>… for several weeks the accusations the too many of the new hires at the Village Hall, Police and Fire are relatives of employees, often stretching standards to satisfy the demands of some long time employee. While the fly is not opposed to this on general principles, there have been some very uncomfortable accusations made bringing to question a threat to public safety, by hiring people seeming “unfit” for their perspective job. The fly wonders WHO will be responsible to take the fall if one of these hires turns into another costly fiasco for the Village. Or should the tax payers begin to sharpen the Guillotine for these public officials?
>the Fly on the Wall has been investigating….
19 thoughts on “>the Fly on the Wall has been investigating….”
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>Isn’t the point of ‘civil service’ that this favoratism be avoided, and hiring be done based on the best qualified candidates? Still, it seems that officials once again have found ways to help out their own, and make poor, and even dangerous hiring decisions.
How do you justify skipping a candidate off a civil service list during a previous hiring, then hire the same person you skipped just before the list expires? You have qualified, solid people on the new list, yet once again, the Village hires a relative of a public safety employee who is unfit on many levels to hold the position.
Thank you Jim Ten Hoeve and Bill Corcoran for putting our safety at risk YET AGAIN.
>Why should their hiring practices be any different from their promotional practices? Throughout the entire village there are examples of more qualified and experienced employees have been passed over for promotion to take care of relatives & friends of top village officials. New positions have been created just to get around the proper promotional process. Rumor has it that at least one employee from the fire department has or will be suing the village for being skipped. Supposedly another village employee was told not to bother studying for a recent test by a top village official and then harassed in front of several witnesses by the same person. I guess we should expect another lawsuit. But this behavior is nothing new, and has cost us tens of thousands in legal fees and settlements. That being said, I feel that if the proper hiring and promotional processes are followed then it should not matter who they are related to or friends with. It is very common for young men and women to want to follow in their parents career path. This is particularly true in the fire and police professions where it is not uncommon to find several generations of families within their ranks. These top village officials and the council should be held accountable to follow proper procedures and ensure that we receive the best employees, not law suits.
>The Firefighter who was NOT promoted by the Fire Chief may well have a case. Word on the street is that the Chief Bombace passed him because he has a vendetta against this firefighter and there was no valid reason to pass him. The question is if this is true and the Firefighter wins his case (good luck to him) will Chief Bombace be fired for what can only be described as extremely poor judgment? I will be watching……
>They didn’t fire Corcoran for skipping the number one list pick for Lieutenant, did they. They won’t fire anybody. And the person that was promoted to Lieutenant in the Police Department over the number one listed person was terminated for stealing. Nice job Ridgewood management, once again. I guess the fire department didn’t learn anything from the Police fiasco. MORONS.
>The Police Dept is in the process of making another hugh hiring mistake by hiring the son of a police officer, whoe brother is also on the force. This potential officer was not hired last year. I would be curious to know exactly why he was not hired last year and now he is being hired. Good luck finding out what happend lst year. This potential new officer also hs some military experience, I say some because he was discharged from one of the finest military organizations in the world,THE UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS. I am sure there is a interesting story about his discharge, but of course the residents will never know. Please also keep in mind the the Police department, with the assistance of the Department of personnel in Trenton, just conducted promotional exams for the ranks of Captain, Lieutenant and Sergeant. I am sure that when promotion time come, this will be a hugh fiasco , as it has been in the past. Keep your eyes on this process.
>Apparently they haven’t learned a thing from the police fiasco. Word on the street is that they are still screwing with that lieutenant they improperly skipped. Supposedly there is documentation that he was told not to bother studying for the last captain’s test by a top village official and was harassed in front of several other police officers by that same village official. The word is he already has a lawyer too. I also heard that the fire chief had a vendetta against that firefighter. I wish them both good luck at least there are a few village employee’s willing to stand up to the members only club. More brilliant moves by our top village officials. Hey why not save us the lawyer’s fees and just write them both a check. Here’s a really crazy idea, why not do things the right way in the first place. But lets give credit to the right people. The fire and police chiefs don’t have the power to make promotions they can only recommend. It’s the village manager and council who are responsible for the final decision.
>stop crying
>Civil Service is not a perfect system. Taking a test can never determine who will be a good supervisor. Unfortunatly, there really is not a more impartial system in place right now, so how can they justify skipping people on a list?
Anyways, the discharge of the new police officer was ‘less than honorable’. The information is public record. Lets hire this guy hours before his list expires, instead of hiring off the new list, where there are better test scores, and better suited individuals for the job. Welcome to the Ridgewood ‘Old Boys Club’.
>stop crying gess what the town can hire who the hell they like to they pay you the state dont.so civil service cant help you.and to mr or miss anonymus your so tuff that you cant give your name.and does a test realy make up a good hire in a starned world no way .and so what about a better score.o,boy. stop it and get over it,or would you like to see some new bums in that job with a bad haircut.no way in my book.see,ya.
