by the staff of The Ridgewood Blog
Ridgewood NJ, we just finished watching the Village Council’s entire, 4 hour and 26-minute-long January 31st budget meeting on YouTube and will now say this about that:
Citing the critical need to reduce operating expense and capital budgets in as many ways as possible, Council members, in particular Mayor Paul (Mr. Suspenders) Vagianos, tried to squeeze every nickel and dime they possibly could out of Village department heads. Not a bad plan; cost control is, and should be, a key role of any elected official.
However, didn’t the Council just announce plans to hire a new (that is, “normal’) Village Manager? This additional salaried position will likely result in an increase to the Council’s salary budget of $200k or more per year, even taking into account the reduced stipend for the current Village Manager/Village Clerk, Heather Mailander.
So, in order for the Council to spend money frivolously, departments like police, fire, and public works will need to cough up a thousand here and a thousand there. Hmm. Not surprisingly, members of the public, who depend upon services provided by those departments, get left out in the cold .
What stupid shit did Vag say last nite ?
“I understand”
all you a$$kissers are going to get the crap kick out of you as these idiots destroy the town
Do we call it?
Is it official yet?
Has Ridgewood crossed over from being a great place to live to being a total sh*thole?
Or is there still a glimmer of hope?
since the Village Hall wreck-ovation, its all been downhill
“Has Ridgewood crossed over from being a great place to live to being a total sh*thole?” – to me it started the sh!thole slide since high density plans were approved. The increased acceleration of overdevelopment during covid further consolidated this town in the path to destruction. Everything is deteriorating from roads, noise, traffic, garbage to people’s attitudes. Pair this with a VC that is not only incompetent but also mean spirited towards its constituents and you have a real sh.hole.
And giving away 11 acres of Habernickel park to a business, one that operates 6 days a week and camps all summer long. Does the Village get any of this money? NO. Do tax papers pay for the maintenance on the park, trails, grounds and gatehouse? YES. How is this a good financial move for the Village?
The town is dirty. Come on sweep the dam roads. My section is crapy down by haws school.
Vagianos-Perron-Whineograd are totally ncompetent
The New Mgr is going to be ???? Ramon Hache. Take that to the Bank !!
Every one in the village is just going with the flow. That’s the word on the street.
What do u think.
Whine-o-grad. I love it
A Hot Mess !!!
We think the mayor needs to walk through all departments in the village. Just like old mayors to years ago. In the end he’s the boss. If he wants something done he will go to the department head.and from there it just goes down hill.
His comment couldn’t be more incorrect.
Did you ever hear of the Falkner Act. The Mayor or any Council member cannot repeat, cannot tell an employee what to do.
Yeah, OK, but they sure can tell the manager what to do, it’s called a request, and then the manager will follow through on the request. Who’s going to say no good luck. In the end you will lose.
Is the village going to have a delayed opening Monday Super Bowl weekend? It would be nice. that’s the least I can do for all the employees that came in to work during Covid.
Right , thank you
If the mayor and council can fire a manager , then Who is the boss of the town. Right.
Like they say every one has someone to answer to.
Vag wants nothing to do with actually working for the Village. He isn’t on the Planning Board or any notable committees like every past mayor. He hates attending meetings. He is only in it for the fancy title so he gets announced as “Mayor Vag” at democratic functions outside of the Village. The Vag is the biggest phony, narcissist in Ridgewood’s history, which includes plenty of phony narcissists, so that’s saying a lot. The new village manager is already picked. Vag isn’t going to be scheduling interviews or discussions with his colleagues. He was already told who will be the next manager, and Vag will convey that message to his three puppets. Lorraine will find out when the rest of the public does because she will be left out of every decision that is made for the rest of her term.