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Deputy Mayor Melkorka Kjarval's Monthly Reports — December 9, 2024

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Deputy Mayor Melkorka Kjarval’s Monthly Reports

December 9th, 2024

Red Hook Together: The November meeting was held in person at the Community center, and the December meeting was held in person at Historic Red Hook. I was not able to attend either meeting.

Red Hook Town Economic Development Committee: meets Bi-weekly at Village Hall on the second & fourth Wednesdays of the month at 8:40 am. The committee met on Nov 13th, and Conversation focused mostly on town moratoriums. They did not hold their second scheduled meeting due to it being during the day before thanksgiving. The committee also held a special meeting on December 4th, at the KDA offices, to discuss the new Town’s proposed Zoning Laws specifically around the retail cannabis zoning restrictions.

Dutchess County Safety Action Plan - Advisory Committee: There was a meeting held on November 20th where the consultant team discussed next steps and the results of their many outreach efforts. The County has created a dedicated webpage for Safety Action Plan resources and updates at: dutchessny.gov/SafetyActionPlan. Under the heading “Participate!” You can find links to a Transportation Safety Survey, an Interactive Safety Map where you can report safety concerns, and a link to register for a virtual meeting being held on December 19th at noon.

Village of Red Hook Communications Committee: meets every first Wednesday of the month at 1:30 pm in the Village Hall conference room. There has been some progress on ongoing projects:

  • Completed the annual Recycling Calendar, and updated the Dual Stream Recycling Guide. New this year is a sheet that illustrates all the various Waste Collection options available to Village residents and businesses.

  • Discussed the goal of getting quotes from various platforms for a redesign of the Village website in 2025.

  • Discussed the process of switching to a .gov address with Larry, our IT specialist.

  • Decided to officially shut down the Village’s defunct twitter account and take the link off of the Village website.

  • Discussed researching other municipalities' social media policies in aims of creating an official social media policy.

  • Made a plan on where we hope to distribute the “what the village does for you” brochures and brochure holders.

  • Will be working with ReciteMe to make the recite me app more visible on the Village website.

Also I was glad to see that the survey we assisted the PSI Abrahams taskforce with pulled in 123 responses. That is an exciting amount of data and engagement from the community.

Village of Red Hook Human Relations Committee: meets every first Thursday of the month at 7:00 pm in the Village Hall conference room. Both November and December’s meetings were cancelled due to availability of members.

On Dec 5th, Linda Duval and I had a Zoom conversation about the ongoing Indigenous History project and trustee Appenzellers suggestions on re-contacting Associate Professor for Bard College Center for Indigenous Studies, Christian Ayne Crouch. I sent an email out on Friday morning updating Professor Crouch on our progress and inquiring about possible collaboration or support from Bard College.

Also now as the winter gets colder, The Red Hook Thrift Shop, Red Hook Christ Church, and Tivoli St. Paul’s & Trinity Church are accepting unused supplies for “ Emergency Winter Care Kits ”. For a full list of acceptable items to donate and/or who to contact regarding donations - please visit the community bulletin board section on the Village website homepage.

Village Public Works Department:

1. Scrap Metal Program:

|Village Public Works Department:

  1. Scrap Metal Program:|| |---|---| |Revenue received since my last report was|$589.90| |Total revenue for this Fiscal Year (Jun 2024- May 2025) to date is|$3,376.90.| |Since the Program’s inception, in Sep 2007, donations have yielded a total of|$58,239.74| |Proceeds from the program go towards the purchase of tools & equipment for the Public Works Department. Residents & businesses interested in donating metal may contact the Village Clerk’s ofce to schedule a pickup.||

  2. Yard Waste & Leaf Pickup : The Public works department has suspended yard waste & leaf pickup for the season. Yard Waste pickup will resume in the spring. A big thank you goes to Jake Smith, our Public Works foreman, for leaf clearing as he is the driver of the leaf truck. All the wonderful trees we have throughout the Village lead to a lot of leaves to pick up!

  3. Snow Removal & Seasonal Parking Rules: Now that we have entered snow season, please remember that there is no overnight parking on village streets, and that items may get damaged by the plow trucks if they are left on the street edge. Also if you have a