Village of Red Hook ’ Mayor s Report April 2025
PERSONNEL
Our Building/Planning & Police Clerk, Lara Hart, who is a full-time employee, is out on medical leave for the next few months. I will be proposing that we hire the Town Planning Clerk Katie Khakhar temporarily, to fill in for as long as is needed. For the Police Clerk work, we’ve discussed for the past year the idea of hiring a separate part-time person to be the Police Clerk. I am working with Lt. Hildenbrand to develop a job description.
WIIA – WATER PROJECTS:
– Financing We have received confirmation of the additional financing. Still waiting for a closing date, which is likely to be in June. We won’t be able to finalize all the projects until then. Only small punch list items remain outstanding.
SEWER PROJECT I:
The major outstanding item is the Single Audit. We are still waiting for the final audit from the audit firm. And there is still one final MWBE report from Carver Construction to be filed with EFC. The JanMar ’25 report was filed but Carver didn’t make it a final report so there will be at least one more.
WWTP OPERATIONS:
Trustee Bradley-Rickard will have an update. We have had two public information meetings, one on April 3[rd] and the second on May 1[st] . The next one is scheduled for June 5[th] at 7pm. In the meantime, updates will be posted to the Village website where, thanks to Deputy Mayor Kjarval, we have a new page where all of the information related to the WWTP operations can be found.
BENNER ROAD COALITION:
On May 1[st] , Town Supervisor McKeon and I met with a smaller group from the Benner Road Coalition – a group of local residents that live around the sub-tributary and the tributary to the Saw Kill River into which our WWTP discharge flows. This was the beginning of a discussion around how the Village and Town can work together with the residents to discuss a way forward together to look at and assess the health of the wetland and tributary.
SAWKILL WATERSHED COMMITTEE (SKWC):
This committee met on Wed. April 23[rd] .
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They discussed the recent samples that were taken – 15 sites, done by 17 volunteers. The results will be discussed at their May meeting.
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The Benner Road Coalition asked SKWC to write a request for a full environmental review of the site. The SKWC confirmed that they are focused on the water. More discussion of a further look at the history of that site. The Benner Road Coalition is looking into naming the tributary.
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May 17[th] – there will be an event at Montgomery Place starting at 10:30am. Meet at the Welcome Pavillion. There will be 3 stations addressing birds, eels & amphibians – reviewing data sets including historical information. Lunch will be provided. There will be two more events this year – one in September about land use & history, the last one in December where they will introduce the database they have been working on.
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The group discussed the future structure of the SKWC. The Good Work Institute was introduced as a potential fiscal sponsor. This would allow the SKWC to apply for grants.
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The group discussed the water monitoring program. It’s been going for 10 years. They will discuss in the
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.
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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.
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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.
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Red Hook Responds has moved from the Elks Club to Christ Church in the Village
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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