The city of Sycamore will conduct a special census in the upcoming months to update the city’s numbers and to get better representation of shared revenues.

Once the information from the census is gathered, the Census Bureau will assesses the results. Evaluating the results of a census can take three to six months to complete.

“The counting takes about one day,” said Sycamore City Manager Bill Nicklas. “We hire local people to go around and do the count, then we present it to the census and they review it.”

The last census in Sycamore was done in 2000, like all other cities in the United States. The Census Bureau conducts a census every 10 years to monitor the growth in cities across the nation.

“A special census is done when a city has some substantial growth,” said Brian Gregory, Sycamore’s assistant city manager.

Sycamore has seen significant growth in its population since the results of the 2000 census were released.

“Our population in 2000 was around 12,000 and now it’s around 14,500 people,” Gregory said.

If this proposal was not made, Sycamore would not receive a fair amount of funding for the population it has because the numbers would be inaccurate.

Nicklas said 10 years is a long time, and without this special census being conducted the city would only be able to speculate about the number of new residents it has.

“As a matter of planning, we would like to know what our actual numbers are,” Nicklas said.

Gregory said one of the biggest motives for conducting the special census is getting fair representation of shared revenue for Sycamore.

Sycamore will pay for this census out of its general reserve fund.

“We paid over $100,000 up front to establish our intentions.” Nicklas said. “The only downside to this census being conducted was the up-front cost, but the back end of this is that we get that money back and then some.”

Nicklas said in addition to the up-front cost, the census will cost around $230,000.

Sycamore is in the recruitment stage: hiring people to conduct the census, Gregory said.

Upon being hired, a three-day training period is required.

Those interested in working the census can contact Brian Gregory at 815-895-4920 or pick up an application at the Sycamore Center at 308 W. State St.