Village Council poised to accept a gift worth $250K-$300K from the Bolger Foundation

Village Council poised to accept a gift worth $250K-$300K from the Bolger Foundation.
Novermebr 7,2013

The current Village Council is now poised to accept a gift worth $250K-$300K from the Bolger Foundation. The gift is construction of bathroom facilities and the addition of other amenities at the Lester Stable complex.

Mr. J. T. Bolger is a trustee of the Bolger Foundation and is also a principal of 240 Associates, Inc. which has an application for the development of high density housing on Chestnut Street pending before Ridgewood’s Planning Board.

Local ordinances 3132 and 3273 were adopted in 2008 and 2010 respectively to provide guidance with respect to the donation and official acceptance of gifts made to the Village of Ridgewood.

Here are the minutes from a Village Council discussion in July of 2008 that prompted creation of these 2 ordinances:

s. POLICY ON ACCEPTANCE OF GIFTS

Mr. Ten Hoeve said this item is an ordinance proposal to create a policy on the Village’s acceptance of gifts, which Councilwoman Zusy worked on with Mr. Rogers, Village Attorney. Mayor Pfund asked Councilwoman Zusy to review this item. Councilwoman Zusy stated that many residents in Ridgewood have spoken to her about how upset, angry, and concerned they are about the Council’s approval on April 29th, of David Bolger’s offer to renovate the Pease Building and then on April 30th, the Zoning Board issued him approval to build a self-storage facility. As she understands it, there was no knowledge of the Council of the Zoning Board’s agenda and no knowledge of the Zoning Board of the agenda of the Council, but it happened and the intention was to try to set something up in an ordinance such that this cannot happen again. It is something that Boyd Loving, resident of Ridgewood, brought to the Council’s attention several weeks ago and Mayor Pfund suggested that the Council might want to think about putting something in writing so there is a policy in place for the future. She stated that an ordinance was created, to establish a new section of the Village Code of the Village of Ridgewood, which adds a chapter entitled “Contributions, Gifts, or Other Donations”. This ordinance outlines that while someone has an application before any government entity in Ridgewood, there may not be any kind of offer of a gift that would have to be approved by the Village Council. At the same time, if someone proposes a gift that has to be approved by the Village Council, there cannot be at the same time, an application forthcoming for a period of 90 days. Mayor Pfund asked if everyone on the Council agrees. Councilman Killion stated he thinks it is a good idea. Councilman Mancuso and Aronsohn agreed. Mayor Pfund feels it is unfortunate that there can be actions that can be questioned and if this ordinance helps prevent those questions, than he feels it is a good thing