Roberta Sonenfeld – In her own words
Ridgewood Village Voices: Roberta Sonenfeld
Friday, May 24, 2013
The Ridgewood News
Occupation and volunteer positions: I have my own management consulting business; vice president of the Ridgewood Education Foundation; secretary of the Volunteer Center of Bergen County; Ridgewood Historical Society board member.
MARION BROWN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
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Roberta Sonenfeld, a village resident for 16 years, adjusts the vintage wedding dress on exhibit at the Schoolhouse Museum.
Age: 58.
How long I have lived in Ridgewood: 16 years.
Interests and hobbies: Broadway theater, traveling, cooking.
My favorite place to relax in Ridgewood: During spring, summer and fall, hanging in our backyard with friends.
A “perfect day” in Ridgewood would include: Starbucks in the morning followed by a library visit or shopping and topped off by dinner at either Mediterraneo, La Lanterna or Café 37.
The best-kept secret in the village: The Schoolhouse Museum – come visit and see our current exhibit – “The Collection.”
The best thing about Ridgewood: The educational system and the support it has in the community, including the significant contributions that the trustees at the Ridgewood Education Foundation make.
One thing I would like to change in the village: The level of discourse on seemingly divisive issues, e.g. Valley Hospital and Central Business District development.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/community/208769971_Ridgewood_Village_Voices__Roberta_Sonenfeld.html?page=all#sthash.MBerzD5S.dpuf
Ridgewood needs a strong Village Manager with current management qualifications. The Village Manager should have municipal governing experience, or if from the private sector, industrial operations management experience. Roberta appears to be an active community volunteer with a former banking career, and for the past several years has been consulting. How do these qualifications fit the job of managing the day-to-day operation of drivers, safety, street services, engineering, etc.?
You may want to Google “Six Sigma Master Black Belt” before passing judgement on her operations management experience.
#1 asked, How do these qualifications fit the job of managing the day-to-day operation of drivers, safety, street services, engineering, etc.?
They don’t. This appointment has me concerned since Government and private Business operations are not even cousins when it comes to how they function. Mistakes in management can be costly with fines issued by OSHA, EPA, DEP, PERC, to name a few. Having little or no knowledge as the Chief Executive Officer of the Village of what is required of a municipality is a recipe for disaster.
City managers with degrees in economics, sociology, statistics, urban planning, political science, finance, and management are helpful. However, most city councils and mayors prefer to hire individuals who have master’s degrees in public administration. Does our new Manager have this educational background?
#2 I’m a headhunter and I know what Six Sigma is. That still doesn’t change her lack of relative experience. Does she have EH&S experience? Or union experience? Or experience managing a large staff in the past 5 years?
Gabbert had experience and he cost us ( the village) thousands of dollars in blunders.
or the police and fire unions.
what gabbert knew about running a municipality you could fit into a thimble.
That’s it when all else fails blame Gabbert.
only one man like dr gabbert, and that was john spano. why did he get the biggest raise in the village.
Gabbert’s experience, lack of experience, success, or failure all have NOTHING to do with this.
The bottom line is that this candidate has no training, no credentials, and no experience. She should not be hired.
gabbert passed over a military veteran for promotion in violation of civil service rules. that alone shows us he didn’t know squat about municipal administration. So #9 who should we blame for that mess huh?
Why blame anyone. Gabbert is no longer here. The fireman was rightfully promoted and his legal fees paid for by the Village. So what mess huh?
We need more DPW workers.
#11 I’m number 6, the point I was trying to make, Is Gabbert was an experienced municipal administrator and he still blundered so badly we’re still paying for it. How much worse could this lady do than him? That said, in the current context of this discussion Gabbert’s success, failure, and overall performance have plenty of relevance.
Our previous VM had this educational background and experience in Municipal govt, and I don’t think anyone here thinks he did a good job as a carpet bagger in Ridgewood. Please give Ms. Sonenfeld a chance. She deserves it.
What is your agenda please #11 ? Were you passed over for the job ? Maybe you’re a member of the Ridgewood Village +$100K pension Group of Eight (and growing to 17 by next year) that will discredit anyone trying to slow the rate of growth in our property taxes ? You paid less in tax your whole life and now you want the rest of us to pay more so your cronies can get the same +100K pensions and Cadillac healhcare plans for life on the taxpayers’ dime. More jam for you today, future generations be damned. Just shameless, you haven’t even given the new VM a chance.
