UPDATE–9:10 P.M.: Check out a post from First Selectwoman Lynne Vanderslice, below.
UPDATE–11:45 A.M.: After a question from a reader we checked whether the solicitors for the Citizens Campaign group were volunteers or employees. Although the original press release from Wilton Police identified them as volunteers, the door-to-door canvassers are actually paid employees.
Wilton Police are alerting residents that there is another group of door-to-door solicitors in town who may be knocking on doors. The non-profit environmental organization Citizens Campaign for the Environment have applied for and received permits to canvas in the town starting this week.
Police say that representatives of the group are scheduled to be in neighborhoods between 4-9 p.m. to meet with residents. According to its website, the organization’s goal is “…to help citizens increase their influence and participation in important environmental campaigns.
Police released a notice stating that, “Residents that request volunteers to return later in the evening could expect visits between 8-9 p.m. During the later hours, volunteers will also collect letters that people have written to public officials,” police said. [See update above, the solicitors are actually paid employees, not volunteers.]
This alert follows on the heels of a wave of citizen complaints in June about Aptive Pest Control sending sales reps fanning out across Wilton to knock on doors and drum up business. Improper filing of names with police got Aptive’s solicitation permits pulled, but not before drawing the ire of Wilton residents angry about what some said were overly persistent sales tactics.
Representatives for Citizens Campaign for the Environment will have their official identification on them and police will have a list of names of the members who are canvassing in town. The group is a non-profit charity organization and, police say, “fully permitted” by the state.