Rosario Ruffino resigns over disagreement on spending $1.5M on a bridge to nowhere

A proposed pedestrian bridge to connect two halves of Rindlaub Park separated by the Saddle River is the agenda of Mayor Kurpis. This proposal and disagreement over cost led to the resignation of Borough Council President Rosario Ruffino.

Rosario resigned after the July 18 council meeting after discussions about the project’s burgeoning $1.45 million cost and design. Planning Board Chairman Jeffrey Liva was appointed to the vacated seat on Monday. Ruffino’s resignation letter besides stating his resignation also charged that “full due diligence has not been completed.”

“We have not engaged an engineer to perform a survey on the property in order to determine what, if anything we can build,” Ruffino said. “In my opinion, an engineering survey of the land is the next logical step before proceeding, but the council thought otherwise.” The common thought here is why build a bridge across the river to what is currently wetlands – without understanding what can be done there?

The biggest proponent of this plan feels otherwise. Mayor Albert Kurpis has pushed for this pedestrian footbridge connecting the two parts of the borough’s Rindlaub Park and has claimed it has been “part of our master plan for almost 20 years”.

Opponents of the plan cite the exuberant cost of just building the bridge itself. An ordinance authorizing an additional $750,000 for the project, originally budgeted at $700,000, was also passed on Monday. The council awarded the builder’s contract to Empire Construction.

The ordinance that was approved doubled the bridge’s original cost, with the borough having already appropriated $700,000 for the project,  plus $35,000 from its capital improvement fund and $665,000 in “authorized bonds and notes.”

Kurpis said the municipality has accumulated $300,000 in matching grants for the project from the state and the local Francis Walsh family has offered to donate $750,000 in addition to the cost of the bridge.

Opponents like Ruffino cite the unknown cost to develop the other side of the river, even if it can be developed. Hence why he wanted a survey done before any additional funds were directed toward the project. In addition, the question of ongoing maintenance of the bridge and the areas around the bridge and river was never fully explored.

“I am extremely fiscally conservative on most matters,” Ruffino said in his resignation letter. “I am not sure that the mayor and council appreciate that fiscal responsibility must be paramount in the immediate future.”

The plan calls for connecting the active eastern half to the passive western half with the bridge and enhancing the western side with nature paths. “The lake is totally inaccessible to residents,” Kurpis said. “The only way this land and lake can be made accessible is by building a pedestrian bridge to it. The pedestrian bridge will double the size of Rindlaub Park. It will provide protection in the event of sudden inclement weather.”

Kurpis is a major supporter of anything that enhances the borough’s “country lane” look. He is proposing a wooden covered bridge echoing those of rural New England. It would become “another iconic structure representing the unique historic charm of Saddle River,” although this bridge would be hidden deep in Rindlaub park. Kurpis also adds “Building this bridge will not be a financial burden to the town”.