November 21,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Rica plead guilty stealing 500k. The Village insurance claim was for 850k. That left a balance of 350k, which someone kept (many suspect Rica had help ).
In the real world, guilty or not, Chris Rutishauser would have been fired. 850k was stolen under his watch. He had to have known, he should have noticed a decline in meter revenue or deposits? He ran, and continues to run a questionable department with no accountability.
The attached Rica Report was submitted by the Village to the Board of Fund Commissioners, Municipal Excess Liability Joint Insurance Fund. It outlines the total amount of quarters stolen and what needs to be done for this to never happen again.
OUR VILLAGE, THE ENGINEER, NEVER IMPLEMENTED ANY OF IT! All recommended safety measures have been met with strong opposition from Mr. Rutishauser and his organization(s). Why doesn’t the Village Manager and Council take action over this matter?
Note the closing statement. It says, the Village needs to have a process for reporting the collections and reconciling those reports to funds deposited/recorded. Security and technological advancement is also needed.
What gives the Village Engineer the authority to decide against practical safeguards, policies and procedures that protect public funds and his department from theft and fraud?
Rica Report :
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/15fd9cf3861a3d33?compose=15fd57af423901f9&projector=1
