November 28, 2012 THE VILLADOM TIMES II • Page 5 Ridgewood Vendor’s name stricken from sales agreements by John Koster The Ridgewood Village Council has decided that the best way to avoid even the semblance of impropriety was to strike the name of Goosetown Communications as vendor for state-mandated narrow-band radios from three sales contracts already voted with Ridgewood. Joseph Gottlieb, the operator of Goosetown Communications, appeared at the special council meeting to respond to criticism from resident Boyd Loving, who was also present. Loving said Gottlieb had represented himself as financially disinterested from the three narrowband radio contracts with Ridgewood when, in fact, he was a vendor selling some of the equipment Ridgewood bought. Loving had quoted Gottlieb as saying “I have no skin in the game” when Gottlieb recommended purchase options the council subsequently approved. Ridgewood Mayor Paul Aronsohn said he had played back the recording of the council meeting in question and confirmed the quote that Gottlieb uttered and Loving repeated. “It seems to me that you were suggesting...that you would not be financially benefitting from the package,” Mayor Aronsohn said, and then noted that since Goosetown Communications had been designated as the vendor, Gottlieb had benefited. The $62,000, $140,000, and $75,000 contracts with Ridgewood were to provide narrow-band radios for the police, fire department, emergency services, and public works departments. The radios are still scheduled for installation by Dec. 31 by state mandate, but Goosetown will no longer be the vendor. The issue emerged because Cliff Conti, a long-time employee of Goosetown Communications and a frequent advisor to Ridgewood on electronic communications, had consulted with Kevin Scarpa, the technology officer for the Ridgewood Office of Emergency Management, about the best ways to obtain state-mandated narrowband radio systems at a reasonable cost. The advice from Conti, as opposed to hiring an outside expert, was seen by Councilwoman Gwen Hauck as having saved Ridgewood at least $5,000 in consulting fees. There was no extra cost associated with buying from Goosetown. “I left it to the department heads as to (whom) they wanted to provide for, and if they thought it met the minimum standards,” Scarpa said. Neither Scarpa nor the council members accused Conti or Gottlieb of having steered the council to purchase exclusively from Goosetown -- a frequent supplier and service company for Ridgewood. The only problem the council members saw was that Gottlieb, perhaps inadvertently, had denied that his company could benefit The Glen Rock High School custodial staff located a car that had been reported stolen from a Ridgewood parking lot. The vehicle was found smashed into a brick wall at Glen Rock High School. The car was reported heavily damaged, but did little damage to the building when it crashed into the brick Car stolen from village found in Glen Rock wall near the former location of the sports lobby. The car was reported missing from the West Side Presbyterian Church parking lot at 1:30 a.m. on Nov. 20 and turned up a few hours later at Glen Rock High. Police are investigating this incident. J. KOSTER from the advice -- and that this statement was not actually correct since Gottlieb was the vendor of choice. “It does seem that you are in conflict,” Mayor Aronsohn said. “You’re still selling us equipment.” The agreements by Ridgewood Village Council resolution originally listed Goosetown Communications for the sale of the Kenwood Equipment and Motorola for the Motorola equipment. “I’m not comfortable with the agreement...I don’t feel that it gets us past the appearance of impropriety,” said Deputy Mayor Albert Pucciarelli. “It’s a state contract. It doesn’t matter where you buy it from,” Gottlieb said. He asserted that he had no desire to profit illicitly from free advice. He offered to bow out of the contract and said he would continue to service the equipment as needed with no hard feelings. Councilwoman Bernadette Walsh said she had not been present at the time of the vote, but she and the other council members agreed that appearances are important. Councilman Thomas Riche, who also sells electronics -- but was not involved in this contract – said he did not see the issue as a legal one, but when Aronson and Pucciarelli suggested contracts with Goosetown deleted from the list -- Riche had no objections. Ridgewood Village Clerk Heather Mailander asked for a brief recess and brought out the contracts -- already approved -- so Goosetown could be stricken from the agreements, while Motorola remained. The meeting concluded amicably with a few resolutions on other matters.