  • Certificate of Appreciation

  • A listing on STW's website and inclusion in the Annual Report

  • Complimentary registration for 4 to the annual Local Government, Planning & Zoning, and Wind Energy Conference

  • $15 per person discount to the Local Goverment, Planning & Zoning, and Wind Energy Conferences and any/all Municipal Training Programs

  • Complimentary invitations for 2 to the STW annual meeting/reception ($70 value)

  • Complimentary design/posting/ maintenanceof a web site for the community (if requested) ($400 value)

  • Complimentary 20 hours of technical assistance from STW staff ($2,500 value)