What is your agenda please #17 ? Were you part of the FAC team that produced a faulty report? Now that your report has been exposed to be full of inaccuracies and false data you try to discredit anyone who criticizes the authors of that faulty report! You make more money than 99% of all Americans and you want even more by taking away money which provides food, shelter and clothing for hard working municipal employees and their families, how greedy and shameless can you get? Your attitude is the hell with how it affects others. The selection of the new Village Manager is clearly wrong. I wouldn’t hire my Dentist to do a cardiac bypass and that is exactly what has been done here.
#17 those who you berate (as stooges in a previous post ) earned, and contributed, to their pensions and served the village for decades how many decades did you serve the village of Ridgewood? What is your agenda?. Living above your means? You are obviously a jealous bitter person who resents anyone else’s success but your own. To highlight your ignorance, you repeatedly rail on about 100k pensions and Cadillac health care plans, these benefits were negotiated for, and are also set forth in administrative code of the state of NJ. The likes of which the new vm regardless of credentials has no control over. Who are you to refer to anyone as shameless ,when the employee’s to which you refer are doing their level best to provide for their family’s. If you don’t like to pay for the service provided to you MOVE!!!.
#17 complains about what other people earn, I bet what he will not tell you is what his income is. I would be interested in learning what he does for a living and what his income is…..of course he would never tell us or he would most likely lie about his earnings.
I bet $1,000.00 this guy lives on the west side of town in a one million + home, drives expensive cars, and earns more in 10 years than a cop or fireman makes in 30 years. So why is he so upset at what other people earn? Simply put this individual is greedy and feels he pays too much tax. News flash for you Mr. Greedy, those employees EARN every dollar they make.
#18, who said anything about taking away money ? Where is that in my post or in the original or latest FAC report ? What “inaccuracies” are you referring to ? Do you have any idea what you are talking about or have you been so blinded by your union talking points that you don’t even understansd the facts ? You’ve decided already on the new VM without even giving her a chance because you obviously fear what might happen when we open the windows on the status quo way of doing things in Ridgewood. Read the news on NJ’s finances please and try to understand what “unsustainable” means. You can’t just forever raise taxes in one of the highest taxed states already only to pay for the growth in pension & healthcare costs. It’s not fair to future generations, and it’s not fair to hardworking private sector citizens who aren’t seeing their wages grow.
#19, I referred to the poster #17 as shameless, not our hardworking municipal employees. It’s no surprise that you try to discredit differing opinions and change the subject when it comes to the status quo…. it clearly works for you. Newsflash: NJ’s state finances are a mess and will get worse thanks to the status quo.
Thanks for the advice on moving #19, well noted. Let’s see: 94% of the growth in NJ’s 2014 state budget is to pay for pensions, healthcare benefits and interest on debt, not for education and other services. Despite the biggest ever pension pension payment in history at $2.25 billion, the state is still underfunding the plan, and has nothing reserved to pay for the “pay-as-you-go” (PAYGO) healthcare benefits for municipal retirees. Underfunded state liabilities for pensions & healthcare totalled $84bn as of 2012. NJ has a Moody’s grade of Aa3, and only IL and CA have lower ratings among U.S. states, and Moody’s reduced NJ’s financial outlook to negative last December. S&P also gives NJ a negative outlook. NJ ranks dead last in terms of financial stability amongst US states. Meanwhile, the number of +$100K Club municipal retiree pensioners in NJ has ballooned by 75% since 2010 (https://watchdog.org/129746/100k-club-retirees/). Who in their right mind wants to dump this mess on their kids ?
Well #23, if the state did not steal $590 Million dollars from the pension funds in 1997 under Governor Whitman (see article below)
https://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/07/nyregion/whitman-s-borrowing-plan-criticism-may-not-go-away.html
And if those funds were invested like they were suppose to be, earning dividends, capital gains and interest, and the State of New Jersey didn’t give every county and municipality a “pension holiday” where the county and municipalities did NOT pay into the pensions as they were suppose to see story below)
https://www.state.nj.us/treasury/news/2008/p081125.pdf
Again money lost because it wasn’t invested properly. So when you make statements such as ….
Let’s see: 94% of the growth in NJ’s 2014 state budget is to pay for pensions, healthcare benefits and interest on debt, not for education and other services.”
Try finishing the sentence with something like Because politicians mismanaged the pension funds and stole money from the pension system.” instead of trying to be cute and imply the blame is because of Police and Firefighters.
#21 Do you have any idea what you are talking about or have you been so blinded by that fake FAC report that you have to manipulate facts to support it’s faulty conclusions ? You keep talking about 100k police and fire pensioners yet not once have you mentioned the numerous 100k pensioners who retired from the school system. Why is that? What is YOUR agenda. Do you realize that if your property taxes were $20,000.00 a year and you completely did away with the municipal taxes ($6,800) your taxes would still be among the highest in the country at $13,200.00 a year. So tell me why aren’t you steaming mad at the BOE costs and the 100K and above salaries there. Why aren’t you complaining about how many retired educators are getting 100k pensions and Cadillac health care in retirement? I would love to hear you explain why your only focused on municipal workers while you ignore teachers and the BOE.
