future whether to continue. What areas to monitor, etc.
RED HOOK LIBRARY (RHPL):
The RHPL had their April board meeting on April 17[th] . The board approved their strategic plan at their March meeting. You can find their strategic plan on the RHPL website in the March 2025 board packet. Included on the April agenda was discussion of an MOU between the newly formed Friends of the RHPL and the RHPL Board. The Friends of the Library will be hosting a table at Apple Blossom where they will be selling books. For more information, you can find their board packet on the library’s website – redhooklibrary.org/board-of-trustees.
RED HOOK TOGETHER:
I attended the May Red Hook Together meeting held on May 1[st] at the Red Hook Community Center. There was no set agenda. The meeting was an opportunity for those attending to share upcoming events and information.
-
Apple Blossom was mentioned. The Red Hook School teacher’s union will have a booth and Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers, will be there at some point to honor Martha Strever, NY’s longest serving educator, a math teacher at LMS.
-
The Town has a Drive Electric event on 5/10, public hearing on the proposed waterfront park on 5/16, shred day on 6/7 – limit of 3 legal boxes per town resident.
-
Red Hook Responds has moved from the Elks Club to Christ Church in the Village
-
VFW & VFW Aux will be offering CPR training on the Christ Church lawn on 5/10, and the Memorial Day Parade will be held on Mon, May 26 – kicks off at 10am. The VFW also collects old flags which they then properly dispose of for you
-
Red Hook Library – mentioned the Tour de Red Hook which was this past Sunday 5/4. On 5/17 they are having “Books & Brews” at Lasting Joy. And Summer Reading will be a competition between Rhinebeck & Red Hook.
-
RHCSD – Budget Vote is on May 20[th] from 12-9pm. There will be a Budget Expo on 5/8 from 5:30-
6:45pm which will showcase many of the elements of the school budget. A budget hearing will follow at the BOE meeting at 7pm. And there are 4 candidates for the 2 open board seats. They will be presenting at the BOE meeting as well.
-
Bard CCE – There will be international students on campus over the summer. They cannot work off campus but they can do internships. Bard will be hosting some new students in late July for a preorientation. New First Year Students arrival day is Aug 8. All others arrive at the end of August.
-
County Legislator Kris Munn shared a few updates from the County including a food package reduction law that is being worked on in Albany with a County version in the works.
-
County Health Department was at the RHCC with their mobile health unit. We were all invited to take a tour.
Respectfully submitted,
Mayor Karen Smythe
Deputy Mayor Melkorka Kjarval’s Monthly Reports
May, 12th, 2025
Red Hook Together meets every first Thursday of the month. Last month's meeting took place at the Red Hook Community Center on May 1st, Mayor Smythe attended.
Village of Red Hook Human Relations Committee: meets every first Thursday of the month at 7 pm in the Village Hall conference room. May’s meeting was canceled since it conflicted with the Village Sewer Info session on the 5th. Due to an unavoidable scheduling conflict, tomorrow's Tuesday May 13th, Indigenous History Project Gathering, has also been canceled. Questions about the project can be emailed to: mkjarval@redhookvillage.gov
Village of Red Hook Communications:
Progress on the .gov domain has continued, working with our IT consultant CMI Tech, and our website platform provider Civicplus, we have been able to get an updated statement of work (SOW), to switch our domain over to the .gov address, which is before the board for approval at this meeting.
The WWTP Operations Update page has gone live at: redhookvillage.org/WWTP . Additionally the Mayor will be adding semi-weekly update summaries to the page, as well as a copy of the State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) Permit as was requested at the last info session. The next info session is Thursday, June 5th, 2025 at 7pm in the Village conference room.
At a meeting with Bard College and the Dutchess County Human Rights Commission, on May 2nd at Tivoli Village Hall, there was discussion of replacing a damaged “Welcome Bard Students!” banner that had been previously displayed across Route 9. The Village will design and order a new banner to replace the worn banner for installation in front of the Info Booth parallel to route 9. The Town Supervisor has offered for the Town to pay for the cost of the banner itself. The Mayor and I measured for the banner on Wednesday, and I will request a quote for the fabrication of the replacement banner before the end of the week.
Ahead of us drafting a social media policy, we are working to gain access to some existing social media accounts that are no longer being used. The latest attempt is to login into the x.com account (previously known as twitter).
Progress on the village’s social media policy, communications policy, and google-drive best practices are ongoing.
Village and Zoning Review:
There is nothing new to report regarding the draft law regarding proposed changes to the Zoning Code (Chapter 200) to create a new zoning district entitled “Gateway North” and to establish Workforce Housing provisions applicable to new development. Links to the 2/26/25 drafts posted