August 21, 2013 THE VILLADOM TIMES II • Page 3 Ridgewood Village council dismisses manager in 3-2 vote by John Koster The Ridgewood Council has voted 3-2 to dismiss Ken Gabbert from the village manager’s post. Gabbert received a pay packet equivalent to three months of pay plus unused sick days, and has the right to appeal. Councilman Thomas Riche said Ridgewood was being turned into a dicta- torship, and he and Councilwoman Berna- dette Walsh opposed the majority decision to oust Gabbert at the Aug. 14 meeting. “This is no dictatorship. There’s noth- ing underhanded about it,” said Council- woman Gwenn Hauck, who joined Mayor Paul Aronsohn and Deputy Mayor Albert Pucciarelli in casting the three votes legally needed to dismiss Gabbert at the council’s pleasure and without a stated cause. She pointed out that four years was about the average for a village manager and that the council majority, which generally votes either unanimously or as a bloc, felt it was time for “fresh air.” Mayor Aronsohn said the decision was difficult and Deputy Mayor Pucciarelli said Gabbert had been a gentleman during his service. Aronsohn, Pucciarelli, and Hauck had run as a slate opposing the decision to grant Gabbert a 12 percent raise, and opposing former Mayor Keith Killion, who lost his seat by only eight votes to Hauck in a cliffhanger election. Riche and Walsh had approved the raise, which had been denounced by a number of residents and had little support outside the council. Aronsohn had been the only council member at the time who voted against the manager’s raise. Gabbert’s ouster had long been predicted since the council’s majority has the three votes and the opposition has only two. Leonard Eisen, a long-time resident, suggested before the vote that the council table the matter until they could hear from more residents and abstain until they had a unanimous, or at least 4-1, decision. Former Fire Chief James Bombace, who retired under Gabbert along with his brother, former Deputy Fire Chief Mark Bombace, supported the council majority, as did Ed Feldsott, one of the proponents of the Financial Advisory Board the council approved against Riche’s vote a few months ago. Walsh and Riche, however, strongly opposed the ouster and gave a different ver- sion of Gabbert’s dismissal in the interest of “fresh air.” Walsh said the council violated its pledge to negotiate with Gabbert after a prelimi- nary ouster attempt failed in February. She said none of the other council members had ever reached out to Gabbert to discuss his performance, as they had said they would, and that the ultimate ouster bid came after Aronsohn said, “Albert and I believe it is time for more fresh air.” Walsh said the council majority had also agreed to a “soft landing” where Gabbert would receive a larger severance package, but that this offer -- tendered on paper with the approval of an attorney -- was abruptly withdrawn. None of the council majority commented on this statement. Riche, former deputy mayor and the council’s ranking veteran, elaborated on Walsh’s minority report on what he called “a despicable chain of events that now lead us to the firing of Dr. Gabbert orchestrated by the mayor.” Reading from a prepared statement, Riche said, “Several months back, at the initiation of the mayor, Dr. Gabbert was (continued on page 17)