file photo by Boyd Loving
For lawyers arguing in federal court over whether U.S. Sen. Cory Booker should remain in a lawsuit alleging that he failed to properly oversee the city’s bankrupt watershed corporation, the question could come down to this: How far does a board member have to go to say he’s done his duty? Tim Darragh, NJ.com Read more
BOE invites all to review memorandum
To The Editor,
The Board of Education is committed to communicating accurate information related to contract negotiations with the Ridgewood Education Association (REA). Laura Grasso’s letter to the editor last Friday was significantly misleading. Here are the facts.
* The Board has modified its contract proposals several times in the last year and on Jan. 20 and again on Feb. 29 we offered higher salaries, withdrew proposals related to additional time, and modified our healthcare proposal.
* The REA’s latest proposal would reduce their healthcare contributions by over $2.1 million over a new 3-year contract. Accepting such a proposal would require the Board to make significant cuts in other areas of the budget.
* Teachers currently contribute 25.7 percent of the cost of their healthcare premiums and the district pays 74.3 percent. The Board has offered to adjust the individual percentage contribution rates as long as the net contributions continue to equal 25.7 percent of the healthcare premiums.
* In 2012 the Board reduced healthcare costs by changing to the state health insurance plans. The Board shared these savings with the REA by increasing their salary 2.75 percent each year for the last three years.
* The change in the health insurance plan recently proposed by the Board for the new contract compares favorably with plans offered in the private sector with copays of $15 for primary and specialist doctor visits.
* The REA contends that the Board has $3.5 million to fund the contract settlement. This is untrue. The $3.5 million is a number calculated by the REA and the NJEA for their fact-finding submission. We believe that it fails to account for both the revenue and the expense sides in specific budget areas.
* Our teachers are among the highest paid in Bergen County. The Board recognizes the importance of competitive salaries to attract and retain talented and highly qualified teachers.
* NJ law, Chapter 44, limits the Board to annual property tax increases of no more than 2 percent. While the law allows for limited waivers to provide small tax increases above 2 percent, the Board is reluctant to further burden Ridgewood taxpayers.
* The fact that four of the Board members do not have children in our schools does not lessen our commitment to our students and staff. Our children graduated from Ridgewood High School. We are acutely aware of the quality of our schools and grateful for the education they received.
To continue our “tradition of excellence” our district must be financially sound. We cannot commit to salaries and benefit costs that exceed what the district can afford. To clearly understand the Board’s position, the public is invited to review our fact-finding memorandum posted to the district’s website at ridgewood.k12.nj.us.
The Board will continue to conduct our negotiations with genuine respect for our staff. We want to settle the contract with the REA and move forward in a positive manner.
Sheila Brogan
Vince Loncto
Jim Morgan
Christina Krauss
Jennie Smith Wilson
Ridgewood Board of Education
BOE-REA Negotiations
Click here to read a Letter to the Editor of The Ridgewood News, which appeared in the paper on February 12, 2016.
Click here to read the Ridgewood Board of Education’s Fact-Finding Presentation with the The Ridgewood Education Association.
Click here to view the backup for the Ridgewood Board of Education’s Fact-Finding Presentation with The Ridgewood Education Association.
BOE Meets on March 7 at 7:30 p.m.
The Ridgewood Board of Education will hold a Regular Public Meeting on Monday, March 7, 2016 at 7:30 p.m.
Click here to view the agenda for the March 7, 2016 Regular Public Meeting.
March 4th 2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewoood NJ, NJ TRANSIT Rail Operations faces the prospect of a systemwide shutdown should the membership of its rail union opt to participate in a work stoppage. This would result in the complete suspension of NJ TRANSIT rail service, affecting more than 160,000 customers who ride the system on a typical weekday. In the event of such a stoppage,
NJ TRANSIT has developed a contingency plan that would accommodate up to about 38 percent, or about 40,000 seats, of the existing New York-bound customer base.
