Ridgewood April 18, 2012 THE VILLADOM TIMES II • Page 3 Council proceeds with USDA sandbar removal grant by John Koster The Ridgewood Village Council voted last week to move ahead with plans to remove obstructions in Ho-Ho-Kus Brook. The cost of the project is estimated at $422,000. The bulk of the money, $343,860, will come from a grant from the United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service. An additional $78,140 will come from Ridgewood’s own capital fund. Dr. Richard Copp, a resident who has a doctorate in biology, sought additional information from village officials. Mayor Keith Killion and Ridgewood Village Manager Ken Gabbert told Dr. Copp that the actual work, now fiscally approved, will have to wait until trout season is over. “We’re probably talking in the fall,” Gabbert told Copp. “Blame it on the trout,” Mayor Killion said. The trout, he added, are stocked yearly in Ho-Ho-Kus Brook and the trout season is considered to be complete in late July or August, which will allow the dredging project to begin. The condition of Ho-Ho-Kus Brook is seen as a primary cause of the routine flooding of the first floor of Ridgewood Village Hall and the parking lot of the Ridgewood Library during and after each heavy autumn rain. Portions of the brook visible from Maple Avenue resemble a large sandbar. Removal of the sand, silt, and other obstructions is being undertaken to reduce local flooding. At Ridgewood Village Hall, the flooding concerns are being handled by turning the building’s entire ground floor into a flood-proof zone with masonry walls and tile floors with storm drains. This project, already approved at a cost of $400,000, is slated for completion around Aug. 10. In other business, the council continued the hearing on the possible increase in water rates for Ridgewood Water Company customers, who include residents of Glen Rock, Midland Park, Wyckoff, and Ridgewood. The governments of the other three towns have taken Ridgewood to court opposing what they assert are unwarranted increases in the water rates. No one at the April 11 meeting commented on the rates, and the advertised hearing was continued until the public meeting of May 9. Scholars recognized The Ridgewood High School National Merit Scholarship Program has announced the 2012 Merit Scholarship finalists: Chongsuh Chun, Jun Young Kim, Helen Peng, Lan Wang, and Elizabeth A. Mattson. Scholarship winners are chosen by professionals in admission and selected on the basis of the candidates’ academic skills and achievements, extracurricular accomplishments, and potential for success in rigorous college studies. The scholarship winners are notified in late March and April.