Mentor City Manager Ken Filipiak reported to council in his latest weekly memo that the city received a plaque from the United States Department of Commerce in appreciation for the city’s help in raising awareness of - and, thus, inspiring participation in - the 2010 Census. The City had one of the highest early return participation rates, he said.

"We like to think this is, in part, (due) to the campaign our Public Information Department organized to make Mentor residents aware," Filipiak said.

The city certainly seems to have made every effort to communicate with residents, from newsletters to Mentor Channel 12 to radio to the city website, and plans for more.

The latest website report shows that, since the beginning of the year, there were 337,870 unique visitors to the site. The most visited pages recently involved employment, recreation and police.

Way to get the word out.

-- Betsy Scott, BScott@News-Herald.com