August 7, 2013 THE VILLADOM TIMES II • Page 3 Ridgewood Village seen as planning ouster of its manager by John Koster The Ridgewood Council is expected to vote 3-2 to oust Village Manager Kenneth Gabbert as the culmination of a previously failed attempt to remove him from office. A July 30 closed session where all council members were pledged to silence produced no hard decision that could be revealed to the press and public. But Mayor Paul Aronsohn, Deputy Mayor Albert Puc- ciarelli, and Council Member Gwenn Hauck ran as a slate whose principal campaign issue was that former Mayor Keith Killion and the previous council had been wrong in granting Gabbert a 12 percent increase in salary. Aronsohn, then a council member, had been the only council member to vote against the raise. Opponents of the salary increase pointed out that Gabbert’s administration had laid of 34 municipal employees for financial reasons due to economic hardship. Kil- lion defended the $20,000 increase, which brought Gabbert’s salary to $185,000 because Gabbert had been able to save Ridgewood a far greater amount than his raise due to negotiations with employee unions. Otherwise a popular mayor, Killion, a Vietnam veteran and former Ridgewood Victory! Ridgewood’s Graydon Swim Team recently won a highly competitive meet against Wyckoff to extend its record to 3-0. Ten- year-old Morgan Hoffman helped set the tone early as she won the girls’ 25- yard freestyle with a time of 16.09. Twelve-year- old Jacqueline Grayson took first place in the 50-yard breast stroke competing against 15-17-year-olds.The boys’ nine and ten year old freestyle relay team, comprised of Cole Hamon, Jason Clark, Charles Klein, and Luke Wong, helped secure the win with a come from behind victory. Hamon is pic- tured celebrating the win. The team will now meet Radburn and participate in the Lake League Championships. police captain, lost his council seat to Hauck by eight votes. The two surviving members of the council who voted in favor of Gabbert’s raise -- Thomas Riche and Bernadette Walsh -- do not have the votes to thwart Gabbert’s ouster, which has been predicted at the public session of Aug. 14. Because of his contract with Ridgewood, Gabbert can be dismissed without a stated cause with a simple three-vote majority and three months of severance pay. Gabbert declined to comment. “We wanted everyone to know what was happening in the interests of transparency,” Mayor Aronsohn told reporters after last week’s meeting. He said the details would be made public at the Aug. 14 session.