Regional Park-Ride Service
Park-ride service will operate on a first come, first served basis from five key regional park-ride lots, weekdays only, during four-hour AM inbound (6 a.m. to 10 a.m.) and four-hour PM outbound (4 p.m. to 8 p.m.) peak periods.
No midday, evening, weekend or reverse commute service will operate on these park-ride routes.
Park-ride locations were selected based on their size/parking capacity, access to regional highways, and geographical distribution. Access to area PATH stations and ferry service also was analyzed to minimize congestion at Hudson River crossings.
Enhanced NJ TRANSIT New York Bus Service
NJ TRANSIT will enhance peak period service on 29 existing New York bus routes in close proximity to rail stations. The routes are:
In addition, to accommodate Atlantic City Rail Line customers, NJ TRANSIT will enhance service on the 554 bus route, which operates between Atlantic City and Lindenwold. At Lindenwold, customers can connect with PATCO service to Philadelphia. PATCO will cross honor Atlantic City Rail Line tickets and passes to/from Philadelphia (8th & Market St. Station).
To lessen traffic congestion and delays at the Lincoln Tunnel and to take advantage of the proximity to connecting PATH and ferry service, NJ TRANSIT will make the following service adjustments in the event of a rail stoppage:
Ticketing
| ORIGIN | DESTINATION | ADULT ROUND TRIP FARE |
SENIOR/DISABLED ROUND TRIP FARE |
CHILD ROUND TRIP FARE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MetLife Stadium | Port Authority Bus Terminal |
$11.00 | $4.90 | $4.90 |
| Ramsey/ Route 17 |
Lincoln Harbor Ferry Terminal |
$24.50 | $11.40 | $11.40 |
| Metropark | Harrison PATH Station |
$21.50 | $9.80 | $9.80 |
| Hamilton | Newark Penn Station for PATH connection |
$32.50 | $14.70 | $14.70 |
| PNC Bank Arts Center | New York | $36.00 | $18.00 | $18.00 |
Cross-Honoring
NJ TRANSIT rail tickets and passes will be cross-honored on all NJ TRANSIT bus and light rail lines as well as on private bus carriers and PATH trains. Passes also will be cross-honored on all NY Waterway service, including Weehawken, Hoboken and North Hoboken, as well as on Seastreak service into Manhattan and PATCO service at Lindenwold Station to/from Philadelphia (8th & Market St. Station).
Happy 75th anniversary to M&M’s! I’m proud to represent such an iconic American candy that is made right in Hackettstown! Such a source of New Jersey pride.
Financial Services Committee Passes Two Garrett-Sponsored Bills
Bills would enforce Constitutional rights and give Main Street businesses new tools to succeed
Mar 2, 2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Today the Financial Services Committee passed two bills introduced by Congressman Scott Garrett (NJ-05), Chairman of the Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government-Sponsored Enterprises. The bills were H.R. 4638, The Main Street Growth Act, and H.R. 3798, The Due Process Restoration Act.
“One of the biggest concerns I hear from my constituents that the executive branch has run wild and Congress needs to regain control to protect the Constitutional rights of all Americans. For that reason, I’m pleased that today the Financial Services Committee passed my bill to restore the due process rights of all Americans by allowing them to have their case before the SEC heard by a federal court. I’m also happy to announce that my bill to allow Main Street businesses to raise capital by accessing public markets passed the committee. Because if we want to revive America’s economy, we need to give Main Street businesses the tools they needs to innovate and succeed.”
H.R. 3798, The Due Process Restoration Act Would:
Provide a mandatory right of removal allowing the defendant to request that the case be moved to a district court
Grant a right of removal to defendants who are subject to a cease and desist order and monetary penalty that the commission is seeking
Raise the burden of proof for cases that remain in the ALJ to a higher “clear and convincing evidence” standard
The Main Street Growth Act Would:
Authorize the creation of “venture exchanges” which would be registered as a national securities exchange with the SEC and be specifically tailored to list the shares of emerging growth companies and companies that issue shares under the newly finalized “Reg A+”
Exempt venture exchanges from Regulation NMS, Regulation ATS, and would be exempt from extending unlisted trading privileges to companies that list on them;
Subject venture exchanges to all of the existing anti-fraud and investor protection statutes administered by the SEC
Permit all investors— not just Silicon Valley billionaires or the well-connected—to invest in companies that list on venture exchanges.
