Posted on

Ridgewood : OUR WAKE UP CALL

3 amigos in action Ridgewood NJ

OUR WAKE UP CALL

April 6,2016

DS

If the events that transpired last night do not shake your faith in the sham of a process that has transpired, nothing will. We are being held hostage by an institution that is engaging in a scorched earth policy against Ridgewood. They do not want to be a good neighbor and it is clear they would rather destroy our neighborhood than offer any real compromise.

I’m extremely disappointed that the majority of PB members did show a spine. I understand their concerns but we have to be firm in our resolve that this is not right for Ridgewood and we will continue to fight. What is the point of a Planning Board that can’t plan???

I’m sure many of you realize this, but if you haven’t made the connection yet to the Valley expansion, Garagezilla, and the increase in allowed housing density in town, let this be clear: any judge and court will. Therefore, even if you haven’t signed the garage petition yet, please consider doing so. We need to show the courts and other interested parties that we aren’t going to cause self inflicted wounds first in order to help prevent a hospital that will triple in size in a residential neighborhood.

Secondly, the upcoming VC election is more important than ever. We need to get strong defenders of our town in place because clearly the troika in charge of this town has had their own agenda. Please consider supporting Bernie Walsh and Jeff Voight in May.

Thank you.

Posted on

HR director job should be reposted through Civil Service

captin+morgan1-300x225

file photo By Boyd Loving

JULY 24, 2015    LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, JULY 24, 2015, 12:31 AM
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

HR director job should be posted with Civil Service

To the Editor:

I attended the Ridgewood Council meeting on July 15, 2015, to hear the discussion regarding the changes in village government. I was most interested in the newly formed HR director position.

I am in agreement that an HR position is warranted. I am in disagreement with the process of hiring the current HR assistant and elevating her to a director without a change in job description. No one on the Village Council, as well as the village manager, could explain how this position goes from an assistant – actual title per Civil Service “Confidential Secretary to the Village Manager” — to a director without a change in the responsibilities. It is also being elevated to a full-time position with an enormous salary increase plus benefits.

The job was posted as an assistant position, which limited the pool of applicants looking for full-time work and with the credentials of director. If this position is now going to be a full-time director position, it should be reposted through Civil Service for all eligible applicants throughout the state to apply.

Bernadette Walsh

Ridgewood

https://www.northjersey.com/opinion/opinion-letters-to-the-editor/letter-to-the-editor-hr-director-job-should-be-reposted-through-civil-service-1.1379970

Posted on

Readers say This really smacks of something underhanded. The position was created through unofficial channels This whole thing does not pass the smell test.

Village_Manager_Roberta_Sonenfeld_theridgewoodblog

file photo by Boyd Loving

Just watched the UStream. I count four titles for this one job. 1. senior Personnel Assistant. 2. director of Human Resources. 3. Senior Human Resources Professional. 4. confidential Secretary to the Village Manager. The way they were getting testy with Bernie really gave the appearance that they were hiding something. Roberta was tap dancing all around, Albert went onto his high horse and said he was not in a deposition. Susan stayed the course and asked them what the name of the job is as of that moment. Roberta actually asked her “do,you mean as of today?” This whole thing does not pass the smell test.

Thank you Bernie. Just watched the UStream. Fascinating. The hired this person through a non-competitive position (confidential secretary) but then promoted her to a competitived position (Director) . . . what the heck is going on? Sure sounds like someone is playing very loose in Village Hall and we, the residents, are going to pay for it when the Village gets sued.

And thank you Susan for asking the difficult questions . . . “What is the name of this position as of today”? I almost died laughing when you asked that and Roberta couldn’t answer.

This really smacks of something underhanded. The position was created through unofficial channels. The person was hired before the job actually existed. Roberta defended her actions by saying this was all just a cleanup of an existing condition. Wrong. It did not exist until she created it last year. She tried to act like this was a long standing contradiction and it is not. She made this Jo and then she got the law changed. This was not an emergency. Why. Pinot follow official channels and get the Code changed before posting the job opening? Seems that this was slipped though under the radar, but thanks to Mike, Susan, Bernie and a couple of others, the radar detectors started squawking.

Make this right Ms. Sonenfeld. better yet, make it right Mr. mayor. This is outright government corruption as it stands now.

Posted on

Reader , Whats with the Attacks on Bernie Walsh ?

imgres-6
 imgres-6
Reader , Whats with the Attacks on Bernie Walsh ?
you sound for all the world like a desperate current officeholder sweating their re-election chances. You uncivilly bad mouth our esteemed former Councilwoman Bernadette Walsh as if she were a current candidate vying to replace you on the Council. (We should be so lucky. You should keep your powder dry if in fact you anticipate facing her as a future electoral opponent!) You further hypocritically introduce party politics into your discussion regarding Ms. Walsh, as if she ever allowed her already well-known political affiliation to affect the way she conducted herself as a (successful) candidate for Ridgewood council, or as a (successful) sitting Councilwoman. (Which, of course, she never did, having full and complete respect for the clear strictures imposed by the Faulkner Act.) Finally, you blithely and coldly use the word ‘failed’ when discussing Ms. Walsh’s bid for a county-wide position. This is a transparently malicious bid to paint her as some kind of sad sack candidate, a characterization no right-thinking Ridgewood resident who knows her at all would ever accept, particularly coming from an individual clearly clutching at so many straws to defend an incumbent who was himself a ‘failed candidate’ for US Congress. Would do us all a favor and slink back into the humble roadside hole you came out of, Mr. Mudslinger?
Posted on

Bernie Walsh Graciously Concedes, Democrats retain control of Bergen County freeholder board

imgres-22

Bernie Walsh Graciously Concedes, Democrats retain control of Bergen County freeholder board

NOVEMBER 10, 2014, 10:17 PM
BY JOHN C. ENSSLIN
STAFF WRITER | 
THE RECORD

Democrats retained control of the Bergen County Freeholder board on Tuesday, and their party’s 5-2 majority, as incumbents David Ganz and Joan Voss won re-election.

Voss thanked supporters as they celebrated at the Hasbrouck Heights Hilton and said, “This has been my 11th campaign and thank God I’ve been able to win them.”

The campaign took her and her running mates to nearly all 70 of Bergen County’s towns, she said.

Full coverage of North Jersey election results

“The people are incredible,” Voss said. “They listened to our message. They knew what we wanted to do and where we wanted to go.”

The two Republican candidates, Robert Avery and Bernadette Walsh, conceded defeat at about 10 p.m., when Ganz and Voss held a lead of about 4,000 votes with about 80 percent of the vote counted.

“At this point this looks like a lead that we’re not going to be able to overcome,” Walsh said. She said she had no regrets about the campaign. “It’s been spectacular,” Walsh said. “I enjoyed every minute of it.”


https://www.northjersey.com/news/democrats-retain-control-of-bergen-county-freeholder-board-1.1126383

Posted on

Bergen County Executive Kathe Donovan , Bob Avery and Bernie Walsh kick off the fall Campaign Season

10580308_705166572883370_885509041_n

photos by Janet Occhiuzzo Higgins
Bergen County Executive Kathe Donovan , Bob Avery and Bernie Walsh kick off the fall Campaign Season
September 13th 2014

Kathe Donovan , Bob Avery and Ridgewood’s  Bernadette Walsh kicked of there fall campaign and opened the District 36 headquarters in Carlstadt .

10695108_705166542883373_964707748_n

photos by Janet Occhiuzzo Higgins

Bergen County Executive Kathe Donovan was joined by Freeholder  Maura McMahon DeNicola and in the back ground Bob Yudin .