file photo
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood Nj, while reviewing Ridgewood Council meeting minutes, several questions have surfaced regarding the Ridgewood Water (RW) soil removal contracts, particularly related to the handling of contaminated soil.
Background:
- December 2020: Testing revealed that the Ridgewood Water spoil pile was contaminated (documented in a letter via Village of Ridgewood, VOR).
- August 2022: Ridgewood officials, including Ms. Mailander and Mr. Calbi, confirmed that the soil pile was contaminated. The contract for removal was awarded to RVH Mulch Supply, LLC. RVH, however, is only licensed to handle solid waste, not hazardous materials, and they stated twice that they only remove clean soil with clean test results.
This raises important questions:
- Did RVH actually remove the contaminated soil as indicated in the invoices paid by VOR?
- Were tests and manifests recorded for this soil removal?
Conflicting Statements:
In November 2023, Mr. Calbi stated that the soil pile was not contaminated and had been contracted to RVH for removal. However, this raises further concerns:
- What testing had proven that the soil was no longer contaminated if testing hadn’t been conducted until the following year?
Final Testing Results:
- June 2024: The Ridgewood Water spoil pile was tested again and found to be uncontaminated (as stated in a letter via VOR).
The Big Question: Where Did the Contaminated Soil Go?
The most pressing issue lies in the whereabouts of the 15,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil (as mentioned in the August 2022 council minutes). RVH, a company not licensed to handle hazardous materials, could not have disposed of it properly.
If RVH was incapable of handling the contaminated soil, what happened to it?
Council Meeting Details:
August 2022 Council Minutes: The spoil pile of over 15,000 cubic yards, resulting from water main breaks and other water-related operations, was tested and found to exceed standards for Semi-Volatile Organic Compounds, making it unsuitable for ordinary disposal. RVH Mulch Supply, LLC was awarded the contract for removal, with a budget of up to $150,000 for 500 truckloads. RVH, however, only handles clean soil.
November 2023 Council Minutes: The contract was again awarded to RVH Mulch Supply for soil removal, but this time the soil was claimed to be safe for standard disposal. There was no mention of prior contamination in these meeting minutes.
Conclusion:
The handling of Ridgewood Water’s contaminated soil raises serious concerns. Without clarity on testing, manifests, and proper disposal, there are unanswered questions about where this hazardous material ultimately ended up. Residents and local officials deserve transparency regarding the removal and disposal of potentially harmful substances from their community.
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Exactly where did the soil go? Well, what do you think the mayor council have no idea on this subject. The new village manager gets so upset and (angry.) when information is publicized on the media, well guess what too damn bad. No one‘s forcing the mayor council and the village manager to read social media. They don’t like it because they can’t control some of the social media. And it comes back again to the X village manager, yes Heather , Chris, and Rich a.k.a. don’t use the word angry needs to go. All three of them got caught bye-bye shitheads.
They don’t want to have any idea, so that they can process an insurance claim, right Keith?
Let’s see how this goes.
From Our investigation, the village manager at a time, the fellow engineer, exactly know what they were doing. The village engineer made the village manager look like a real horses ass jackass. She put trust in the engineering department, they didn’t work.
Let’s face the reality. There was a high level of incompetence and simple negligence given all of the things that happened. There was a lot of dumping, whether organized by Mr. Chris R, Head Engineer, his sidekick, Jovan M., also involved in this epic nightmare, many people who dumped without permission at night, the village who dumped snow and rock salt from other areas of the village, all because they loved and valued the historic Zabriskie Schedler property as such an amazing investment they were proud of. Now the kiddies don’t have their park but there are still plenty of places to play while they clean up the mess they have made. We have Vagianos to thank because if it were not for his greed and arogance, there’d already be a field there.
That is all Winograd has always said. $2.6 million was spent now echoed by Kamark who calls balls and strikes. They go on about how much the property has meant to Ridgewood. But known contaminated soil from Ridgewood Water and other sources, plus dirty snow and rock salt was dumped. Humpty Dumpty dirty dogs memorial field is what they should name the field, if it is ever built.
There was dumping at Habernickel too. Snow and salt every year since they owned it. And leveling and berms built. So scary