Readers Discuss the Serving on Village of Ridgewood boards and committees

May 16,2016

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

If you want to get involved in Village governance volunteering for Village boards or committees is a great place to start.

There is no upper age limit. The only qualifications are to have something in one’s background that suggests a good fit with the desired committee or whatever. There needs to be enough on the application form and accompanying CV or autobiography to encourage the council to invite the person for an interview. Often these positions are in demand and the council has to have some reason to choose people over others. Yes, residency in Ridgewood is a requirement but you don’t have to have lived here for any particular length of time (viz. Evan Weitz’s Financial Advisory Committee chairmanship upon crossing the town line).

The time commitment is often three years (often renewable by mutual agreement between the individual and the current council at that time), although it varies, but people can quit if they are going to move or an emergency such as illness arises. That’s one reason there are alternates on the Planning Board and Zoning Board, so there’s always someone ready to step in quickly on boards that make very important decisions.

Members of any committee etc. are of course expected to attend meetings regularly, so if a certain night of the week, say, would be an automatic deal breaker, look at the back pages of the village calendar for an idea of which nights each group meets: for example, the Zoning Board of Adjustment meets on a couple of Tuesdays a month. Council members Susan Knudsen and Mike Sedon can answer questions:sknudsen@ridgewoodnj.net andmsedon@ridgewoodnj.net. Also Village Clerk Heather Mailander, hmailander@ridgewoodnj.net, or call her at village hall, 201-670-5500, ext. 201.