Yet again, you’ve missed the point #20. Current costs for public safety are like a flea. Future costs for retiree pensions & healthcare benefits from age 50 to 80 (assuming an average lifespan) are like an elephant’s ass. You do the math. Here’s an example. The Village has 9 members in the $100K Retiree Pension Club today, including Tenhoeve. That number will double by 2015. We’ll be contributing to their retirement for many years to come given many of this elite top 1% of municipal pensioners retired after 25 years of work, i.e. they’re still relatively young compared to private sector workers who’ve saved for retirement. And we pay as costs are incurred for their healthcare, there’s no state pension-style fund to help us with that.
Point taken #24, and I think Christie agrees: he inherited a state pension system that was broken and on the verge of collapse. He has to make up a lot more to close the underfunding gap, I don’t dispute that. But the fact of the matter is that promises that have been made are too generous. We can’t roll back what’s already been promised, but we can try to limit the growth in these liabilities for state taxpayers and property owners. Limiting the compaund annual growth in these costs is a good thing for the long-term health of the state and will help to keep the pension plans solvent. Remember that rising property taxes compound just like investments do. The higher the base, the larger the effect. Private sector workers don’t get COLAs and haven’t seen wage increases since the financial crisis; they have to save for their retirement and pay much more for healthcare than municipal workers.
There you again #25, misrepresenting facts and trying to divert attention away from the truth. The Ridgewood BoE only had three pensioners in the $100K club as of 2013 vs. 8 for the Village and one with Multiple pensions (Tenhoeve). Ridgewood Village members of this elite 1% club will double in 2015.
There you go again #28, flat out lying and avoiding the question. The Ridgewood BoE has 5 pensioners in the $100K category. And you completely avoided explaining why you always mention the 100k police and fire pensioners and say NOTHING of the 6 100k pensioners who retired from the school system.
Why is that? What is YOUR agenda. Do you realize that if your property taxes were $20,000.00 a year and you completely did away with the municipal taxes ($6,800) your taxes would still be among the highest in the country at $13,200.00 a year
So tell me why aren’t you steaming mad at the BOE costs and the 100K and above salaries there.
Source: https://watchdog.org/129746/100k-club-retirees/
we need more fire and police in the village. right snap.
Hey #25, if you don’t like paying taxes to fund the BoE budget, then move.
Thanks #29, if you don’t like funding the BoE budget through your property taxes then move. Problem solved.
You said we have numerous 100K pensioners who retired from the school system… I count three on this 2013 list (https://watchdog.org/129746/100k-club-retirees/) as compared with eight from the Village of Ridgewood and one with multiple pensions. What is your source on these “numerous 100K pensioners” who retired from the BoE please ? The BoE is 66% of our taxes compared to the Village at 24%. So why are there 3X more retired Village employees in this 100K pension club than educators ? Sounds like the priorities are backwards. Public safety is important, but “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” (Nelson Mandela)
What is your source on these “numerous 100K pensioners” who retired from the BoE please ?
https://www.nj.com/news/bythenumbers/
So why are there 3X more retired Village employees in this 100K pension club than educators ?
Police and Firefighters work 8 to 12 hours 365 days a year. In case you don’t realize it that is double the regular school year of 8 hours for 180 days.
$70,000.00 to $100,000.00 pensions for BOE employees for a parttime job that’s pretty sweet.
Become a teacher then !
35 said Become a teacher then !
Right after you become a Police Officer, which you most likely would never qualify for…..
Maybe I’ll become a “special”. I hear they’re going to get extra duty for outside vendors like PSE&G and Verizon so the regular officers can focus on public safety instead of extra duty. Won’t be difficult work for sure.
38 said, Maybe I’ll become a “special”.
Good luck with that, I doubt you would qualify. But don’t let me dissuade you go for it.
all I can say is some of the upper ( management ) are going to shit when she starts talking to ( all ) of the work force. your bull shit is out, and so are you. so think about retiring . you and you will not control the new manager with your old crap. you kept the workers from talking to the last boss. not this time suckers.
Well #28, You still haven’t told me why you mention the 100k police and fire pensioners and say NOTHING of the 100k pensioners who retired from the school system.
Why is that? What is YOUR agenda. Why aren’t you steaming mad at the BOE costs and the 100K and above salaries there.
Why would someone tout marrying a college professor as a high point in their life? Was he married when she became interested?