City of Clarksville, Montgomery County kick off 2020 Census with “CMC Counts”

City of Clarksville

Clarksville, TN – Joe Pitts, Mayor of the City of Clarksville, and Jim Durrett, Mayor of Montgomery County, Tennessee, proclaimed April 1st, 2019, as Census 2020 Kickoff Day and introduced members of CMC Counts, the local Census Complete Count Committee.

The mayors were joined Monday at the kickoff ceremony by Clarksville Montgomery County School System Director Millard House; Col. Joseph Kuchen, Fort Campbell Garrison Commander; and retired Lt. Gen. Ronald Bailey, Austin Peay State University (APSU) vice president for external affairs.

Census 2020 Kickoff Day — scheduled “one year out” from the formal start of Census 2020 had two primary goals.

Goals

• To start making citizens aware of the coming 2020 Census and its importance.
• To bring together local governments, government-supported institutions, agencies, and organizations and join with the U.S. Census Bureau to ensure a full and accurate count of Clarksville and Montgomery County in the 2020 Census.

The diverse CMC Counts group is chaired by Jeffrey Tyndall, director of the Clarksville-Montgomery County Regional Planning Commission. The Complete Count Committee includes elected leaders from the City Council and County Commission, city and county departments, faith leaders, and members of local social service and civic organizations.

“I want to thank Jeff Tyndall and members of CMC Counts for taking the bull by the horns and getting our 2020 Census efforts off to a good start,” County Mayor Durrett said. “This is really important, and we all need to ensure we get a good, accurate count of Clarksville-Montgomery County in 2020.”

Mayor Pitts read aloud the 2020 Census Kickoff Day proclamation, which notes that “each person counted in the 2020 Census in Clarksville-Montgomery County will mean that about $1,200 dollars per year will flow to local governments for the benefit of local citizens.”

The census data also ensures fair Congressional representation in the U.S. House of Representatives and in redistricting the Tennessee General Assembly, county commissions, city councils, school boards and other voting districts.

“We encourage all people in our community — through CMC Counts, our local Complete Count Committee — to partner over the next year with local governments, government-supported institutions, agencies, and organizations and join with the U.S. Census Bureau to ensure a full and accurate count in Census 2020,” the proclamation states.

Charlotte Faye Anderson, partnership coordinator for the U.S. Census Bureau, attended the ceremony at the Montgomery County Historic Courthouse, and said that 65 such events were being held across Tennessee.

“The main messages I want to stress today about the Census are: It’s safe. It’s secure. And it’s important,” Anderson said.

House, the CMCSS Schools Director, said it was “vitally important” that the entire community participate in the 2020 Census.