Franklin among highest census response rates

Jeffery Duhe, partnership specialist with the Atlanta Regional Census Center, said Tuesday of Franklinites, “Ya’ll care about the census, and you should be proud to care. I’m proud of Franklin. You want to do this.”
Duhe, in his address to the Franklin Rotary Club, was referring not only to Franklin’s projected 80 percent response score, but the resolution approved at last week’s city council meeting to create local census count-committees to better that score.
Franklin Mayor Eugene Foulcard assured Duhe, “We are going to do better than that (80 percent response score). Those count-committees are going to fan-out and spread out around Franklin, and we’re going to be counted. We will engage the community to be counted and we are going to be effective in that.”
According to Duhe, the national average response score is 74 percent. So, by the projected average, Franklin is already above national average expectations. However, Duhe continued to stress the importance of raising the city’s response percentage as high as possible, citing impacts on governmental representation and social program allotments as concerning effects.
He said that next year’s census will feature a new component in the response process. The United States Census Bureau will be mailing out cards which will inform citizens of their ability to respond to the census electronically, making it easier and faster to be counted.
Yet, Duhe also addressed concerns of possible public distrust of providing personal information to a government agency via electronics. And he said that while he understands such possible distrust in today’s day and age, it is his wish and that of the USCB that such possible distrust be allayed by the definitive assertion that the information provided stays private and is utilized only for its stated purpose, to “count everyone once, only once, and in the right place.”
Duhe closed by expressing confidence in city officials, that the formation of count-committees, with their advocacy, will confirm to Franklin citizens the import and safety of their participation in the 2020 census.
In other news, Foulcard announced that city-wide clean-up efforts are still underway after Hurricane Barry, and he urged anyone in Franklin who has sustained property damage due to the storm to contact Franklin’s Planning, Zoning, and Special Projects Director Glenn Todd at 337-828-6358.
Lastly, Dawn Kaiser-Melancon, former FRC president, announced the club’s award of two grants, to be utilized in procuring two park benches for the former Center Theatre lot on Main Street in Franklin, and 50 box fans to be donated to St. Mary Council on Aging.