Mayor, Officials to Report Back to Council to Determine Process for Valley Proceedings

The village council did not come to a clear-cut consensus on the format, venue or schedule of the , but should have many procedural details worked out in the upcoming weeks after the mayor and top officials etch out when meetings can be held in two possible venues, and if technology can be purchased to make procedings as accessible as possible to residents.

Those three main issues were presented to the council Wednesday night at its work session regarding upcoming Valley "H-Zone" proceedings, which would allow for the hospital to double in size and has proved a dividing issue in Ridgewood. , which legally codifies the decision of the planning board in summer of 2010 to amend the Master Plan and move the application to the village council for final decision.

"We've got to get this right," Councilman Paul Aronsohn said Wednesday night. "To that end, we need to get the process right."

Summer or fall?

"There's been a concern from some residents that this is prime time for vacation – should we really have this during the summer where people will be away and not get a chance to speak," Mayor Keith Killion said in the opening statements. "Should we postpone it to September and start there when everyone's back? Or should we just continue on?" he asked the council.

"I don't think we should have any big meetings over the summer but I think we should go forward and start planning out the schedule so that folks in the community know what to expect in terms of process," Aronsohn said.

Councilman Stephen Wellinghorst remarked that he didn't have a problem with the process being postponed until the fall. "But I don't think we can wait that much longer. We have to get all of our dates lined up so that when it is time we wrap it."

Deputy Mayor Tom Riche said he agreed with the statements of Aronsohn and Wellinghorst but also noted that there are "three major stakeholders here," specifying the Concerned Residents of Ridgewood, Ridgewood Residents for Valley, Valley Hospital. He suggested those three groups be given notice in writing of when meetings are held to aid in the process as well as outlining some procedural guidelines and a copy of the proposed "H-Zone" ordinance.

There was one dissenting opinion on the council, however. "I agree with a lot of what you [the other council members] say about the process but I don't necessarily agree with putting it off until September," Councilwoman Bernadette Walsh said. Walsh remarked that the council would be missing six meetings it could work toward a resolution. "And we don't know how long this process will take," she added.

Wellinghorst suggested "hitting the ground running" in fall with logistics already figured out, as did Aronsohn. Riche said possibly holding a meeting or two in August may make sense.

Mayor Killion, seeing there was no clear consensus, said along with Village Manager Ken Gabbert and IT Director Dylan Hanson, he would determine the possible schedule dates and report back to the council.

"I will talk to Dr. Gabbert, we will figure out what venue and the times and dates, report back to the council if that's agreeable and then we will publicly put that agenda out and we'll go from there," Killion said.

"It's a beginning," the mayor said. "It's not a perfect process." All in all, the mayor said, "we've spoken about it, we've reached a sort-of consensus" and will begin to start putting process discussion notices on future agendas.

He added that residents should feel comfortable sending the council their opinions on the process–and just the process–though Riche added that names and addresses should be added to the e-mail.

Because of the complexity, public interest and time involved, Valley discussions are not likely to coincide with regular council meetings. "Again, looking at the planning board there are going to be a lot of people wanting to speak so we're not going to get anything done," Killion said.

Venue/Televising

"The planning board jumped from one place to another," the mayor said of the hearings over the last few years. "One place was fine, another was too small. Myself, I'm in favor of having one place and everybody knows where that place would be."

Killion said there's been suggestion it be held at B.F. or the Student Center at RHS and it's been discovered that the village's technology system for televising meetings is not compatible with the school systems. "We're looking into . . . knowing the council may consider that, what would be the cost to have these hearings televised."

Though the council is awaiting the report by Killion and village officials on the logistics for time-and-place, transparency was a word tossed about during the discussion.

Aronsohn said the council needs to address meetings that feature attendance above capacity, as was the case last summer at G.W. with the planning board. That meeting and seething anger for many residents who were unable to attend. Many accused Valley of busing in non-resident employees to show support for the application.

"In terms of attendance I think we need to facilitate as much participation by the community [as possible]." For meetings that are going to be filled at or near capacity, Aronsohn said "we should really make it Ridgewood residents only at those meetings."

He also advocated that meetings be televised. "Again, as much transparency as possible is extremely important and I think we should do everything we can to televise them."

Wellinghorst, elected this past fall, said he believed the council was all generally on the same page in terms of the process, but wasn't as sure with the actual ordinance itself. "That will come later. Right now I think . . . number one is transparency. We should all see what is going on. The way to do that, I believe, is specifically, we have to get the biggest venue in the village, and have it televised."

He continued: "Now if we can't have the biggest venue because we can't get it televised, well then we've got to go to the next size. I think it's important to get that combination of those two things so we can get as many people into the room as possible to give their voice and as many people as possible watch it [to] see what's going on and be informed."

"Really, an informed populous is the only way this is going to be decided in a proper way," Wellinghorst said.