Dear Ridgewood Community,
In a court filing last week, the Village Council asked the court to overturn voters’ recent decision to approve local election consolidation. On November 3rd, 2020, the people of Ridgewood overwhelmingly voted YES on this initiative. Despite this, on November 27th, the Village’s attorneys asked the Appellate Court to void the result of the election.
The results of the election were clear; election consolidation won by a decisive margin of over 2200 votes. This election demonstrated that Ridgewood voters could and would vote on local issues in November elections. More votes were cast (nearly 13,000) than in any previous off-cycle election. The people of Ridgewood resoundingly made their voices heard.
Now a majority on the Village Council has decided to spend even more taxpayer dollars to appeal their initial loss in court. In September, a trial judge ruled that the consolidation question should be placed on the November ballot for voters to decide. The judge also found that the Village Clerk, in trying to keep this issue off the ballot, violated the petitioners’ civil rights. This violation meant that the Village is obligated to pay all legal fees associated with this dispute – which amounts to $17,284.46 at the time of this post and increases with each day that they continue this fight.
In the current appeal, the Village has contracted with an outside attorney to assist the Village Attorney. This will, by necessity, further increase costs to the taxpayer. It appears that the Village Council has chosen to spend taxpayer money to overturn the election results.
Are members of our local government truly placing their own political interests ahead of the will of the people? At taxpayer expense?
What can be done?
If you are disgusted with the Village’s ongoing efforts to subvert the will of the voters, attend the next Village Council meeting via Zoom and make your voice heard during Public Comment. Alternatively, you can also contact members of the Village Council directly:
- Susan Knudesn: sknudsen@ridgewoodnj.net
- Michael Sedon: msedon@ridgewoodnj.net
- Lorraine Reynolds: lreynolds@ridgewoodnj.net
- Bernadette Walsh: bwalsh@ridgewoodnj.net
- Pamela Perron: pperron@ridgewoodnj.net
Thank you again to all who have continued to support us in this positive change for our community.
One Village, One Vote!
Bob Fuhrman
Matthew Lindenberg
Stacey Loscalzo
Deborah Steinbaum
Siobhan Crann Winograd
Be sure to sign up for emails at www.onevillageonevote.com in order to receive all of the latest information and learn how you can help support this change in our Village. Thank you.