February 8,2018
the staff of the Ridgewood
Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood water is looking to purchase a new water smart software ,the idea is to create a customer portal to offer better customer service and on demand access to customer account information . While we applaud Ridgewood water for moving into the 20th century ,maybe even the 21st century, issues were raised as to the cost ,integration and maintenance of the system . The mayor cleared up a few things when she realized there were some errors in the draft documents the Village made available to residents .
Mayor Knudsen ,” VC is providing “sunshine” binders allowing unprecedented access to DRAFT documents in the spirit of transparency. Typically there are errors and omissions in DRAFT documents and those are corrected before the public meeting when adopted by resolution. No different in this instance. I immediately noticed the errors and made notes for the Village Manager and Director Calbi. My meeting notes reflect a considerably lower cost based on a three year contract while the draft resolution shows the one time setup cost lumped with the total for the 3 year contract.At the right price the analytic software will provide valuable information and help with conservation efforts.I’m always happy to answer questions and going forward will have ALL binder documents marked as DRAFT. ”
What concerns us is the data collection bills have been know to be inaccurate . If Ridgewood water collects inaccurate data then the ability of the analytics will be compromised . This goes to the root of the problem . Ridgewood Water once again redirected the conversation toward consumer conservation , yet still no word on where the water is going to come from for all the high density projects going up in town.
