Tag: Civil Service

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Village of Ridgewood Posts Opening for Village Manager Position

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the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, the Village of Ridgewood is looking for a Full Time Village Manager. A post on the Village of Ridgewood website says: Full-service residential community of 26,000 residents, with AAA bond rating in Northwest Bergen County, with $54.7 million budget, paid police and fire departments, sanitation division, sewage treatment facility, parking utility ($2.5 million budget) and water utility ($18.5 million budget). Council Manager form of government, operating under Faulkner Act. Five member non-partisan Council elected for staggered four-year terms.

Continue reading Village of Ridgewood Posts Opening for Village Manager Position

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Hoboken Mayor Bhalla’s Accused of Offering to Buy Out Councilwoman From Upcoming Election with Offer for Future Employment

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the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Hoboken NJ, On August 5th, Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla publicly announced his offer of future employment for a newly created role to a sitting Hoboken City Councilwoman who was potentially opposing his slate in the upcoming general election.  The new position being offered would commence after both the mayor’s and the councilwoman’s first terms end on December 31st, 2021.  According to Hoboken Councilwomen Jen Giattino (Council Vice President) and Tiffanie Fisher, this violates multiple New Jersey ethics, civil service and criminal codes and they have requested in writing to the Office of Attorney General and the Local Finance Board to investigate the actions of the Hoboken mayor including violations of the following codes:

Continue reading Hoboken Mayor Bhalla’s Accused of Offering to Buy Out Councilwoman From Upcoming Election with Offer for Future Employment

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JOB : WATER POLLUTION CONTROL FACILITY SUPERINTENDENT IN RIDGEWOOD

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the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, The Village of Ridgewood is seeking a Superintendent for its municipally-owned Sewage Treatment Plant. Qualified individual must have current NJDEP C-3 and S-3 or higher licenses.  Strong leadership skills required, as well as at least 10 years’ experience in treatment plant maintenance/repair/upkeep/operation for a 5 MG permitted plant with a liquid waste acceptance program.

The Village of Ridgewood is an Equal Opportunity Employer and a Civil Service municipality.

Please send cover letter, resume and salary requirements to Beth Spinato, Administrative Assistant, Village Manager’s Office, Village of Ridgewood, 131 North Maple Avenue, Ridgewood, NJ 07450 or bspinato@ridgewoodnj.net.  Deadline for applications is January 17, 2020.

 

 

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Reader says Questions on Police Hiring are because obvious ignorance as to how the Civil Service hiring process works

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photo by Boyd Loving Village of Ridgewood Mayor Susan Knudsen administered the oath of office to two new Ridgewood PD Patrol Officers Recent Bergen County Police Academy graduates Hector Perez and Miguel Torreslopez

it’s because of your obvious ignorance as to how the Civil Sevice hiring process works. From the NJ Civil Service Commission website:
“After you pass your exam, your name goes on an eligible list ranked by score. When an appointing authority (hiring agency) notifies the Civil Service Commission (CSC) that it wants to fill vacancies, CSC sends them the names that are ranked highest on the eligible list for the title they want to use. This is called a certification list. When your name appears on a certification list, it means that you may be interviewed and considered for appointment.
Also, when your name appears on a certification list, CSC will send you a Notification of Certification. You must contact the appointing authority in writing within 5 business days to express your interest. If you do not respond, your name may be removed from the eligible list.
If a Disabled Veteran or Veteran is the first name on the certification, the appointing authority must hire that candidate unless there is a very good reason not to. If there are no disabled veterans or veterans on a certification, the appointing authority can normally choose from among the top 3 candidates for each position.”
So no, political correctedness has nothing to do with it or you can’t have your mom appoint you if she’s the mayor.
Btw..One of the new officers is a former platoon leader in the Marines with four tours in the Middle East. The other one is an active reservist in the Air Force. And I believe neither one is Mexican.

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Did the Village Council violate the Village Code by hiring Matthews prior to creating the position?

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file photo by Boyd Loving
There are two questions. 1. Was an HR director necessary when the Village Manager is supposed to manage this function as part of her $150K salary? 2. Did the Village Council violate the Village Code by hiring Matthews prior to creating the position.

The answer to (1) is open for debate. Some agree. Others don’t.
The answer to (2) is unequivocal – the code was violated, and the VC was well aware that they barreled ahead without following the letter of the law.

Yes, Paul, the system is broken. And you deliberately broke it.

The question is WHY? What was the big hurry? Why not get things straight before hiring someone? Why all the subterfuge?

Thank you Mike Sedon and Susan Knudsen for standing up to your law-breaking colleagues on the Council. At least we can be proud that 40% of our elected officials follow the laws they were hired to observe.

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Readers say Village hiring rules broken

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file photo by Boyd Loving

“The intent of the ordinance,” Sonenfeld said, was to clean up the language in the code “to reflect what is and has been reality.”

What a load of BS. Clean up the lanugage in the code? Come on, Roberta, do you think that we concerned citizens of this town are stupid? You hired for a position that did not exist. The Council knew you were doing this, and two objected. You did not care, because you had the vote of the threesome in your pocket, so you knew that the hiring would go through. Your “clean up” statement is clearly intended to imply that this was along-standing discrepancy, instead of a very recent discrepancy that you intentionally created in order to hire Ms. Matthews.

Paul – The system is not broken, I agree with you on this.. The system is fine. You and your buddies bent the rules, broke them in half. But the system that is in place is fine. If only you and Albert and Gwenn and Roberta had respect for the law.

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Ridgewood residents question timing of organizational restructuring

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file photo by Boyd Loving

JULY 23, 2015, 5:58 PM    LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, JULY 23, 2015, 6:01 PM
BY CHRIS HARRIS
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

RIDGEWOOD — The council’s decision to appoint a human resources director was challenged last week by residents who suggested the hiring might have violated village ordinance.

Ridgewood’s council voted 3-2 on July 15 to update the ordinance that lays out the village’s organizational structure. The move formally establishes a human resources department and creates a director’s position for that department.

Roberta Sonenfeld, the village’s manager, said at last week’s council meeting that the ordinance was being updated to reflect operations in Village Hall.

Sharyn Matthews, director of the village’s new human resources department, was hired in the fall as a senior personnel assistant, earning $92,000. Matthews, whose pay will remain the same, holds degrees in labor relations and human resources from Cornell University and Mercy College and is certified as a senior human resources professional.

The changes approved by the council last week effectively eradicated the Department of Community Services, Sonenfeld said, while moving some of its subdivisions to other departments and adding some new positions.

“The intent of the ordinance,” Sonenfeld said, was to clean up the language in the code “to reflect what is and has been reality.”

https://www.northjersey.com/news/ridgewood-residents-question-timing-of-organizational-restructuring-1.1379799

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

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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.

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County prosecutor clears Ridgewood police chief in hiring flap

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file photo by Boyd Loving

County prosecutor clears Ridgewood police chief in hiring flap
October 22,2014
Boyd A. Loving
12:14 AM 

Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood Police Chief John Ward was cleared by the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office of any “criminality” in connection with the hiring of two new police recruits earlier this year.  This according to Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld, who publicly announced the official findings during Wednesday evening’s Village Council Work Session.

During a heated Village Council meeting on January 29th, a meeting attendee who spoke during the public comment segment accused Chief Ward of manipulating civil service guidelines in order to hire the son of a current police officer, and the son of a retired police captain.  Ward, who insisted that no rules were broken and that the two individuals hired met all civil service qualifications, requested that the Prosecutor’s Office fully investigate his actions.

One of the hired recruits, Keith Killion, was sworn in at a Village Council meeting earlier this month.