February 2024 Ringwood Council Meeting Blog
Hello Ringwood!
We hope that this message finds you well! Our monthly meeting was held on Tuesday, February 20, 2024. The meeting began on a happy note with a proclamation recognizing John Speer for his years of service to the Borough of Ringwood. John has served our community well as a councilman, Deputy Mayor, and Mayor. He has guided us through some of the most difficult times and his guidance and friendship will be missed. On behalf of the Mayor and Council, we thank John for his sixteen years of service!
On an exciting note, The Phase 1 road work has started in Skyline and will continue this spring ending with a new lake community entrance. Plans are on the Borough website so if you have a moment, check it out at the link below!
http://www.ringwoodnj.net/qcontent/NewsFeed.aspx?FeedID=1486
Have you had a chance to check out the offerings at the new community center? We are featuring line dancing, adult pickleball, mens and womens pickup basketball, bootcamp, co-ed pickup soccer, senior zumba, gentle yoga, and youth basketball open gym. Senior club meetings will now be held at the community center because they have outgrown their current location. Exciting things are happening and more to come!
Link to more information about our community center:
http://www.ringwoodnj.net/content/5670/25642/default.aspx
On a side note, as a council, we are always ready to do the work of the people. Our meeting agenda was extremely light this month because we are preparing to head into budget season when things will ramp up. Month after month we attend meetings and are respectful to the members of the public. It is really disheartening that a small group of people do not share the same philosophy.
It is incredibly unfortunate that the emphasis of the public session has now become based on pointing fingers and historical personal attacks on the Borough Manager.
There is so much great information that gets missed by the community because they are so turned off by the nasty rhetoric that only seeks to create further division.
Councilwoman Baumgartner said it best on Tuesday night. She said, “I am so tired of this… the arguing, the coming up here to create problems, but rather not talking about solutions or doing anything to create a unified force as a community as we move forward, but instead just consistently perpetuating the same hate and division over and over and over again. It is exhausting and it takes the good people away from wanting to get involved because this is what they see. It’s sad and I would think that everybody would be able to see that and think maybe we should do better, especially people who have been involved and sat in these seats and have experience and things that they can offer but chose not to.”
We would make the argument that if public sessions are monopolized by a select few who feel the need to complain about decisions dating back before most people were even on the council, then it would appear we are running an effective government. The most important function of local government is service and local councils should be concerned with matters close to home. We seldom have residents who come to public sessions with issues that are currently affecting their quality of life on a day to day basis. Lately it is just filled with hate and rhetoric by a few people who refuse to move forward in a positive way for the good of Ringwood. Stephanie is right. It is exhausting and counterproductive. It seeks to create and foster unnecessary division rooted in hate. Afterall, doesn’t hate have no home here?
Warm Regards,
Jaime and Michelle
