Debbie Schroeder has seen television commercials explaining the importance of filling out census forms now being sent through the mail.

However, she may not be mailed a form, as she resides in a large section of Leelanau County in which the census will be delivered door-to-door by enumerators.

She hasn’t seen a census worker yet, either.

“I thought it was coming in the mail,” said Schroeder, who resides in Empire Township but is served by the Glen Arbor post office.

Be patient, is the advice of Nancy Brethaurer, manager of the northern Michigan district of the census that takes in 13 counties. The census is coming her way.

Brethaurer, a former postmaster in Traverse City hired for about a year to help oversee census operations, said a decision has been made to deliver census forms by hand in parts or all of the townships of Empire, Glen Arbor, Cleveland, Centerville and Leland. The decision was reached at least partially because the area includes portions of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, and postal records were deemed incomplete, she said.

Consequently, many residents will not receive their census forms by mail — and the U.S. Census Bureau needs to hire many more people to complete its work in southwestern Leelanau County.

Brethaurer said the Census Bureau set an original goal of finding 400 people who had taken tests and qualified to work as census takers in Leelanau County. As of this week, about 337 potential hires had been identified.

And since the census tries to station workers near their homes, the employment shortage is worse in the low density areas that are in need of more workers.

As expected by its makeup, many of the workers hired from Leelanau County are retired. Brethaurer said an effort has been made to prevent census pay from negatively affecting public and private pensions.

“We have a wonderful mix of older, younger and middle-aged people. They’re so driven, and it’s such a neat thing,” she said.

The effort to count all people within the U.S. every 10 years, as required by the United States Constitution, can be complicated and varied, Brethaurer said. For instance, no census forms will be delivered to post office boxes, a major component of mail delivery in Leelanau County. Instead, the federal government plans to send census workers directly to homes that are not on postal rural routes used to deliver census forms.

Regardless of how census forms are delivered to households, they can only be returned through the mail. Brethaurer said bar codes on the forms will allow the census bureau to check off homes as they are returned.

Reports indicate that many county residents have been mailed a notice that a census form would follow. While the official census day is April 1, Brethaurer said residents should fill out and mail their forms as soon as possible to avoid having a census worker follow with a personal visit.

Enumerators may visit a home three times before declaring it unoccupied. Brethaurer said an effort is even underway to seek out homeless people in the area, especially in Traverse City.

The area census headquarters is located at 880 Munson Ave., a building occupied through a short-term lease. Questions should be directed to the burueau’s website; they will also be answered by calling 1-866-861-2010.

The results of the census may not bode well for Michigan’s political clout, as the state is expected to lose one of its 15 members of the House of Representatives due to declining population. Billions of dollars in federal funding are allocated based upon results of the census.

Field work in Leelanau County should be completed by the end of August. By statute, the 2010 Census must be delivered to the president by Dec. 31.

Brethaurer has fielded questions over whether all lines of the form have to be filled in, especially those asking for ethnicity and home telephone numbers. Her belief is that federal law requires residents to complete all lines on the census form. Failing to do so may prompt a call or visit from an enumerator.

“In my training, completing the whole census is part of the requirement for the Constitution ... my belief is it’s required by law.”

But the law also protects census responses from being used against residents, and census forms may not be collected by workers. “It’s strictly for the statutory count ... we can’t share this information with anybody,” she said.

The 10-question form can usually be completed in about 10 minutes, Brethaurer added.

Four assistance centers will be established in Leelanau County starting March 19, and will be open for one month. They are:

• Leelanau Governmental Center, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9-5;

• Elmwood Township Hall, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, 10-3;

• Kasson Township Hall, Mondays and Wednesdays, 9-5;

• And in Peshawestown, with times and location to be determined.