March 3,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Donald Trump releases his Healthcare Reform Plan , its time for other candidates to do the same .
“Since March of 2010, the American people have had to suffer under the incredible economic burden of the Affordable Care Act—Obamacare. This legislation, passed by totally partisan votes in the House and Senate and signed into law by the most divisive and partisan President in American history, has tragically but predictably resulted in runaway costs, websites that don’t work, greater rationing of care, higher premiums, less competition and fewer choices. Obamacare has raised the economic uncertainty of every single person residing in this country. As it appears Obamacare is certain to collapse of its own weight, the damage done by the Democrats and President Obama, and abetted by the Supreme Court, will be difficult to repair unless the next President and a Republican congress lead the effort to bring much-needed free market reforms to the healthcare industry.
But none of these positive reforms can be accomplished without Obamacare repeal. On day one of the Trump Administration, we will ask Congress to immediately deliver a full repeal of Obamacare.
However, it is not enough to simply repeal this terrible legislation. We will work with Congress to make sure we have a series of reforms ready for implementation that follow free market principles and that will restore economic freedom and certainty to everyone in this country. By following free market principles and working together to create sound public policy that will broaden healthcare access, make healthcare more affordable and improve the quality of the care available to all Americans.
Any reform effort must begin with Congress. Since Obamacare became law, conservative Republicans have been offering reforms that can be delivered individually or as part of more comprehensive reform efforts. In the remaining sections of this policy paper, several reforms will be offered that should be considered by Congress so that on the first day of the Trump Administration, we can start the process of restoring faith in government and economic liberty to the people.
Congress must act. Our elected representatives in the House and Senate must:
The reforms outlined above will lower healthcare costs for all Americans. They are simply a place to start. There are other reforms that might be considered if they serve to lower costs, remove uncertainty and provide financial security for all Americans. And we must also take actions in other policy areas to lower healthcare costs and burdens. Enforcing immigration laws, eliminating fraud and waste and energizing our economy will relieve the economic pressures felt by every American. It is the moral responsibility of a nation’s government to do what is best for the people and what is in the interest of securing the future of the nation.
Providing healthcare to illegal immigrants costs us some $11 billion annually. If we were to simply enforce the current immigration laws and restrict the unbridled granting of visas to this country, we could relieve healthcare cost pressures on state and local governments.
To reduce the number of individuals needing access to programs like Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program we will need to install programs that grow the economy and bring capital and jobs back to America. The best social program has always been a job – and taking care of our economy will go a long way towards reducing our dependence on public health programs.
Finally, we need to reform our mental health programs and institutions in this country. Families, without the ability to get the information needed to help those who are ailing, are too often not given the tools to help their loved ones. There are promising reforms being developed in Congress that should receive bi-partisan support.
To reform healthcare in America, we need a President who has the leadership skills, will and courage to engage the American people and convince Congress to do what is best for the country. These straightforward reforms, along with many others I have proposed throughout my campaign, will ensure that together we will Make America Great Again.”
“Nothing is more symptomatic of the GOP establishment’s death drive than their continued embrace of the presidential aspirations of a man who shrank the party in 2012.”
Clueless GOP establishment continues to flounder
Mittens: GOP Establishment Chooses Mount Romney as Hill to Die on
by STEPHEN K. BANNON & REBECCA MANSOUR3 Mar 20163,677
After President Jeb, President Walker, President Christie,President Kasich, President Ryan, and President Rubio, the Republican establishment is now turning once again to the Adlai Stevenson of the GOP – Willard Mitt Romney.
Perhaps nothing is more symptomatic of the GOP establishment’s death drive than their continued embrace of the presidential aspirations of a man who shrank the party in 2012.
