William Mowell Indicted – Former Chief Engineer of Ridgewood Water – Laid Off in 2010
Top officials of East Orange Water Commission allegedly hid chemical in drinking water
TRENTON — Two top officials of the East Orange Water Commission have been indicted for allegedly conspiring to hide elevated levels of an industrial solvent in drinking water pumped to tens of thousands of residents in the city and neighboring South Orange, state authorities said today.
The executive director, Harry Mansmann, 58, of Lawrenceville, and the assistant executive director, William Mowell, 51, of Wyckoff, falsified levels of tetrachlorethene to show the water supply was meeting state safe drinking water standards, the state Attorney General’s Office said in a news release.
Working on the roadside is a dangerous and sometimes deadly job. That’s why the Division of Highway Traffic Safety is asking motorists to Make the Move. What’s the Move? When you see flashing lights on the side of the road, slow down, and if it’s safe, Move Over – away from police, fire crews, paramedics and tow truck drivers. If you make the move, others will follow.
To learn more about New Jerseys move over law click on the link below.
Photo credit: Boyd A. Loving Christ Episcopal Church, Ridgewood Celebrates Shrove Tuesday In Style
February 12,2013
Boyd A. Loving
7:53 PM
Ridgewood NJ, Shrove Tuesday was celebrated at Ridgewood’s Christ Episcopal Church with a pancake supper and pancake relay races (indoors, of course). Parishioners of all ages partook of the buffet style meal, which included pancakes, sausages, and salad. Blue and Red teams were then formed for the traditional pancake relay races. Fellowship and fun was had by all attendees!
Ridgewood citizens may soon supplement emergency services
Tuesday February 12, 2013, 10:01 AM
BY LAURA HERZOG
STAFF WRITER
The Ridgewood News
A Neighborhood Watch program or a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) might be coming to Ridgewood if enough residents want to be trained in emergency preparedness
To gauge initial interest, the Ridgewood Police Department and the Office of Emergency Management (OEM) hosted a meeting Wednesday night in Village Hall. About 20 residents attended, and several filled out Bergen County CERT volunteer applications.
OEM Coordinator Jeremy Kleiman said he was encouraged by the initial response, but noted that he still cannot be sure based on one meeting whether the idea of a community-based, organized volunteer group will come to fruition.
Readers Debate Tiger Team Report focus on Village Worker Salaries and Benefits
All the suggestions from the tiger team revolve around reducing employee wages and benefits, dismantling contracts, changing work rules. It’s not the employees fault the village is in the mess that it is, and no mention is made of a multimillion dollar cost over run when rebuilding village hall, nor is there any mention made of the squandering of cost savings from the pension contribution holiday left over from the Whitman years. No mention made of reining in costs of health care legislative help needed of course. Maybe someone can sugar coat what they want to do by calling it something else but it is what it is.
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You obviously have not read the report. That is not what the group recommended at all. Most of the recommendations had nothing to do with employee benefits or wages.
The recommended contract changes were about simplifying the contracts and correcting certain unrealistic policies that cannot be sustained to bring them more in line with best practices in the private sector. However, starting salaries look like they have increased and the rate of base pay increases are higher than current levels in the first half of most employees’ careers. The big changes seem to be eliminate accumulated sick day pay, which is basically “double dipping” on the same pay and reducing excessive pension obligations to levels that are closer to what they were originally intended to be.
The report doesn’t blame the employees (I think it actually says that). Nor does it seek to punish them. You can blame whomever you want. But, the reality is that the current contract structures are unrealistic and unaffordable. The taxpayers can’t afford to keep paying more and, in private, many employees will admit that they knew this day was coming.
Readers Debate Independence of proposed Financial Oversight Board
The Tiger Team recommended a Financial Oversight Board. The Council is elected by law. The recommendation in the report that was published on the village website proposed the following process…
“FOB members may include any Ridgewood resident, who is not a member of Village Management or the Village Council. Nominations for the charter FOB members may be submitted by the Village Council, or any interested eligible resident may nominate himself or herself, according to a process defined by the Village Council. After the charter FOB members are approved by the Village Council, all future nominations would be made by the FOB members, with final approval to be made by the Village Council.”
Clearly, the idea is to create a group that is independent from the politics within village management or among Village Council members (which is probably a good idea, given behavior of the Village Council in recent years). It does not appear to be an “appointment”. I suspect that any interested resident could be nominated.
