Overwhelmingly, municipal officials take pride in their nonpartisan service, but once they’re elected, they don’t just leave their party hats at the chamber doors.

Canton’s election carried the weight of four turbulent years — a pandemic, a devastating flood, the closure of its largest employer and Hurricane Helene’s destruction.

This cycle, Canton’s ballot carries the weight of five hard years. A global pandemic. Tropical Storm Fred in 2021. A mill closure in 2023 that upended municipal finance. Hurricane Helene in 2024. The next four years will test the town’s ability to finish flood recovery, modernize water and sewer, help redevelop the mill site and keep taxes predictable while still paving streets and paying bills. 

In a move more than a half-century in the making, the Town of Canton has announced the pending purchase of a key parcel of land where it plans to construct a new, state-of-the-art flood-proof wastewater treatment plant — ending a long chapter of dependence on a private system operated by the now-shuttered Pactiv Evergreen paper mill and setting the stage for a bold economic redevelopment of the historic site.

After two major floods in three years, BearWaters Brewing Company is adapting its business to ensure a future in downtown Canton. During a Feb. 13 town meeting, brewery representatives detailed their struggles and their vision for a new chapter, which includes shifting away from brewing on-site while expanding into a whole new line of business.

Apprehension over the fate of a huge industrial parcel in the heart of Canton is now transitioning to cautious optimism.

In the past, Canton required that a request to use public spaces for events be submitted four months in advance. Thursday night’s council meeting changed that. The newly adopted special events outdoor policy lowered the submission requirement to 60 days to 120 days. 

Administrators for the Town of Canton have presented a conservative fiscal year 2024-25 budget that seeks some sense of sustainability after last year’s closing of the Pactiv Evergreen paper mill, which created a substantial revenue deficit and has now forced the small town to plan for a huge new expense it’s never had to worry about before.

Several notable things happened during the Town of Canton’s regular board meeting on May 23, but the meeting was perhaps more notable for something that didn’t happen — a closed session. 

Festering frustration with nearly every aspect of Pactiv Evergreen’s actions taken in closing its Canton paper mill a year ago spilled over into a town meeting May 9, when board members took the opportunity to dump all over Pactiv for its latest putrid mess.