County board stresses importance of census participation

By RICHARD JENKINS

rjenkins@yourdailyglobe.com

Hurley — Iron County needs more of its residents to complete the census. That seemed to be the consensus at the Iron County Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday.

Iron County residents are filling out the census at a rate of 37%, which is just over half of the state’s rate of 68%, according to information provided to the board. According to the information, the cities of Montreal and Hurley have a response rate of 56%; the towns of Gurney, Saxon, Kimball, Anderson, Knight and Pence have responded at a rate of 39%; and only 25% of the residents in the towns of Oma, Mercer and Sherman have completed the census.

The nationwide response rate is at 62%.

“It’s so important for every one of us to be counted because it’s important for all of our state and federal aid. … We want to make sure that we have the right number of people on our list,” Iron County Board Chairman Joe Pinardi told the Daily Globe. “(The census population) makes a difference in any state or federal money we have coming (to Iron County). We need to all be accounted for.”

The census can be filled out online at my2020census.gov, by phone or by mail.

In other action, the board:

—Held a moment of silence for former County Clerk George Reed and former Board Chairman Paul Gottwald, who both passed away in June.

—Approved a change to the county’s employee handbook, requiring employees to purchase their own health insurance after they retire rather than giving them the ability to pay to stay on the county’s policy. Only two retirees are currently paying to be on the county policy, according to information presented at the meeting, and both would be grandfathered in and not impacted by the change.

—Approved the Iron County Land and Water Resource Management Plan.

—Heard the July county board meeting will be held at Saxon Harbor, with a 5 p.m. tour preceding the 6 p.m. meeting.