Editing Canton, Georgia (section)

==City Government==
[[File:Canton City Hall - Canton Commercial Historic District.jpg|thumb|Canton City Hall]]

===City Government Council and Mayor===
The city of Canton is governed by a council-mayor form of government. The six council members and mayor are each elected to four-year terms by city residents. The city is divided into three council wards, with two council members serving from each ward. The mayor is elected [[at-large]]. The Mayor and Council hold the monthly council meetings on the first and third Thursday of each month at 6:00&nbsp;p.m. All meetings of the City Government Manager and Council are held in the Council Chambers of City Hall located at 110 Academy Street.

===Administration===
The Administration Department of the City Government of Canton consists of the City Government Manager, City Government Council, City Government Administration Manager, City Clerk and Administrative Secretaries. The office is located at Canton City Hall at 110 Academy Street in Canton.

The City Manager is the Administrative Executive of the City of Canton and is responsible for overseeing daily operations of all City departments. The City Manager is appointed by the City Government Manager and The City Government Council, the governing authority of the city.

The City Clerk serves as the Clerk of Council and is responsible for the minutes and records of all meetings. The City Clerk is responsible for serving as custodian of all legal documents for the city.

===Infrastructure===
Many projects are underway in the city including new construction, renovation, and revitalization. Canton has received millions of dollars in grants for park and sidewalk improvements in the city. The city's public buses have established routes and carry thousands of passengers throughout the city from residential areas to downtown, shopping areas, the medical district, and job sites.

The Historic [[Canton Theatre]] on Main Street features plays and other special entertainment events throughout the year, injecting new life into the downtown business district. Streets in the downtown area were recently improved, by the removal of parking spaces, as part of the "Streetscapes" program, bringing brick pavers to sidewalks, lamp posts, lush landscaping and intersection upgrades.

In May 2004, the city held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for Heritage Park, the first phase of the [[Etowah River]] Greenway. The park covers approximately {{convert|30|acre|m2}} and has pedestrian and bike trails and a natural [[amphitheater]]. The city used to hold concerts and movies in Heritage Park throughout the summer free of charge to its residents.

The city, in partnership with the Metro Atlanta [[YMCA]], constructed an $8 million community center on Waleska Street contiguous to Heritage Park. Now completed, the community center includes an indoor swimming pool, a gymnasium, wellness center, aerobics studio, childcare facilities and the Cherokee Sports Hall of Fame. Although construction was approved for the facility by a local referendum authorizing a "free" community center, the city decided to operate it through the YMCA. People must become members, thus paying a fee for use.

Phase two of the Etowah River Greenway north of Heritage Park consists of recreation fields for softball, baseball, tennis, and soccer. This phase involves approximately {{convert|60|acre|m2}} of property.

In June 2004, the Bluffs Parkway opened off Riverstone Boulevard. This parkway, funded by an $8 million grant from the [[Georgia Department of Transportation]], bisects the Bluffs at Technology Park, owned by Technology Park/Atlanta. It will be home to 15,000 [[high-tech]] jobs when built out in 10 years. The technology park includes a satellite campus of [[Chattahoochee Technical College]], which opened in the fall of 2011.

The federal [[Hickory Log Creek Dam]] project, north of the city center, was approved by the [[United States Army Corps of Engineers|U.S. Army Corps of Engineers]]. The construction and ownership of the Hickory Log Creek Raw Water Reservoir will be shared by the [[Cobb County, Georgia|Cobb County]] / [[Marietta, Georgia|Marietta]] Water Authority and the City of Canton on a 75% and 25% respective basis; it was completed in December 2007. This water source will provide {{convert|44|e6USgal|m3}} of water per day and will be bordered by {{convert|15|to|25|acre}} of park land with picnic and other public areas.

In 2009, Canton opened the newly renovated Canton Marketplace. It features both big box retailers and smaller shops. With the rapid increase in population, restaurants and shopping centers have had a rise in business.