Readers debate value of Municipal Experience for a Village Manager

Readers debate value of Municipal Experience for a Village Manager 
The bigger issue is that this candidate seems to be not qualified to run a large town like Ridgewood. She has no experience as a Boro Manager and zero experience in government. Its clear she is just someones friend. While she may have lots of friends, that is not the best reason to hire anyone. How about qualifications? What about all of the nearly 100 other resumes that were sent it. Does she have a B.A. or CFO liscense? What does the state of NJ require all the certifications, when the town hires a well known volunteer. Being a Officer at Deutsche Bank is not a true qualification. Also what is her current paid position. There seems to be more qualified people out there. Why the sudden rush?

Please let’s all just give our new VM a chance. Who cares whether she does not have Municipal experience. What we need is a strong professional manager who has managed large numbers of people and large budgets. Roberta has done both…..and from what I hear she has done both very successfully. With her Wall St background she knows how to push and push hard to bring much needed fiscal reform to the Village. As a strong executive in my hunch is she will do what all senior exec’s do in the private sector……..namely she will want to build her own management team. In the not too distant future I predict you will see a wave of “retirements” among current Village Department Heads. You can’t have change until you change those who are resistant to change.