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Village manager deserves apology

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Letter to the Editor: Ridgewood manager deserve apology

JUNE 19, 2015    LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, JUNE 19, 2015, 9:28 AM
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

Village manager deserves apology

To the Editor:

I feel very strongly that Councilman Michael Sedon should apologize publicly to Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld. By telling her she misled him regarding the budgeting of the HR person, he is basically telling her, and publicly so, that she lied to him. To mislead is to lie.

If he can prove that Ms. Sonenfeld lied, then she should be summarily dismissed for it is a horrible breach of her position to lie to the council. Knowing Ms. Sonenfeld’s integrity and business acumen, I will bet my last dollar she was totally transparent in the budget deliberations.

So either Mr. Sedon was in above his head when the budget was discussed, or he was being willfully disingenuous to accomplish some political point. If either of these two possibilities is true, then Mr. Sedon should resign.

The third alternative is to put all of this behind us with Mr. Sedon apologizing gracefully and publicly to Ms. Sonenfeld. He owes it to her, considering this gratuitous insult. Considering the abject polarization of Ridgewood politics and Mr. Sedon’s proclivity to pander to his base, I don’t think I will live long enough to see this happen.

Rurik Halaby

Ridgewood

https://www.northjersey.com/opinion/opinion-letters-to-the-editor/letter-to-the-editor-ridgewood-manager-deserve-apology-1.1359401

22 thoughts on “Village manager deserves apology

  1. He one of the loyal ass kissers.

  2. If she misled the council, 3/5 of the council would have been in on the ruse. If she didn’t, she didn’t. No sweat either way (again, given the current makeup of the council). You know how it works, do you not RH?

  3. Sedon’s the elected official. He stays no matter what. He’s entitled to rebuke a village employee if a public matter is under discussion. There is no equivalence of station between Sedon and the VM and Sedon should never feel obliged to eat crow served up courtesy of the three amigos.

  4. Rurik, pandering to the base? What about YOU pandering to little miss Gwenn and Ms Roberta who you clearly idolize? Give me a break, you are delusional. And by the way, Mr. Halaby, Mike Sedon has a huge base of support. Unlike,Gwenn who won by 6 votes, Mike had a huge margin over Albano. He was swept,into office on a tidal wave of,support

  5. If the Village Manager’s feelings were hurt let her fight her own battle in public.

  6. This letter was a joke, right? I voted for Mike Sedon to represent me, not Roberta Sonenfeld. Doesn’t she work for Sedon? Mr. Halaby needs to get a check up from the neck up.

  7. Looks like Gwenn Hauck pulled Rurik’s puppet strings again.

  8. 6:43 is completely correct. We elected Mike Sedon. He represents us and he represents us quite well. Ms. Sonenfeld is NOT an elected official. She is NOT a member of the Council. She is rude to two council members, she is rude to members of the public, she cannot contain her snide remarks and unwanted opinions. We need Chris Christie to tell her to SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP. No, Rurik, she does not deserve an apology. She deserves a dressing-down.

  9. She’s the one who should apologize. Never have I seen an employee lash out at an elected official. She’s lucky I wasn’t sitting on the dais. I would have reminded her that she serves at the pleasure of the Village Council. 3 votes and she’s out, just like what happened to Ken Gabbert.

  10. Perhaps this would have been better discussed behind closed doors if there was some misunderstanding over the budget, but I agree with Rurik, Roberta would have spent a lot of time explaining the budget in an open and transparent manner. If the Councilman was still unsure of some budget matters he could have discussed this with the VM at any time, so the fact he called her a liar in a public forum suggests some hidden political agenda.

  11. Go Mike, and literally go Sonenfeld–out the door. Halaby is becoming a giant pain in the neck who needs a hobby.

  12. Imagine that, people support the current VM who is very clearly doing a far better job than her two most recent predecessors. She actually cares about the Village. If Mr. Sedon has a personal problem with her or doesn’t understand the budget process he should ask the VM privately.

  13. Too bad Mike isn’t his own man.

  14. 5:24am, putting it plainly, you’ve got an adolescent attitude. Put yourself on a council in which you are perpetually in the minority and see how you respond. Discretion is the better part of valor and Mike Sedon exercises excellent discretion. OTOH he knows when the time is right to defend himself against the depredations of the three amigos. He employs the leverage of his position wisely and knows how and when to lean on the pressure points he finds. He is clearly very well educated, intelligent and subtle and there is little chance he will be drawn out by insults to his character. We’re lucky to have him as a (clearly minority) councilmember and owe it to ourselves to add more like-minded souls to the council on the occasion of the next election and make Mike or Susan mayor. BTW, has the current Mayor indicated how far in advance of the next election he will cease publishing his regular article in the Ridgewood news? If he doesn’t do so seasonally he will end up being the recipient of political contributions from his publishing friends that would need to be given an appropriate value in US$ and faithfully reported in order that he not run afoul of NJ election law. Word to the wise.

  15. Here they come !

  16. This is the same guy who referred to Valley as “the crown jewel of Ridgewood.” Now why would anyone take him seriously ?

  17. in about a year from now you will see some new top people ,right

  18. Yep, 6:24am is one of many controlling Sedon. Would you let Mike be the Mayor over Sue?

  19. well it,s going to get good soon, we have a few old one,s in the running, watch out three bum,s and all who ride a long with them. you will see who go,s down.

  20. Mike absolutely does NOT owe an apology. His careful and thoughtful questions are always right on target.

  21. Can Sonenfeld be brought up on bullying charges or is she too old?

  22. Bullying is EXACTLY the right word for her behavior.

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