But then, these are the same Republican elites who are determined to grant amnesty to 40 million future Democrats. So, obviously party expansion and broad national victories are not their priorities. How else do you explain their bizarre desire to board the S.S. Mittanic one more time?
A full recounting of the unmitigated disaster that was the Romney campaign is beyond the scope of this op-ed. But let’s cut to the chase. Mitt Romney lost because he was unpalatable to working class Americans.
Sean Trende of RealClearPolitics explained in detail how Romney lost the election in large part because he couldn’t win over white working class voters.
That wasn’t an accident. It was by design. An August 2012 op-ed by Matthew Continetti in the Washington Free Beacon outlined the Obama campaign’s “voter suppression” strategy “to disillusion white voters without degrees in the Rust Belt and Mountain West.” Obama calculated that these working class voters would make Romney president if they voted Republican by the same 30-point margin as they did in 2010, but if they were demoralized and alienated by the GOP candidate, they would hand the election to Obama by simply sitting it out.
By Adam Goldman March 2 at 8:20 PM
The Justice Department has granted immunity to a former State Department staffer, who worked on Hillary Clinton’s private email server, as part of a criminal investigation into the possible mishandling of classified information, according to a senior law enforcement official.
The official said the FBI had secured the cooperation of Bryan Pagliano, who worked on Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign before setting up the server in her New York home in 2009.
As the FBI looks to wrap up its investigation in the coming months, agents are likely to want to interview Clinton and her senior aides about the decision to use a private server, how it was set up, and whether any of the participants knew they were sending classified information in emails, current and former officials said.
BY JOE MALINCONICO
PATERSON PRESS
Paterson school board members reacted with shock and outrage Wednesday night when district officials presented them with a preliminary 2016-17 budget that would increase property taxes by 27.2 percent to support the school district.
After more than 10 years without an increase, the tax levy for the district would jump from $38.9 million to $49.5 million for the school year beginning on July 1, according to budget documents made public Wednesday night.
That proposal comes at a time when Paterson property owners also face a 6.1-percent increase in municipal taxes, a hike that precipitated a partial shutdown of city government this week.
“We just can’t afford to increase taxes at this time,” said board member Nakima Redmon.
School board members asserted that they were blindsided by the proposed increase and vowed to remove it from the budget. But they delayed taking a vote to do that until the district administration provides them with more information on what spending cuts would be made to offset the elimination of the $10.6-million tax increase.
“Why is it you always seem to run out of money?” parent Rainbow Williams asked district officials during Wednesday night’s meeting. “Last year, you were $50 million in the hole. This year it’s $45 million … It seems somebody needs to learn how to do math.”
Eighth-grader Fabliha Zaman bemoaned the impact that last year’s budget cuts had on instruction in city schools, saying she missed terminated teachers who helped her learn. ”It doesn’t make sense to me,” said Zaman who attends School 7. “We all don’t deserve this.”
https://www.northjersey.com/news/paterson-stunned-by-proposal-for-27-school-tax-hike-1.1521121
March 2,2016
Ridgewood NJ, Every March, we are all faced with the arrival of Daylight Saving Time and its impact on our circadian rhythms,our sleep-wake pattern. The 1-hour shift in time can even temporarily disrupt our ability to fall asleep at night and to wake up in the morning. We not only lose an hour of sleep, but the time change disrupts the body’s biological clock and circadian rhythm. The effect is the same as jetlag in plane travel, in which our bodies remain on the prior schedule for a period of time.
“People who sleep well can usually adjust to the time shift with little difficulty,” says Jeffrey P. Barasch, M.D., Medical Director of The Valley Hospital Center for Sleep Medicine in Ridgewood, NJ. However, if someone has been coping with chronic difficulty sleeping, daylight saving time can worsen or uncover an undiagnosed and untreated sleep disorder, such as insomnia or sleep apnea.
