Ridgewood July 25, 2012 THE VILLADOM TIMES II • Page 3 Cleanup approved despite bid $123K over estimate by John Koster The Ridgewood Village Council voted last week to fund the cleanup of Ho-HoKus Brook to the greatest possible degree despite the fact that the lowest responsible bid was $123,000 more than the funding that had been approved. The council voted unanimously to award the contract to the lowest responsible bidder, Rock Solid Construction of Newark, for $560,000, an amount that will be substantially covered by a $383,000 United States Department of Agriculture grant. Ridgewood Village Manager Ken Gabbert said that, while the accepted bid for the contract originally came in at $683,000, Ridgewood and the contractor agreed to cooperate to see that the most important part of the cleanup would take place within the $560,000 budget. If areas likely to cause flooding remained, Gabbert said, the council would have to request additional funds to complete the project. The vote to go ahead with the brook cleanup was praised by several residents who spoke at last week’s public meeting. “It has been a lot of hard work...and I would like to thank you all for your effort,” said Doug Goodell, who has a doctorate in the sciences and is an international wildlife photographer. Richard Kopp, who has a doctorate in biological sciences, also praised the council for going through with the longawaited project even though, as Mayor Paul Aronsohn noted, the bid came in at “a little bit more than we expected.” The actual work had to be delayed until the end of the trout breeding season, which will expire at the end of July. Ridgewood officials hope that the stream improvement can be completed before the autumn rains. Storms have been an issue at Ridgewood Village Hall and the Ridgewood Library, which are located in an area where Ho-HoKus Brook frequently overflows onto Veterans Field, the parking lot, and ultimately, the ground floor of Ridgewood Village Hall. The refurbishment of the first floor of Ridgewood Village Hall, in fact, is now proceeding to completion, with the masonry panels in place and the floor tiled and fitted with drains. The last time the building flooded, the ground floor was inundated with water more than three feet deep, which ruined a piano, artwork, and donated furniture. The flood also threatened electronics and stored records. After considerable debate, the Ridgewood Village Council decided, in essence, to write the ground floor off as potential office space and use it for group activities. Masonry paneling replaced sheet rock and tiled floors replaced carpets so the space could be hosed down and dried out if more flooding transpires. Tropical Storm Floyd, the worst flood in recent memory, wiped out the first-floor police station at the old Ridgewood Village Hall at a cost of more than $1 million. The (continued on page 16)