Released on = February 21, 2006, 9:04 am

Press Release Author = 4-Poster.com

Industry = Government

Press Release Summary = With the next national census still four years away, St.
Charles has launched a partial count to get a better handle on the size of its
population.

Press Release Body = With the next national census still four years away, St.
Charles has launched a partial count to get a better handle on the size of its
population.

The city is paying a St. Louis company to survey areas with housing built since the
last official federal count in 2000.

Reply cards with prepaid postage were mailed in the past few days to about 1,100
addresses asking how many people are in the household. If no one responds, employees
will follow up with telephone calls or visits.

City Administrator Allan Williams says the information is designed to help the city
make more informed decisions on water and sewer plant capacity, traffic patterns,
street improvements and other planning matters.

The minicensus, Williams said, also will help ensure "that we're making the right
choices in proceeding with the Fire Department." That was a reference to the city's
consideration of revamping its lineup of firehouses.

The data also could be used to redistrict the city's 10 wards before the City
Council elections next year if the council should decide to order that.

Mayor Patti York also cited another possibility: reclaiming "bragging rights" as the
second largest city in the St. Louis area. That was lost to O'Fallon in estimates by
the U.S. Census Bureau since the last official census in 2000.

"We'll take it to the bank" if that happens, York said, although she added that
wasn't the reason for the study.

The 2000 census showed St. Charles with 60,321 people, still comfortably ahead of
O'Fallon's 48,742. But by July 1, 2004 - the last date for which official Census
Bureau estimates are available - O'Fallon had surged to second place in the metro
area with 67,009. St. Charles was estimated to have 61,411 people on that date.

Last summer, St. Charles' community development department issued an updated
estimate of its own - 64,800 - based on a study of building permits and other data.
Now the St. Louis firm Community Programs Development Corp. is being paid $19,900 to
follow that up with its partial count.

Various new subdivisions have sprouted since the last census, including the massive
New Town complex, on the north end of the city, and Montclair, on the south side.

Unlike the once-a-decade federal census, no detailed demographic information is
being sought. And the survey is only a partial count that will be used to compile a
new estimate of the total city population.

Areas not believed to have had major growth won't be surveyed. Officials added that
those same areas aren't believed to have lost much population either, although there
will be no proof of that.

Chuck Lovelace, the city's geographic information systems director, said Community
Programs Development - which did a similar minicensus for the city in the mid-1990s
- submitted the lowest bid to do the current work. The highest was from the Census
Bureau, which said it would charge more than $95,000.






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