It is important to keep in mind that the required amount of sleep per day changes with age, and studies indicate the following recommended sleep durations:
• Newborns — 16 to 18 hours a day
• Preschool-aged children —11 to 12 hours a day
• School-aged children — at least 10 hours a day
• Teens — 9 to 10 hours a day
• Adults (age 20-64) — 7 to 9 hours a day
• Elderly (age 65 and over) —7 to 8 hours a day
“Unfortunately, as you well know, sometimes life can prevent us from going to bed when we want to and many of us have experienced the frustration of not being able to fall asleep or stay asleep once we are in bed,” Dr. Barasch says. “Luckily, our bodies can adjust to occasional instances when we do not get enough sleep.”
But what happens when we are consistently not getting enough sleep? According to Dr. Barasch, sleep deprivation can impact the brain and every organ in the body. During sleep, a newly discovered network of water channels in the brain, called the glymphatic system, becomes active and functions as a waste disposal system, carrying toxins away which would otherwise accumulate and damage brain cells. The accumulation of one of those toxins, amyloid-beta, is associated with Alzheimer’s disease.
Dr. Barasch warns that those who suffer from chronic sleep deprivation, regardless of the reason, can experience adverse effects in many aspects of their lives. The lack of crucial restorative sleep can lead to daytime sleepiness, irritability, difficulty focusing, deterioration in work or school productivity, and impaired creativity and decision making. Sleep deprivation also affects performance and reaction time. Losing two hours of sleep is similar to the effect of alcohol intoxication. Sleep deprivation is also involved in many automobile, truck and airplane crashes. Lack of sleep also promotes weight gain and may lead to long term health consequences, such as depression, diabetes, hypertension, gastrointestinal disorders and colon cancer.
So what do you do if your struggle with sleep isn’t limited to a change in the clocks?
If you are having difficulty sleeping, the National Institute of Health suggests incorporating some of the following strategies into your nighttime routine:
• Go to bed and wake up at the same time every day.
• Try to keep the same sleep schedule on weeknights and weekends.
• Use the hour before bed for quiet time.
• Avoid heavy and/or large meals within a couple hours of bedtime.
• Avoid alcoholic drinks, nicotine and caffeine before bed.
• Spend time outside every day (when possible) and be physically active.
• Keep your bedroom quiet, cool, and dark (a dim night light is fine, if needed).
• Take a hot bath or use relaxation techniques before bed.
If you regularly experience daytime drowsiness, fatigue or disturbed sleep, consider consulting with a sleep medicine specialist to evaluate and treat the problem.
By Larry Higgs | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on February 03, 2016 at 7:41 AM, updated February 04, 2016 at 12:25 PM
NJ Transit insiders say there is a 75 to 85 percent likelihood that a coalition of 17 rail unions, which have been working without a contract for five years, will call a “soft strike” over the weekend of March 12.
The strike could likely last through the Monday morning commute on March 14, when workers say they expect to be ordered back to work by the Obama administration. The last strike in March 1983 lasted for 34 days.
“They’ll soften the blow … Let the media know, let commuters know, let everyone get home on Friday night,” one NJ Transit insider said.
NJ Transit and the rail unions met Wednesday as a March strike deadline approaches. NJ Transit spokeswoman Nancy Snyder said those negotiation were substantive. She declined to answer a question about when the next negation session would be held.
March 2,2016
the staff of the Rmidgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Hillary Clinton has managed to avoid similar treatment despite her glowing praise for former Senator Robert Byrd, who joined the KKK when he was 24-years-old because he didn’t want to fight alongside “race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds,” during World War II.
As a young man, Sen. Byrd was an ‘exalted cyclops’ ( the BOSS) of the Ku Klux Klan. Although he apologized numerous times for what he considered a youthful indiscretion, his early votes in Congress–notably a filibuster against the 1964 Civil Rights Act–reflected racially separatist views.
“I shall never fight in the armed forces with a negro by my side,” vowed Byrd in a 1944 letter to Sen. Theodore Bilbo (D-MS).
