HOULTON – For the second time in a month, town councilors are appealing to the public to participate in a survey they hope will give the community a better sense of the local work force and how to entice businesses to set up shop or expand here.

The latest plea came at a council meeting earlier this week.

So far, town officials are not satisfied with the number of responses they have received from an employee skills survey that was made available online and in paper form last month.

The project, which initially was slated for a Dec. 18 completion date, has been extended through the end of January.

Town officials had joined economic development consultant Sylvio Raymond in launching and promoting the initiative.

Raymond was tapped in June and charged with formulating a plan for work force support services to help attract and maintain skilled workers and aid in job creation. He was one of two people hired to help propel the town forward economically.

Three types of surveys were distributed: one for people who are actively employed, one for unemployed or part-time workers, and a third for retirees.

Among other things, the poll asked respondents about their current job, wages, and how much income they think they need to comfortably support their families in southern Aroostook County.

The consultant told councilors last month that he hoped that everyone 18 or older would fill out the form and return it so the information could be cataloged in a database for reference.

Earlier this month, however, councilors were told that the project had garnered only about a 1 percent response rate.

When they were told about the low participation numbers, councilors urged the public to take time to fill out the surveys..

“I know that an awful lot of work went into this survey,” Chairman Paul Romanelli reiterated during a meeting earlier this week. “I understand that they have extended the time period so that we can get more responses. Hopefully, extending the deadline into the middle or end of January will help.”

Raymond said Friday that additional steps are being taken to make sure that everyone has the opportunity to access a survey.

“We’ve got an agreement with schools in southern Aroostook so that we can have the children take the surveys home to their parents,” he said, adding that area churches also had been receptive to putting the surveys out for parishioners to take. “We are also going to the major businesses and asking employees to fill them out.”

Raymond has about 200 completed surveys on hand right now, an amount that he deemed “unacceptable.”

“We are trying to put a resume together for the town of Houlton and for southern Aroostook,” he said Friday. “To put together a resume, you need to have certain information, such as work experience and wages and things like that. I think that people can identify with how important having a resume is today … It is so imperative that people fill these surveys out, and we hope to have the information in by the end of January.”

Paper surveys are available at town offices and numerous stores throughout southern Aroostook. Return boxes are located at most super markets, town offices and the Career Center in Houlton.

An online survey can be filled out by logging on to www.northernworkforce.org.