TRENTON -- Mayor Douglas Palmer's use of an automated calling system to urge residents to oppose a citizen petition came in for more criticism yesterday, while city officials continued to defend his action as proper.
At a lively City Council meeting last night, several residents addressed the council on the petition, the water utility sale that the petition aimed to block, and the city's larger budget problems.
Among them was Mill Hill resident and petition signer Kevin Williams, who described Palmer's robocalls last Saturday via the city's Connect-CTY system as "disgusting" and "Nixonian." He said the city shouldn't use the system for non-emergency purposes.
"We signed up to hear about emergencies, not to hear about jazz festivals and to be politically pressured," he said. "It's unbelievable they would do that."
"It is bad enough when the city uses the emergency notification system to tell me that my trash won't be picked up, but this latest is a purely political use and should be condemned," resident Ellen Casey wrote in a letter published in yesterday's Times.
