A do-not-solicit registry is up and running to help Hopewell Township residents and business owners seek relief from solicitors.
Any residents or business owners can sign up to be placed on the Do-Not-Solicit registry by filling out an application and delivering it to the Township Clerk’s Office.
The registry and applications available to the public had been announced on Oct. 14.
The Township Committee voted in favor of amending the township’s solicitation ordinance on Sept. 19, which established the do-not-solicit list that residents can now sign up to be on.
The governing body unanimously approved the amended solicitation ordinance as a result of resident concerns over the summer to an increase in solicitations and peddlers.
Once a resident and property owner signs up to be on the registry their address will remain on the do-not-solicit list until they seek to have their address removed or move from the address that is registered, township officials said.
To solicit in the township, a solicitor or peddler has to obtain a solicitor’s permit from the Hopewell Township Police Department.
Police Chief James Rosso and the Hopewell Township Police Department review information and investigate a solicitor’s permit.
Ways to revoke solicitor’s licenses include fraud, misrepresentation or false statements; conviction of any crime or misdemeanor; and conducting solicitation and peddling in an unlawful manner, according to the township’s ordinance.
The police department is responsible for enforcement regarding those soliciting in the township without a permit and for solicitors who solicit at residents or businesses that have signed up to be on the do-not-solicit registry.
The peddlers and solicitors who are allowed to peddle and solicit with permits can do so between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.
Those exempt from the ordinance are deliveries, charitable organizations such as the Girl Scouts, religious organizations, political candidates and their representatives.
Two statutory exemptions include those honorably discharged from their military service and those who are volunteer firefighters, according to the township.
For more information on the do-not-solicit list, visit www.hopewelltwp.org.
