City officials urging census participation

Vandalia’s mayor on Monday urged city residents to take just a few minutes to help build up the city’s coffers.

“It’s money in our pockets,” Mayor Rick Gottman said during Monday’s city council meeting in urging residents to fill out census forms.
The mayor urged aldermen to help promote Census 2020, due to the fact that state and federal funding received by the city is based on population.
“This could be devastating if we don’t have those numbers,” Gottman said.
The mayor announced the participation dates for communities in Fayette County: Vandalia: 57.3 percent; Brownstown, 45.8 percent; Ramsey, 54.9 percent; St. Elmo, 60.2 percent; and Farina, 60.6 percent.
Alderman Steve Barker pointed out that there is a lot of rental property in the city and asked whether the renter or the property owner fill out census information.
Gottman and City Administrator LaTisha Paslay said it is the occupant of a residence as of April 1.
The mayor said that during the last census, workers went door to door to ensure residents’ participation, but that can’t be done this year due to the state’s shelter-at-home order.
Paslay said that census forms have been sent to all residences, and that residents can also go online, to www. 2020census.gov, to fill out the census form.