Gabbert Staying on as Ridgewood Village Manager

Ken Gabbert will stay on as Ridgewood village manager for at least a few months, according to the council.

Citing anonymous sources, Patch reported on Monday that three of the five council members would be calling for Gabbert's resignation at a closed session meeting on Wednesday night.

Emerging from the two-hour closed session, Mayor Paul Aronsohn said Gabbert will remain as the chief administrator of the village.

"The council has agreed to work toward a common goal and is establishing an evaluation process for the Village Manager and will closely monitor it over the next few months," he said in a statement written on behalf of the council.

The mayor refused to say if Gabbert's resignation was called for at the closed meeting or answer further questions. Deputy Mayor Albert Pucciarelli also declined to comment.

Gabbert and his attorney, Robert T. Regan, both declined to comment.

Speaking briefly with reporters Wednesday night, Aronsohn stressed the need for unity among an often divided council.

"There's lots of business to do in this town," he said. "We want to work together as a five-person council."

Aronsohn, Pucciarelli and Councilwoman Gwenn Hauck have a strained relationship with council members Tom Riche and Bernadette Walsh, who have both supported Gabbert's performance as village manager.

Gabbert and Aronsohn have had a testy relationship throughout the village manager's in Ridgewood.

The mayor, then a councilman, was the lone official to speak out against Gabbert's appointment in 2009. He also opposed in 2011 and thrashed the administrator over his responsibilities during the freak snow storm just months later.

It's unclear what the "evaluation process" described in Aronsohn's statement will entail.