As we read about the corruption in lllinois, we have our own sad story of abuse of power in Ringwood.

In June, the Ringwood Borough Council voted to submit an application to the 2008 Passaic County Open Space Trust Fund committee to purchase a parcel of land owned by Genesis Real Estate, asking that a total of $1.025million be paid to the owners for the 36 acre parcel of land. Sounds good, right? Ringwood would receive Open Space Funds to expand the preserved acreage in town.

Except that the land was only on our tax rolls as being assessed at $30,600, it being argued by the owners, the Wallace family, in 2005 that the land was only worth $15,000. The tax assessment board lowered the assessment of the land 90% from $306,200 to $30,600 and the Wallace family has only been paying taxes on the current assessment of $30,600 for the years of 2006-2008. Now they want $1.025 million for their land!! While the rest of us in Ringwood are paying taxes on the full value of our homes.

But again, as in a lot of things in life, it's who you know.

I went to the June 19th council meeting to protest the application's submission, since the Wallace family of developers had previously declared bankrupcy, leaving the town of Ringwood in the lurch with approximately a half million dollars in capital improvements not completed. Pat Wallace, after having the steep slope laws changed for him in 1996 by some of these same council members led by then Mayor Scott Heck, built 35 luxury homes in Ringwood and then did not complete the project, leaving Coventry Drive and Briscoe Chase unpaved for 8 years. The week after the application for $1.025 million was submitted by the Ringwood council to obtain county money for the Wallace family, the road was finally paved after 8 years. Coincidence? The Ringwood taxpayers know better.

I brought up the fact that the council should not be negotiating a $1.025 million contract with a close personal friend. At this point, Kelley Rohde stated it was she, not the council members, who was negotiating with the Wallaces. After seeing the televised council meeting, I got more than one phone call to inform me that Kelley Rohde and the current owner of the land, Teri Wallace Bukowski, are close personal friends. This is unethical, at best.

The Ringwood council argues that the land was at the top of the Ringwood Open Space list, so that is the reason the application was submitted. I have spoken to some of the previous members of the Ringwood Open Space Committee and they are adamant that this parcel of land was NOT on the top of the list, and that it was manipulated by the current council to be so. The Ringwood Open Space Committee is appointed by Mayor Davison. Scott Heck went before the committee and I quote, "Mr. Heck speaking on behalf of Mr. Wallace" in the notes from the June 19, 2007 meeting. A clear favor for their friends, the Wallace family.

I obtained a copy of the Open Space application for the Wallace land, and found it was full of lies:

1. On page 2 of the application, it states that the town has already been awarded $200,000 in a Green Acres Grant. This is NOT TRUE.

2. On page 3 of the application, where it is asked if the property is owned by a developer, it is answered No. NOT TRUE Everyone in Ringwood knows the Wallace family are developers.

3. The description of the 36 acre parcel contains numerous misleading and incorrect facts.


In September, Councilman John Speer, made a presentation to the Passaic County Open Space Commitee on behalf of the Wallace land. I was one of several members of the Ringwood public there. When Speer was asked by the committee for appraisals of the land, he said he would rather not state them out loud, since there were members of the Ringwood public present at the meeting!! He was immediately admonished by the committee that this was a PUBLIC meeting, and as members of the public the interested audience members were entitled to know the facts. If this is a legitimate application, why the attempted secrecy? To their credit, the Passic County committee had done their homework, and were particularly upset that there would be an application submitted for a total of $1.025million for a property that had been valued on the tax rolls for $30,600. One member of the committee stated that the Wallace family can't have it both ways, paying taxes on $30,600 and then asking for a million dollars for the property.

In a quote from an article on the Suburban Trends website, Mayor Walter Davison said that the Open Space Committee “unanimously supported” the municipality’s application. Kelley Rohde said that the committee “encouraged” the borough to reapply for the Wallace property next year.

Of course Mayor Davison and "acting borough manager"Kelley Rohde, are saying this, hoping the public will fall for it. These are the same two people who attested and signed their names that all the information on the application was the truth, when it wasn't.

The plain truth is that a fraudulent application was submitted to the Passaic County Open Space Committee by the officials of Ringwood on behalf of their friends, the Wallaces. Expect all kinds of denials and explanations from the council and Kelley Rohde. If the Open Space Committee had "unnamimously supported" the application as Mayor Davison says, then why was the application rejected?

And the sad truth is that Ringwood was seen as submitting a fraudulent application to a County Committee and it was rejected. And as bad as it is that the Ringwood officials tried to get their friend a million bucks, it also means that another legitimate application was not submitted instead and the town of Ringwood lost out on the chance to obtain Open Space funds for the year of 2008. This is a disgrace for the town.

As I said, in Ringwood as well as the rest of the world, it's who you know.......and wouldn't we all like to get $1.025million for a property that was assessed at $30,600. Nice deal if you can get it....for the record, in the current Ringwood revaluation the same Wallace property ( Block 877, Lot 16) is assessed at $94,700.

Ringwood taxpayers deserve better. Remember, absolute power corrupts absolutely. Please watch the council meetings to see what is actually going on in our beautiful town.


Grace Hazeldine