Tree list in Ridgewood is trimmed by storms
Tuesday February 12, 2013, 10:01 AM
The Ridgewood News
The wrath of several storms, including Hurricane Sandy, trimmed a significant number from the list of Ridgewood trees slated for removal, but the volume of work to wipe the slate clean still requires outside assistance, village officials indicated last week.
The Village Council is expected to award an approximate $50,000 contract next week to a private vendor, which will be given the task of removing more than 90 dead trees that have been marked, many several months ago, and destined for the chipper.
“This is attempting to take the backlog of trees in the village that are designated for removal and, in one fell swoop, remove those trees so our newly directed tree crew can then not only keep up with the day-to-day needs of the trees, the trimming and the root cutting and control, but also expand that and do other things with trees that we wanted to in the village,” said Village Manager Ken Gabbert.
It is a primary offense for a motorist to talk or text message with a hand-held wireless telephone or electronic communication device while driving.
Use of a hand-held wireless telephone or electronic communication device includes, but is not limited to:
Talking or listening to another person.
Text messaging or sending an electronic message.
There is a fine for violating this statute; no points will be assessed for the offense.
The operator of a motor vehicle may use a hand-held wireless telephone while driving with one hand on the steering wheel only if:
The operator has reason to fear for his/her life or safety, or believes that a criminal act may be perpetrated against him/herself or another person.
The operator is using this device to report to appropriate authorities: a fire; traffic crash; serious road hazard; medical or hazardous material emergency; or another motorist who is driving in a reckless, careless or otherwise unsafe manner or who appears to be driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The amended law took effect on March 1, 2008.
Dr. Ben Carson On Criticizing Obamacare: “Somebody Has To Stand Up To The Bullies”
DR. BENJAMIN CARSON: There are a group of people who would like to silence everybody and have everybody go along to get along, but that’s not going to be very helpful for us in the long run, in terms of solving our problems. And somebody has to be courageous enough to actually stand up to, you know, the bullies.
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DR. CARSON: One of the things I also said during the speech is there will be some people who will say, ‘but you’re a doctor and you’re a surgeon, you should be sticking to that.’ And I mentioned the fact that five physicians signed the Declaration of Independence and were involved in the framing of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and several other things.
There’s absolutely no reason at all that physicians, scientists, shouldn’t be involved in things that affect all of us. We’re people who’ve learned how to make decisions based on facts, empirical data, rather than on ideology, and one of the geniuses, one of the real things that made us a great nation, is that we brought people from all backgrounds into the legislative process. So that all of us would be able to place our interests there and we’ve gone significantly away from that.
And no one goes up to a lawyer and says why are you getting involved in this, that and the other thing. I don’t see why they would say it to a physician, who has more education than anyone else in society.
The Cooperative Nursery School of Ridgewood Movie Day
Ridgewood NJ, Looking for something fun to do with the kids over the winter break?? Join The Cooperative Nursery School of Ridgewood on Wednesday, February 20 for Movie Day at Clearview Warner Quad at 190 E Ridgewood Avenue in Ridgewood.
The featured movie is Ice Age 4: Continental Drift. The movie starts at 10am. The cost for tickets is $8. Children under 2 are free. The price includes unlimited popcorn and drinks. All the money raised will go to support the Co-op. If you have any questions, please call the school’s office at (201) 447-6232 or email [email protected]
Most of what they suggest in the report can be implemented relatively quickly. The section that discusses changes to the contracts is pretty dramatic. Most of it can, in fact, be implemented without changes from Trenton when the current contracts expire. The obvious challenge is getting the union negotiators to agree to dramatic overhauls of contracts that have become the “default” starting points during every negotiation. The issue is usually over how much of an increase the village will agree to, not whether another increase is even appropriate, let alone whether a new structure would be more appropriate.
Many of you seem too willing to throw up your hands and say “it is too difficult to make changes” or “we don’t know what we will get with change”. Of course changing decades of entrenched behavior is difficult. If it was easy, it would have been done a long time ago. But, our backs are against the wall now and we can’t afford to allow the existing behavior and policies to continue. We may not know whether change may bring some new challenges. But, we have a very good idea of what we stand to gain and we know very well what the current policies have brought us…and we cannot tolerate them anymore.
I suspect that many of the comments arguing against change to our municipal management are from municipal employees, who are afraid of the change and may not have a thorough understanding of what the report has recommended. It is hard to imagine that any Ridgewood taxpayer would suggest that we shouldn’t investigate the POSSIBILITY of exploring every recommendation in the report to see what we find out. If a recommendation can’t be implemented for some reason, so be it. But, we can’t be so apathetic that we are willing to accept the admonishments of anonymous naysayers on this blog as reasons not to try.
