What a difference a week makes.

By now everyone has heard about Mr. Gabbert's miraculous memory
recovery. One week after he couldn't remember if he attended any
Snotober emergency meetings, he suddenly remembered.

The story he is telling now: He WAS at Village Hall but managed to
miss at least three emergency meetings. Why did he miss them? No one
told him about them. No one came into his office, or called him on
the phone, or emailed him or texted him.

No one.

So he just sat there staring out the window, I guess.

Three emergency meetings.

Did he every wander down the hall to where the Office of Emergency
Management was overseeing our crisis. Apparently not. Not Saturday
and not Sunday.

Why?

Mr. Gabbert's week-later remembrance also made it sound as if during a
crisis, the OEM is in charge and his role is superfluous. In other
words, the person who normally runs the village isn't suppose to play
a role in managing in a crisis.

That is not the intent of the OEM. Their role for the most part is to
coordinate.  The Village Manager should play a key role in that
coordination.  He is the top Village Official NOT our mayor. The
mayor in Ridgewood is just a member of the council with no executive
power. That power is in the village manager and it is NOT ceded to
the OEM.

Let me see if I can sum up, Mr. Gabbert was in the building, missed
most of the meetings but it doesn't make any difference because he has
no role to play in our emergency response.

But that aside, it took Mr Gabbert a week to frame his response. A
week. And his new memory actually raises more questions than it
answers.

1) Why did it take that long for him to "remember" where he was and
where he was not during the storm?

2) Was the Village Manager confused or just not forthcoming with
information concerning his whereabouts during one of the worst storms
in our town's history?

3) Should the Village Manager notify the Council when he is unable to
be present during emergencies?

4) The Village Manager admitted that there was a breakdown in
communication between him and the OEM Director. Why was there a
breakdown? And how can that be avoided in the future?

We need a Village Manager who is part of the crisis team. Not one who
is in the locker room and takes a week to response to a simple
question.