With federal dollars on the line, area leaders are taking steps to make sure every single person in Ward County is accounted for when the 2010 U.S. Census is taken.

Ernie Medalen, chairman of the Complete Count Census Committee, a volunteer committee appointed by the Minot mayor Curt Zimbelman, appeared at a meeting of the Ward County Board of Commissioners Nov. 3 to explain to the board the purpose and goals of the committee.

"(The committee) is charged with the responsibility to develop strategies to ensure that all Minot and Ward County citizens are aware of the coming census, help them understand the importance of participating and return the census form, which will be mailed out in March," Medalen said. "In essence, our responsibility is to get out information, encourage participation, and strive to get as complete a count as possible in Minot and Ward County next spring."

Medalen said the 2010 census form will be short when compared with years past, consisting of only 10 questions "covering number of people at the address, name, gender, age, race, ethnic background and whether the home is rented or owned." The confidentiality of the responses is protected under federal law.

Medalen said the census numbers are used by various governmental agencies, and a complete count is very important to Ward County.

"The population counts are used in many federal programs, where the census bureau data is used in grant formulas and funding allocations," Medalen said. "Many of the federal funding formulas used to allocate grants rely upon measures of population."

Some examples of those programs, Medalen said, are housing, health services, veterans programs and programs for the elderly. Those numbers are also used to determine how many seats a state gets in the U.S. House of Representatives.

"Although we only have one, so we can't get any lower," Medalen laughed.

Figures from the census are also utilized by various local government and private-sector entities.

"The estimate is that each person counted reflects back in that (federal) funding by about $1,000," Medalen said. "So if 10 people are missed, it would potentially reflect in $10,000 a year. And considering these figures are used for the next 10 years, it can potentially have a huge impact in funding in those programs."

A main focus of the committee, Medalen said, will be targeting the "hard to reach" population.

"The retired may be gone for part of the year," he said. "College students, oilfield and other transient working groups, lower income groups, people who are doubled-up in housing or residences. There are also people in what the census bureau calls 'group quarters,' like group homes, college dorms and residence halls, hospitals, nursing homes, emergency and transitional shelters, soup kitchens and special places such as the Job Corps center here in Minot."

Medalen said the return rate for the 2000 census in Ward County was 74 percent, whereas the other 26 percent was gathered by census workers "following up with direct contact."

"Our goal is to try to increase the response to the mail-out form by at least 10 percent," he said, reducing the amount of follow-up footwork, but the ultimate goal is a complete count of every person in Ward County on April 1, 2010.

Commission chairman Bruce I. Christianson asked Medalen how the population of Minot Air Force Base would affect the county numbers.

"Those people who live inside the gates, they'll be counted as Ward County residents?" Christianson said.

"That's my understanding, yes," Medalen replied.

Therefore, in theory at least, the boom in oilfield and other energy jobs seems to be timed just right to boost North Dakota's population as high as possible.

"It's not like they have to be here for 30 days, like for voting purposes," Medalen said. "It's actually a snapshot of the count.

"It doesn't change your residence for voting or anything. It's strictly a count of people at that particular time."

The 2010 census form can be previewed online at (http://2010.census.gov).