Byrd subsequently wrote another letter in 1946 in which he asserted that, “The Klan is needed today as never before, and I am anxious to see its rebirth here in West Virginia and in every state in the nation.” Its funny how the Democrats always skate on their racist past .
photo courtesy of Mel Brooks the Producers
By IRA STOLL, Special to the Sun | February 29, 2016
How panicked should we be about the rise of Donald Trump? A professor at Harvard, Danielle Allen, recently published a widely shared op-ed piece in the Washington Post likening his rise to that of Hitler in Germany.
She’s hardly the only one drawing that analogy. I did so myself back in September of 2015. Certainly, the last thing one wants to do is repeat the error of those who ignored or minimized the threat of Hitler until it was too late.
I’m not telling anyone not to panic. But myself, I am just taking a deep breath or two and relaxing. I will probably get called a Trump enabler, or worse, for saying so. Alas, telling people to calm down doesn’t generate the clicks or television ratings that the Trump panic does. But here — to help you sleep better, if nothing else — is a case that the alarm over Trump is probably overstated.
First of all, such Hitler hype has happened before, and been unwarranted. Steven Hayward, author of “The Age of Reagan,”recalls the rhetoric:
Democratic Rep. William Clay of Missouri charged that Reagan was “trying to replace the Bill of Rights with fascist precepts lifted verbatim from Mein Kampf.” The Los Angeles Times cartoonist Paul Conrad drew a panel depicting Reagan plotting a fascist putsch in a darkened Munich beer hall. Harry Stein (later a conservative convert) wrote in Esquire that the voters who supported Reagan were like the “good Germans” in “Hitler’s Germany.”…John Roth, a Holocaust scholar at Claremont College, wrote: “I could not help remembering how 40 years ago economic turmoil had conspired with Nazi nationalism and militarism—all intensified by Germany’s defeat in World War I—to send the world reeling into catastrophe. . . . It is not entirely mistaken to contemplate our postelection state with fear and trembling.”
Second, Mr. Trump hasn’t even won the presidency yet. There’s a reasonable chance that Hillary Clinton would defeat him in a general election, vanquishing Trumpism for a generation to come and sending the Republican Party a clear message that if it wants to win the White House it will have to jettison the anti-immigrant platform.
Third, some of the shrillest alarms one is hearing about Mr. Trump come from conservatives who complain he isn’t conservative enough. Erick Erickson writes, “He defends Planned Parenthood, says he can cut deals in Washington, and believes in a socialist government run healthcare scheme.”
The editorial in the famous anti-Trump issue of National Review faulted Mr. Trump for being too pro-immigrant: “Trump says he will put a big door in his beautiful wall, an implicit endorsement of the dismayingly conventional view that current levels of legal immigration are fine.” The magazine assailed his immigration policy as “a poorly disguised amnesty.”
https://www.nysun.com/national/fears-of-trump-as-fascist-echo-similar-warnings/89476/
BY JOE MALINCONICO
PATERSON PRESS
PATERSON – As municipal employees filed out of City Hall at quitting time on Monday, one of their colleagues stood near the doorway and wished them a “Good Holiday.”
Only 453 Paterson employees hold positions the administration deems essential – mostly police officers, firefighters and sanitation collectors – and were told to come back to work on Tuesday. The rest are supposed to stay home as the budget showdown between the mayor and city council continued toward what now seems like an inevitable partial shutdown of municipal government.
The shutdown will affect school crossing guards, street-cleaning, after-school recreation programs and senior citizen services, officials said.
Paterson’s non-essential employees are in limbo and have been told to call the city’s hotline Tuesday night to find out if the council approves the mayor’s budget proposal, a move needed to allow them to resume work on Wednesday.
“I’m angry,” said Joanne Bottler, a tax search officer. “I have a sick mother I care for and losing a day’s pay is going to be a hardship.”
