Dear Ed, what a shame, all this time, money and effort wasted on Santiago’s residency. Had Mayor Palmer simply moved Santiago’s billet to the Trenton code officials department none of this would have happened. Under Mr. Pucciatti’s jurisdiction, residency has no effect on city employment. It doesn’t make a difference where you live. All you need to do is check the records of employees past and present and you will see many never lived even close to Trenton. One former building inspector lived in Allentown, N.J., from the beginning of his employment to his retirement. Two electrical inspectors lived in Camden and New Brunswick. A building inspector left the city for a year and should have lost tenure and still lived in Lawrenceville, which is at least close to Trenton. The money being spent for Santiago’s case could be spent on more important matters, like busing students or figuring out how to attract people to the newest empty investment rental property on Montgomery Street, where you need to make $140,000 a year to live. Where are these jobs that the mayor is looking at? Alas, that’s not a residency issue now. I’ll comment on that later.

Resident Expert

Most of us can agree that all the money spent on lawyers in this case is a disservice to the taxpayers. But are you saying the police director should be classified as a type of inspector? Inspector Santiago. Does have a ring to it. We’ll get him a magnifying glass.— Ed. Note