Council reviews ordinance to formalize OEM, adopt fee schedule and approve county hazard-mitigation plan

At the Feb. 25 Ridgewood workshop, Jeremy Kleman, the village's emergency-management coordinator, presented two companion ordinances and a county plan update to the council.

Kleman said the proposed fee schedule would allow OEM to recover costs for personnel, equipment and pre-planned event support requested by private organizations (examples cited: Fourth of July, Memorial Day run, private school or house-of-worship events requiring village resources). He explained the draft fees were modeled on neighboring municipalities and could be adjusted administratively; council members asked for clearer classification tiers so similar events are treated consistently.

Kleman recommended codifying the Office of Emergency Management as a village department in the municipal code. He described that change as housekeeping to "memorialize" existing practice and to place operational authority and duties where they belong in the code.

Separately, staff reviewed Bergen County's multi-jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan update, which the county prepared and expects municipalities to adopt by resolution later this spring. The plan inventories critical facilities and mitigation priorities and is updated on a five-year cycle.

Council discussion covered rate setting, a potential grace period for recurring events that have already budgeted costs, and administrative discretion versus fixed tiers. Jeremy and the manager said the intent is to avoid discouraging community events while ensuring the village can recover significant overtime or equipment costs when it provides exclusive or dedicated emergency services.

Next steps: staff will refine fee classifications and bring ordinances back for introduction; the council will also schedule the county hazard-mitigation resolution for a future meeting.