Ridgewood hires building department head, human resources professional
OCTOBER 6, 2014 LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2014, 11:01 AM
BY LAURA HERZOG
STAFF WRITER
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
The village has a new head start on building a better building department.
The village recently filled two new positions, including a new department head. The other new hire, intended to benefit all departments, is a senior human resources professional.
In a recent email sent to staff, Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld revealed that, after commencing a building department reorganization last June, the village landed on a new director for the department, which Sonenfeld previously stated was in “need of direct management focus.”
The reorganization, Sonenfeld has said, was necessary to create a more customer-friendly atmosphere, partly by minimizing building permit wait times and related resident complaints.
When asked by The Ridgewood News, Sonenfeld said that the new HR professional will receive a $70,000 annual salary, already approved in this year’s budget. The building department head, Thomas Yotka, will be paid $105,000, she said, some of which will result after two current employees, Mike Barker and Tony Merlino, who used to help run the department, face salary cuts.
“It was viewed as so critical to get something done,” Sonenfeld said, “we figured we’d find the money.”
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/staff-reorganization-starts-1.1103363#sthash.kGsY1Qao.dpuf