Turning a GIS Commission into a Political District to Ensure its Longevity
Louisiana Rep. Hollis Downs, of Ruston, introduced legislation that transforms the Lincoln Parish Geographic Information System Commission into a GIS district. Sounds like semantics, but it’s more than that.
The legislation formalizes the entity meaning it can receive grants and will continue on. The current Commission has a year to year existence. Further, now that it’s a political subdivision, the seven sponsoring agencies are required to fund it.
Even the governor?s office was behind the change; they see the district as a model for other parishes.
The seven agencies share hardware, software and information and after 16 years have invested $2.5 million into the system.