Critics of proposed Ridgewood’s Prejudicial dog ordinance unleash opposition
Monday February 11, 2013, 10:19 AM
BY DARIUS AMOS
STAFF WRITER
The Ridgewood News
Many pet owners and enthusiasts are asking the Ridgewood Council to reconsider a proposed ordinance that calls for an increase to the fee imposed on residents who license a court-designated “potentially dangerous dog.”
The public hearing and council vote on the ordinance, which if passed would up the licensing fee to $700, is scheduled for Feb. 13.
The village currently does not have an ordinance in place that establishes the fee for dangerous dogs, though state statute already mandates a minimum amount of $150.
In comparison, Ridgewood’s licensing fee for a “regular” spayed or neutered dog is $16.80. An additional $4 is charged for animals that have not been fixed.
According to Village Manager Ken Gabbert, the increased fee proposal comes via mutual request by officials from the Ridgewood health department and Tyco Animal Control, which provides municipal animal control services. In December, Gabbert said last week, health officials and animal control officers were wrapped in a time-consuming, potentially dangerous dog licensing case.
TRENTON – Calling half-day kindergarten “antiquated,” Assemblywoman Connie Wagner (D-38) of Fair Lawn, said it’s time for all the state’s school districts to offer full-day kindergarten to keep up with growing expectations and worldwide competitiveness. State Street Wire
Former Ridgewood woman gets 4 years for bilking $2M in investment scheme
Monday February 11, 2013, 8:13 PM
BY JUSTO BAUTISTA
STAFF WRITER
The Record
A former Ridgewood resident was sentenced to four years in prison on Monday for bilking nearly $2 million from friends in New Jersey by getting them to invest in apartment complexes and undeveloped land in Oklahoma, authorities said.
Taya Romano, 36, also known as Taya Waldon, was also sentenced in federal court in Trenton to three years of supervised release and was ordered to pay $4.7 million in restitution.
Romano was arrested in Oklahoma in January 2010 and pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud last July before U.S. District Judge Peter G. Sheridan.
In 2008 and 2009, Romano, a masseuse-turned-real-estate-developer, conspired with her then-husband to solicit money from two sets of family friends —just over $1 million from one couple and $890,000 from another — to fund what she described as real estate purchases and improvements in Oklahoma, authorities said.
Tiger Team : Establish a Financial Oversight Board (FOB)
Tiger Team Recommendation of establishing a Financial Oversight Board has been hotly debated by readers
Our work on this Committee has convinced us that there is a need for continued citizen involvement, oversight and leadership in Ridgewood’s financial matters in conjunction with the Village Council and Village management. The first and most important recommendation of our committee is that a permanent Financial Oversight Board (FOB) comprised of citizens be established by March 31, 2013, to facilitate evaluation and/or implementation of recommendation within this report, particularly those related to the 2013 budget process. The committee is aware that the Faulkner Act form of government in Ridgewood gives the Village Manager executive power over each department in the Village. However, we believe that the Village Council cedes too much autonomy to Village management. The Village Manager is the “day to day” CEO. But, the Village Council is the “Board of Directors”, to which the Village Manager is accountable. They are responsible for the funding of all Village operations and are, ultimately, responsible for the budget and Village governance. Unfortunately, the Village Council members do not have the time necessary to develop sufficient expertise in many areas of Village management, particularly with complex financial and budgetary issues. As a result the Village Council often relies on brief summaries and recommendations from the Village Manager to inform their decisions, and may not gain sufficient understanding of the implications of their decisions or what questions to ask. Our sense is that Village management perpetuates this dynamic in some instances. We expect that some Village Council members will learn about some details of the Village’s finances, for the first time, through the information contained in this report. Our opinion is that the Village Council has an obligation to establish clear directives for Village management take a more proactive oversight role.
Thus, the main purpose of the FOB would be to augment the financial expertise of both the Village management and the Village Council. Similar to the Planning Board, the FOB would provide expertise and continuity across election cycles and serve as a valuable resource for the Village Council, particularly for newly elected Council members. FOB members should have significant financial management, budget management,and senior executive commercial or governmental management experience. The important recommendations in this report, as well as , areas identified for further study require that there be a group of citizens to support and audit the work being done by the Village. Because Village taxpayers bear the full burden of the Village and BOE budgets, and the BOE share of property taxes is approximately twice that of the Village share, we hope that the FOB would eventually also provide support and oversight to the BOE. This would also serve to facilitate synergies between the Village and the BOE that do not exist today.
