July 19,2018
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, as expected the Village Council on Wednesday voted to move the Board of Education election from November back to April.
Most of the comments made last night at the council meeting favored the move of the school board election to April. Residents overwhelmingly wanted the opportunity to vote on the school budget which constitutes nearly 67% of their tax bill.
Mayor Ramon Hache said the discussion was in no way passing judgement on the Ridgewood Board of Education .
The council voted 3-2 in favor of the move. Council members Jeff Voigt and Bernadette Walsh voted against it.
Walsh was on the Village Council the last time the School Board budget was voted down and voiced concern that the Village council is ill prepared as to the knowledge of the school budget .
Council member Michael Sedon, Deputy Mayor Susan Knudsen, and Mayor Ramon Hache voted in favor of the move.
BOE members blatantly insulted Council members during last night’s meeting. I’ve never seen such a condescending group of assholes. The Council made the right decision.
Thank god for Ramon, Susan, and Mike. It is our right to vote on the budget. Shame on Walsh and Voigt for trying to deny us our legal rights. M
Thank you Susan, Ramon, and Mike.
Voigt was losing it, in true Voigt fashion. Getting loud, interrupting everyone, and accusing heather of lying. He is a hot mess.
Good timing with the advent of the Murphy administration. (Needlessly) increasing school budgets will probably be a high priority for the murphmeister as he seeks to pay off his political debt to the NJEA.
Voigt and Bernie . . . Irrelevant and useless. Trying to deny us our legal rights. Screw them
How so, 8:07am? Any specifics for those of us who weren’t there?
Awesome! When do we vote on the municipal budget as well? The VC can piss away cash better than anyone.
OMG! and Yippee. Loncto the crude rude arrogant BOE president showed his true colors last night when he tried to interrupt our Deputy Mayor, Susan Knudsen. That is exactly how he treated residents at BOE meetings whenever they disagreed with him on the school budget, the fight on the school yard when one boy had his head bashed in, and other meetings as well.
Boy was I happy when Loncto showed his showed his true colors, when he, used his angry harsh rude tone with Deputy Mayor Susan Knudsen ha ha, The crude manl that he is couldn’t control himself. I knew then the game was up for him. You can’t treat our Deputy Mayor and former mayor and former council person rudely. She has a real classy elegant way of wreaking her revenge. H a ha ha ha ha ha .
Remember, she said, “let me finish my thought…….. Wow, she finished her thought superbly, and then finished him off. Ya know what, her speech could/should have been on British TV.
I watched on tv last night. It was clear to me that Walsh said she just found out about the topic a week prior and that she wanted more time to deliberate. I think she was also very respectful of the BOE. No shame should be cast upon her. And Voigt made a valid point that the numbers were wrong. Not that it matters anymore but what were the real numbers?
How did Susan build a team of people, as she stated, for weeks and another council member was notified one week prior to the topic being on the calendar? And since we know that Mike and Ramon don’t take a crap without consulting her is there a violation of OPMA?
still trying to suppress peoples voting rights?
Who is America would complain about allowing a vote?
Bernie knew long ago. She just hates Susan so she will vote against her.
10:54 Are you for real ?
If it’s true that the council is too ignorant about the school budget to know how to reduce it if it is voted down in the future, they should make an effort to learn about it in advance. They could have a private meeting at which those who are knowledgeable about the budget can educate them. This would be important anyway because the budget probably isn’t finalized until shortly before the April elections (not sure). There is no reason for them to have to thrash through it blindly. The last time the budget was defeated the council was indeed over its head and barely removed anything. That was an important lesson for all subsequent councils. They already have plenty to do but since this is now on their plate, it’s a new thing to learn, long in advance. The only negative part about reverting to April (as has been noted on this blog by others) is that the BOE and Supt. will BOMBARD AND BLAST all parents and residents with entreaties to vote yes, more than they used to do before the age of social media. Nevertheless, we must resist. The budget is always overpuffed and they know it–that’s why they chose to eliminate the vote and popped a spring trying to prevent it from going back. Too bad. The budget is bizarre for a town of this size and driving people away. Just no, school board. Figure it out.
Good lord can you imagine if willett or harwin had won?
Would pay good money to see loncto and Voigt battle something out. They are the rudest, crudest arrogant assholes.