County treasurer outlines launch of new GIS platform Fetch; officials say maps now online

Dana Miller, Lapeer County treasurer, told the Board of Commissioners on May 23 that the county has completed a multi-step conversion of property records to geographic information system (GIS) format and launched an online viewer called Fetch.

Miller said the county began the work in the fall of 2023, hired North Arrow to convert existing databases over roughly a year, and later contracted with Amalgam (contact: Dave Nichol) to provide hosted services. “We launched Fetch in February of this year,” Miller told commissioners. “Fetch is the online component of that. That's where you can go on to my website, view the maps.”

Why it matters: county GIS can speed permitting, emergency response, drainage and planning work; it also provides public access to parcel maps and creates a revenue path for specialty map services.

Miller described several operational details: the public view provides taxpayer names for parcels and printing or more detailed reports carry a fee intended to recover costs; local department logins have been created for the drain office, 9‑1‑1, and the health department; assessors have access for assessment work only. Miller said early receipts from the service were small—“around $400”—and that more uptake will depend on outreach to users and municipalities.

Commissioners asked for technical clarifications. Commissioner McMahon asked how quickly ownership changes would appear; Miller said local assessors are expected to forward changes and there is a single county point of contact (Amber Alexander) who routes updates to the GIS contractor. Miller cautioned that parcel lot lines are improved and “give or take 3 feet” but do not replace a survey; the map itself includes a notice to that effect.

Commissioner Kemp asked whether local municipalities could “piggyback” onto the county provider so their existing GIS layers could be incorporated. Miller said the county contractor can add municipal zoning or infrastructure layers if the locality supplies the digital data, and she said she had raised the topic with local administrators that week. Commissioner Diesley asked whether utility easements and DTE infrastructure would be included; Miller said that uploading those layers is a goal but there was a backlog of parcel splits and that some layers might be available by June when the contractor expected to catch up.

Miller also said that the state of Michigan’s 2024 ORGIS flyover imagery went live in the county’s system the day before the meeting; she and commissioners said drainage and planning offices were eager to use the updated aerials.

The county did not request additional funds at the meeting. Commissioners and Miller agreed that the GIS work is an ongoing investment requiring updates and staff coordination rather than a one‑time revenue generator.

Ending: Miller said departments have begun special projects using the new maps and she expects the service to expand as municipalities and users provide additional data layers.