http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story ... 4&ac=PHnws

Census Bureau to open Gardiner office

The federal agency will open its first-ever office in central Maine and hire up to 1,000 people.
By MECHELE COOPER, Kennebec Journal July 6, 2009

THE CENSUS is a count of everyone living in the United States every 10 years.

THE CENSUS is mandated by the U.S. Constitution.

THE NEXT census is in 2010.

PARTICIPATION in the census is required by law.

THE QUESTIONNAIRE mailed to your house takes less than 10 minutes to complete.

FEDERAL LAW protects the personal information you share during the census.

CENSUS DATA are used to distribute congressional seats to states, make decisions about what community services to provide, and distribute $300 billion in federal funds to local, state and tribal governments each year.

WITH THE INFORMATION collected, coupled with population estimates, economic data and results from the American Community Survey, the nation will see how significantly the country has changed since 2000.

Source: Census Bureau

The U.S. Census Bureau will hire up to 1,000 people to work at a Gardiner bureau – the first time it has ever had an office in central Maine.

Patrick Burke, who is heading up the state's census operations, said the Gardiner office and another in Bangor will open in October.

"Gardiner will have central Maine and Bangor will do northern," Burke said.

Burke said the jobs pay $13.25 an hour. People will be hired based on their test results and work 20 to 35 hours a week, he said.

For more information about census jobs, go to USA Jobs at www.usajobs.gov, or 2010.census.gov/2010censusjobs.

"We will be doing advertising (in Maine)," he said. "I suggest visiting local career centers. We advertise on MaineJobs, which the career centers use. That's how most people find out about it."

Gail Driscoll, an outreach coordinator for the Boston census office, said the bureau usually has a difficult time finding enough people, but not this time. She said out-of-work applicants have flooded the Census Bureau.

Burke said his goal in Maine was to test 3,875 people, but between October and February last year, 7,000 were tested.

He said the Census Bureau will begin recruiting again this fall, with most hiring occurring in the spring of 2010.

The bureau launched its yearlong operation in March with census workers hitting the street to verify addresses.

Census workers armed with GPS-equipped handheld computers to update address lists and maps for the upcoming 2010 census wrapped up the door-to-door campaign in Maine earlier than expected.

The campaign was scheduled between March 30 and mid-July. In Maine, it started April 20 and ended June 13, Burke said.

"A lot of that had to do with the success of the handheld computers," he said. "It's the first time we used them. We also had many good, qualified people working for us, kind of a function of the economy. People worked more hours than originally projected, as well, so you can't but finish a project faster by having those three conditions."

The verification of addresses is a crucial first step in assuring that every household receives a census questionnaire next spring, he said.

Burke said census surveys will go out in late February or early March 2010.

If a household does not respond to the first survey sent, a second one will be mailed out. If that isn't returned, someone will be knocking on your door, he said.

The Census Bureau's mission is to count the number of people, not necessarily citizens, living in the United States as of April 1, 2010, he said.

"Our charge is to provide that number to the president by Dec. 31, 2010," he said