file photo by Boyd Loving
SEPTEMBER 18, 2015 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2015, 12:31 AM
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Officials cannot disregard laws
To the Editor:
Certain elected and appointed officials in Ridgewood increasingly disregard local ordinances. This is unacceptable.
The organizational chart was revised, creating some positions. A human resources director was hired and working for quite some time before the position even existed. The chart should have been rewritten, then a discussion should have taken place among the entire Village Council at a public meeting, followed by a vote. Then, and only then, should a person have been hired to fill any new position.
Instead, the revisions were introduced and voted in by three council members well after the fact.
Village Code indicates that new hires for civil service classified positions and employees in newly created positions should be hired at the lowest possible salary in the range. At least one new employee has been brought in at a higher salary. Now, the village manager wants to change the ordinance to allow some leeway with new salary offers. While flexibility should be allowed when hiring, this should not have happened before the law was changed.
Laws should be amended as needed, but they cannot be disregarded because an elected (or appointed) government official feels like it. A law should be modified when necessary, and then (and not a moment sooner) the new regulation can be followed.
In the same vein, the third line of a recent grant application regarding the Schedler property states that all members of the Village Council had reviewed the document. This is false. At least one elected Village Council member indicated not even seeing the application before it was submitted.
First, I do not understand why everyone on the council had not seen the document; who is it that decides to bypass the input of certain elected officials? But, since it was not distributed to all, the application should have been withdrawn until all had the opportunity to read it. On Sept. 9, the response from some on the dais about this was that this is common procedure, as long as the final resolution is accurate. I am appalled that some of our officials would willingly sign and send a grant application that starts right out with a known lie.
In a true emergency a rule might be broken. If your child is bleeding heavily, you would rush to the hospital, disregarding speed limits. But these cases have not even remotely been urgent. I am left with the impression that laws are, to certain of our elected and appointed officials, merely suggestions that they can take or leave.
Those who are not diligent disciples of our Village Code, who submit official documents that are known by them to contain inaccuracies, are not appropriate representatives of the citizenry of Ridgewood. They make a mockery of our local village government.
Anne LaGrange Loving
Ridgewood
Good letter Anne but the fact is they don’t care a Rats Ass what you, the residents or anyone else says unless it praise. Supreme Leader Paul ,Viceroy Albert and Let them eat cake Gynne along with General Roberta are going to do what they want.
This is nothing more than the king and his foolish court. It seems the village manager which i thought would be a breath of fresh air is instead dog breath.
Yes, it is so sad but true. The three of them, and queen Roberta, are running roughshod over all rules in this town. they rule by bullying Tom Riche, Bernadette Walsh, Susan Knudsen, Mike Sedon, John Ward, and any number of concerned citizens who write letters or speak up. They ignore the laws. They do whatever the hell they want and they do not give a good damn about what they are doing. The so-called power that they have has made them all into lunatics. Sick of all of them and what they do.
I did not like new Village Manager from the get-go. She was an obvious plant and now she has added a high-paying position with benefits that we do not need to the payroll to give her friend a job.
Where is the Mayors Press Secretary Chris Harris to put the spin on this story?
Chris Harris’ last day with The Record is today. He took another job.
It would be great if Knudsen and Sedon resigned in protest….send a message.
May as well start writing the indictments now….Welcome to West Hackensack.
No. It would not be great. We need them.
WOW 6:25 what is our Mayor going to do? He lost the editor of the Patch a few years back and now this. Who will spin his stories now?
7:33 – You must be Paul or Pooch making this suggestion. Of course Susan and Mike are not going to resign. They will be in office longer than the three stooges, and as soon as July 1 comes they can begin to straighten out the disastrous mess the three of them have made. First executive function, fire Roberta.
List of desirable firings for incompetence, at best: Sonenfeld, Rogers, Price, Brancheau, Rutishauser, Cronin, Bigos, Hansen, and the new HR person, with her position eliminated.
Wow, it’s true!
https://twitter.com/chrisharrisment
1:27, good list!