>The Council should have fired Chief Bombace back in 2005 when he was charged with mismanaging the fire department budget. If they had fired him back then we wouldn’t be faced with yet another lawsuit from an employee who is clearly qualified for promotion but was passed because the Chief doesn’t “like” him.
Yes the testing process isn’t perfect, but what makes the process even worse is a Chief using his position to hold down a perfectly qualified employee for personal reasons.
Hold on to your wallets I am sure this will cost us like it did in the Police Department fiasco!
>Whats with all the comments with this “bad haircut guy” Why even posts them, they are a good waste of text.
1) You need to go back to school and learn to spell, start at the 5th grade.
2) Im guessing you work for either the following; Streets, Sanitation, Village Garage or Parks based on your opinion.
For example:
Gess = Guess
Well it could be worse, this bad haircut guy could be hired next.
There is something called spell check use it.
Here someone words of advice,
Get back to work and get off your ass. And if your not doing anything crack open a dictionary, hooked on phonics or something.
>Anonymous 11:39 PM
I agree
It my understanding that the whole point of having an independent agency such as civil service administer the testing process, is to avoid exactly what is occurring in Ridgewood. From what I have been told that the police officers and fire fighters who for promotion spend almost a year preparing and many spend thousands of dollars in preparation schools and materials. The villages own policies specify that, civil service will govern promotional processes. There are state laws, which protect these employees and their civil rights, yet it appears that the village management feels that they are exempt from the rules. They have improperly and illegally passed over qualified police and fire personnel. What a great message it spends to the village employees; even if you do a good job and do well on the testing process, we still won’t promote you if you’re not one of the boys. As far as the last minute appoint of that new officer, so as to avoid using the new list, is nothing new for the police department. The word on the street is that just this last spring as the captain’s list was about to end, the village manger and council created a second captains position, which never existed before. The word is that this was done to prevent the lieutenant who already sued the town and won from having another chance at a promotion. Then one of the geniuses tells that lieutenant not to bother studying for the current captains test, as well as making public statements that there will never be two captains again and harasses the guy in front of witnesses. I also heard that the fire fighter just came out at the top of this latest promotional test. Are we going to skip him again or are just going to create new positions in the fire department also? I’m not an attorney but even I could win these cases.
>ha,ha,I LOVE ALL THIS BULL.AND NO I DO NOT WORK FOR THE VILLAGE SO GO AND POUND SALT.IT IS SO FUNNY THAT SOME OF YOU GET SO MAD OVER A HAIRCUT.ALL I CAN SAY I WISH I COULD GET ABAD HAIRCUT BUT I DONT HAVE ANY HAIR SO THATS THAT.BUT I (GESS) ITS TRUE THAT YOU KNOW THAT YOU HAVE A BAD HAIRCUT OR YOU WOULD NOT BE SPENDING SO MUCH TIME ON THIS.AND GET YOUR FACTS IN ORDER.YOU ARE OUT OF THE LOOP.NOT SHUCH A GOOD CLUE FINDER.YOU SHOULD MY THE GAME.SEE YOU AT THE MEETING.
>WELL IT SHOUNDS TO ME THAT YOU NO THAT YOU HAVE A BAD HAIRCUT SO GET IT FIXED,AND THATS THAT .WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON .OR DO LIKE TO HAVE A BADONE IF YOU DO WELL DEAL WITH IT AND GO FOR A WALK BECA– USE WE DONT CARE OR CALL THE NEWS PAPER AND GET ON THE COVER.SO WELL SEE YOU AROUND.
>ha,ha,ha,thats is funny.you told them good for you.cry babby.you bums.
>first of all. the nj dept of personel has a system in place, it is called the rule of three. maybe you bloggers didn’t know that. let me explain it to you. the chief and the town can choose after interviews, evaulations, the choice of one of three. that means they can choose either # 1,2 or #3 legally. is the system perfect no, but it works. this ff who was “skipped” has 9 yrs on the job, the ff that they promoted had close to 20 yrs on the job. the chief does not have a vendetta against anyone, he felt that the other ff was better quailified, bottom line. the chief has been bending over backwards not to fire the ff or suspend him for things he has done. but that is another story. just thought some of the dop facts should come out.
>Civil Service does have the rule of three, but the way i understand it, you can not skip a veteran. i do not know whether this applies to the fire department situation. Civil Service will provide promotional exams for Ridgewood, after the results are announced and there is an opening for a promotion, most of the time the number one person is promoted. I can not speak for the Fire dept, but the Police dept only uses the results of the civil service exams to make their promotions. They do not conduct interviews with officers on the list, they do not look at officers evaluations, each officer is evaluated twice a year by his immediate supervisor, they do not have the potential supervisor take a psych test. They do nothing! So the officer who is number one on the list is not in most cases the best candidate to be promoted, but because he is a better test taker then others who are much more qualified, they will be promoted. I have seen it happen many many times in the past and it will happen again in the very near future.
>you are correct about not skipping a vet. that applies to the PD and FD. in the FD there is a process. like it was stated, the system is not perfect. but it does work. after all is said and done, let the more qualified man be promoted
>well we love you all and good luck.