Why Was a Public Village Hall Page Made Private?
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood residents are raising serious concerns after discovering that a formerly public Village Shade Tree social media page has been switched to private, making all past posts hidden and unsearchable. This sudden change has sparked questions:
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Who authorized this decision?
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Does this violate New Jersey’s laws on public social media accounts?
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What does Councilperson Siobhan Winograd, the Village Council liaison to this group, have to say?
State Laws on Public Social Media Accounts
According to New Jersey state guidelines, official government social media pages must adhere to strict transparency rules:
✔ Blocking users is strongly discouraged. If someone is blocked, a list must be available upon request.
✔ Commenting must remain open to all. Deleting comments requires maintaining a public record of what was removed.
This raises concerns about whether Ridgewood’s Village Hall page is now operating outside legal guidelines.
Legal Precedents: The Glen Rock Lawsuit
A 2018 OPRA lawsuit in neighboring Glen Rock set a legal precedent regarding public officials’ social media pages. A resident sued the borough after being banned from a councilman’s Facebook page, which the court ruled was an official government record.
Superior Court Judge Bonnie Mizdol determined that while officials personally maintain these accounts, they are public records when used for official borough business. The ruling reinforced that public officials cannot restrict access to public information on digital platforms.
Past Ridgewood Social Media Issues
This is not the first social media controversy in Ridgewood. In 2019, NorthJersey.com reported that former Councilman Jeff Voigt provided false information about one of his Facebook accounts in response to a public records request.
Voigt even attempted to sue residents over what he called “harassment” via OPRA requests, launching legal action against residents including Victoria Burpee and an anonymous individual. He was also sued for releasing personal information on his controversial Facebook page.
Where Do We Go from Here?
With this latest Ridgewood Village Hall page controversy, residents deserve answers:
📌 Was this decision legal?
📌 Will public access be restored?
📌 Who is responsible for the change?
Transparency and open communication are essential for trust in local government. Ridgewood officials must address this matter immediately to ensure they are complying with state laws and protecting the public’s right to information.
🔎 What do you think? Should Ridgewood officials be held accountable for restricting public access to official social media pages? Let us know in the comments!
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There are only 2 people that could be driving this. Winograd or Kazmark. Both ineffective in my opinion. Unfortunately, they make decisions to control the dialog just as Winograd has done with Ridgewood mom’s and dad’s Facebook group through the admins who, as many have said over the years, have been blocked because they do not agree with them.
What the heck?
This has Winograd written all over it. Like her exclusionary FB moms and dads page
In the end never trust village hall. They are sneaky
From soil to social media and wrongdoing, they are in the business of hiding and burying things.
Clearly looking for shade from the public eye.
Shade to the Village of Ridgewood means blocking the sunlight of public access.
Who knew a ‘public’ page could suddenly become a VIP-only club? Guess transparency is so last season, prior to Keith Kazmark!
Who is Dylan Hansen and why does he dye his hair…?
Especially that little sneak the it boy., he’s their little weasel. Talk about a puppet. he’s so far up their ass. He’s hitting their roof of their mouth. He imagine his shit. He knows that he sees. He has access to every computer throughout the village everything and I mean everything. You know the police were squeezing him years ago to let them have access, I don’t think that ever happened. He’s their eye in the sky.
Almost unreadable. Jeez, proofread
As long as the editor of The Atlantic is allowed in.
Maybe he’s born with it? Maybe it’s Maybelline?
Huh he’s dying his hair. Ok who cares.