Village Council at Odds Over $8,000 Invoice From Councilman Tom Riche's Company

Ridgewood Councilman Tom Riche's company, Extel Communications, received a $24,000 contract in June to upgrade the phone systems at the water department, Village Hall and to perform work at fire department. But he collected $32,000, $8,000 more than the council had authorized.

How and why it happened became the subject of debate among the increasingly divided village council on Wednesday night. One way or another, Riche said he's done doing business with the town.

The council majority said Riche had a responsibility to tell the council that he took more than what was authorized and further questioned if council members should do business with the town in the first place.

Riche said he's donated a tremendous amount of his time and money to the village over the years and had done no wrong, laying the error on process. A number of residents and colleague Bernadette Walsh came to his defense on Wednesday night.

What happened

According to networking administrator Dylan Hansen, getting companies to play fair with the village on equipment, pricing and service calls to its aging Toshiba telecom system had been troublesome. Hansen approached Riche, a veteran in telecom, if he knew a better way to set up the necessary upgrades. The equipment the village needed through state contract was available – but there was only one licensed vendor in the state purchasing system, Riche's company, Extel.

So the prior council on June 13, 2012 approved the $24,000 contract and Riche abstained from the vote, all of which was legal, according to Village Attorney Matt Rogers. (Any orders through the state purchasing program over $17,500 must be approved by the council; the prices from vendors are set by the state.)

Then, when the fire department's phone system suddenly died a month-and-a-half later, Riche's company brought in temporary replacements and then replaced the whole system. The purchase order for that phone system installation came in at just over $8,500. The council had never voted to authorize those funds; there was no resolution passed on that contract.

The two separate services – the work done for the water department and Village Hall, and the emergency work at the fire department in August – yielded two separate commodity codes for tracking purposes. Had the village tracked the items by vendor name, it would have red flagged as having exceeded the $24,000, CFO Steve Sanzari explained.

However, Sanzari added, the emergency work to replace the fire headquarters phone system was approved by Fire Chief Jim Van Goor, and under the $17,500 threshold requiring a resolution.

Because the village tracks purchasing orders by commodity code and not by vendor name, Sanzari was not aware the $24,000 bid had been exceeded, he said.

In other words, according to village administrators, the tracking system broke down. It fell through the cracks.

The $32,000 figure raised a host of questions Wednesday night.

Riche was "irresponsible," Aronsohn charges

"You put in an invoice you weren’t supposed to," Mayor Paul Aronsohn – who said he had no problem with the original bid in $24,000 when asked by Patch last June – said to Riche during a tense-back-and-forth. "I think it's a problem. You can try to dismiss it, but that’s irresponsible...you took more money than what was authorized."

Aronsohn said it was his recollection the scope of work for $24,000 was primarily for the fire department phone upgrades, a point Riche denied. The original resolution allocated money for general capital (to be used for the fire department), the water department and Village Hall.

In responding to Aronsohn, Riche said he was apprehensive about having his company do the work in the first place, and sought legal advice from Village Attorney Matt Rogers prior to the vote, one he abstained from.

"I didn't want to to it in the first place," he said, later adding that he "wasn't responsible for issuing purchase orders."

Riche pointed to having two valid purchasing orders for the work his company performed. Those purchase orders give Extel the authority to perform the work, to the exact penny, he said.

"Someone in village should have put in an adendum," he said, referring to the $8,000 job at the firehouse. "That's not my job. Let's move on."

Aronsohn wanted to know the extent of Riche's professional relationship with the village. The councilman told the mayor he had done a handful of jobs with the village and board of education over the last two decades, but nothing while a council member until the June resolution was passed.

"Doesn't pass the smell test," Pucciarelli says

The entire council and most residents who spoke agreed it would be wise to not have publicly-elected officials do business with the town.

Deputy Mayor Albert Pucciarelli – who was not on the council at the time of the vote – said it was worrisome that a member of the governing body could have specific business ties when he/she directly influences salary of personnel. Pucciarelli said he was not accusing Riche of "improprieties," but said the process was troublesome.

He noted that Riche himself staunchly opposed Valley Hospital providing gifts to the village for the perception it could appear they were buying influence, and said the councilman's business with the town "didn't pass the smell test."

"No good deed goes unpunished," Walsh laments

From Councilwoman Bernadette Walsh's standpoint, Riche did the town a solid and has received little but grief in return. The work went through the normal government process and was legal, she said.

"It appears no good deed goes unpunished," Walsh told colleagues. "The firehouse was literally inoperable and you stepped in...I thank you for that but I would suggest you cease and desist."

Councilwoman Gwenn Hauck said she opposed elected officials being vendors to the government.

"There are too many other levels of connections in government," Hauck said. "There is the possibility for manipulation. Whether or not there was you could say to someone that something is broken, you could pump up your business...It doesn't feel comfortable."

Hauck said Village Manager Ken Gabbert should have come to the council with another resolution before Riche performed the $8,500 upgrade at the fire station.

Residents say officials "bullied" Riche, ask if an investigation is needed

Should the village's phone systems go down, the town will likely be in a pickle. Riche vowed to never do work in town again, saying he "didn't need the aggravation."

If the village were to go through other channels, work going forward could cost up to double what it does now, officials said. Pucciarelli commented that it would be best to find other means of obtaining equipment in order to avoid conflicts of interest.

Members of the public on Wednesday night accused Aronsohn, Pucciarelli and Hauck of targeting Riche.

"Should we have council people do this?" resident Roger Wiegand asked, referring to officials being vendors. "I don't know. But I think [Councilman] Riche loaning phones was a good idea...the man has been good to this town. It was exceeded because of an emergency situation."

Wiegand said he thought it was much ado about nothing, and questioned the wisdom in now spending more going forward.

An animated Ron Forenza said the treatment of Riche was "a disgrace," and said Aronsohn went after him "like a big bully."

If the matter is as serious as some officials believe, resident Ron Verdicchio said, it warrants a full investigation performed by the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office. Verdicchio agreed that elected officials shouldn't be vendors, but said the council doesn't "need to assail" Riche.

There had been a resolution to retroactively issue a resolution for the $8,500 job but it was not voted on Wednesday night. The council made no decision on how to best proceed. Fire Chief Jim Van Goor may appear at a future meeting to provide further details.