BY DUSTIN RACIOPPI
STATE HOUSE BUREAU |
THE RECORD
Governor Christie on Monday nominated a Republican judge for a long-vacant seat on the state Supreme Court and named a successor for the state’s outgoing acting attorney general, moving to fill two high-profile vacancies that loomed as question marks over the rest of his tenure.
But he refused to discuss anything else — not his disappointing bid for the White House, not his controversial endorsement of Donald Trump. He conducted his first local news conference since dropping out of the race last month in regimented fashion, at least four times swatting down off-topic questions and telling one reporter, “Permission denied.” Christie also blocked the opportunity for anyone to ask him about the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision Monday morning, favorable to his administration, to decline ruling on a case challenging billions of dollars in cuts to the public employee pension fund, therefore allowing the reductions to stand.
Now, after his brief and tightly controlled appearance in Trenton, Christie sets off to campaign with Trump in Ohio and Kentucky during the Super Tuesday nominating contests having laid down a challenge to Democrats in New Jersey that he also hopes will resonate in Washington, D.C.
The death last month of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has triggered a battle between Republicans who control Congress and President Obama, who has 11 months left in his term, over who will fill the conservative justice’s seat on n the bench, potentially shaping the court for years to come.
March 1st 2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ , correct me if I am wrong is this not a violation of the Faulkner Act, the Village of Ridgewood was established as a non partisan town . Why is the mayor promoting partisan politics?
The Optional Municipal Charter Law or Faulkner Act (N.J.S.A. § 40:69A-1, et seq.) provides New Jersey municipalities with a variety of models of local government. This legislation is called the Faulkner Act in honor of the late Bayard H. Faulkner, former mayor of Montclair, New Jersey and chairman of the Commission on Municipal Government.
The Faulkner Act offers four basic plans (mayor–council, council–manager, small municipality, and mayor–council–administrator) and two procedures by which the voters of a municipality can adopt one of these plans. The Act provides many choices for communities with a preference for a strong executive and professional management of municipal affairs. Twenty-one percent of the municipalities in New Jersey, including the six most populous cities (Newark, Jersey City, Camden, Trenton, Paterson and Elizabeth) all govern under the provisions of the Faulkner Act. More than half of all New Jersey residents reside in municipalities with Faulkner Act charters. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faulkner_Act )
Ridgewood is governed within the Faulkner Act (formally known as the Optional Municipal Charter Law) under Council-Manager plan B, as implemented on July 1, 1970, by direct petition.[46] Under this form, the governing body consists of five council members who are responsible to hire and oversee a professional Village Manager who has full executive power for all departments. The government consists of five council members, with all positions elected at-large in nonpartisan elections to serve four-year terms on a staggered basis, with either two or three seats coming up for election in even-numbered years on the second Tuesday in May. At a reorganization meeting held on July 1 after newly elected council members take office, the council chooses a mayor and deputy mayor from among its members, with the mayor presiding over Council meetings, but without any executive authority.[6] The Village Council appoints a Village Manager to oversee the day to day operations of the Village, to handle personnel, citizen inquiries and complaints, and to handle the administrative duties of the Village. The Village Council passes local laws, makes appointments to various Boards and Committees, and awards various contracts for purchases of goods and services used by the Village. They also review, amend, and adopt the annual budget for the Village prepared by the Village Manager and Chief Financial Officer. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ridgewood,_New_Jersey )
COUNTY COMMITTEE PETITIONS AVAILABLE
Petitions for County Committee are available in the Village Clerk’s Office. County Committee members represent their political party in each voting district, and they vote at the convention for the County Officials. There are two County Committee members for the Democratic party and two County Committee members for the Republican party from each voting district, one male and one female. The candidates running for County Committee must run to represent the voting district in which they reside. The petitions must be signed by voters in the same voting district and be of the same political party as the candidates. County Committee members are voted on in the Primary Election. The deadline to submit completed County Committee petitions to the Village Clerk’s Office is April 4, 2016 at 4:00 P.M. (https://www.ridgewoodnj.net/news/672-county-committee-petitions-available )
