Ridgewood December 18, 2013 THE VILLADOM TIMES II • Page 9 Free paper drop still a nuisance to resident by John Koster Gary Cirillo, a resident and active proponent of beati- fication and the environment, took Mayor Paul Aronsohn and the Ridgewood Village Council to task last week about what Cirillo felt was a broken treaty between the village and the corporation that throws unsolicited free ad circulars masquerading as newspapers on sidewalks and driveways. “I do not understand why we allow this to continue,” Cirillo told the mayor at the Dec. 11 council meeting. “I did try to stop it and I don’t want this stuff on my property.” Mayor Aronsohn said he had worked out an agreement with the corporation that has the freebies thrown from moving cars: Any home that asked not to receive the papers would be listed by the corporation and the drop-offs would be curtailed. “I don’t think we disagree,” Aronsohn told Cirillo, who has been very active in volunteer cleanups and beautifica- tion projects for many years. “I have talked to residents who said they did call and it worked. We’ll look into this. Yours is the first complaint we’ve gotten.” Deputy Mayor Albert Pucciarelli said that he dislikes the unrequested deliveries, and that when he telephoned, the drop-offs stopped immediately. “It did work in my case,” Pucciarelli said. “I called and I did not get it ever again.” Cirillo urged that more emphatic action be taken. He politely argued that, since the freebie papers did not con- tain actual news, the Constitutional protections of freedom of speech and freedom of the press were not applicable. He has said in the past that the consumption of paper for unrequested and purely commercial reasons is bad for the environment, besides being a nuisance. “If I threw something they didn’t want on someone else’s property, I’d expect to get a summons,” Cirillo said. Updated salary ordinances approved The Ridgewood Council has voted unanimously to approve the salary ordinances that cover the village’s white- collar and blue-collar salary and wage contracts. The vote took place at last week’s public meeting. The white-collar ordinance and the blue-collar ordi- nance both provide high and low ranges for a number of municipal positions below management level with a gen- eral range of 1.5 percent increases for each year. There will be a five percent decrease for employees hired after Nov. 1, 2013. Most white-collar and blue-collar salaries were in the $50,000 to $70,000 range, although salaries some for licensed professionals range as high as $90,000. The salary ordinances were both adopted without spe- cific comment as to actual salaries and wages. Resident Boyd Loving asked for further explanation on the concept that employees over the age of 65 would be required to use Medicare as their health insurer. Acting Interim Manager Heather Mailandder said this provision applies to retired former employees and that Medicare is considered the primary health insurer for people over 65, with provisions to cover any shortfalls. The actual contract, not yet approved, would clarify the situa- tion further, Mailander said. J. KOSTER