Deputy Mayor Melkorka Kjarval’s Monthly Reports
November, 17th, 2025
Red Hook Together meets every first Thursday of the month. The October 9th meeting was held over Zoom. Participants were prompted to bring a “hot topic” to the conversation, to discuss a theme or issue that was top of mind. Town Council member Elect Ken Migliorelli discussed a killing frost, Sara Ugolini discussed accessibility improvements to the Community Center building, Bard CCE spoke of the Thanksgiving Families program which allows Red Hook Families to host international students for a holiday meal, for students who may not be able to travel home over the Thanksgiving break.
Town of Red Hook Comprehensive Plan: The Town committee meets monthly from 7:30pm to 9pm on the fourth Tuesday at Town Hall.
The Town hosted an Comprehensive Plan Public Workshop on Tuesday, October 21st . Participants were broken into 7 conversation groups each made up of 8-12 participants. People were asked to respond to several prompts that invited participants to envision a great place to live, a liveable built environment, a resilient economy and a sustainable natural environment. For those people who were not able to attend the event, there is an online survey option offered at: surveymonkey.com/r/RedHookVision
The Town of Red Hook Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee met on Tuesday, October 28, 2025. In attendance were the committee members and Committee chair Julia Solomon & consultants Eric Pierson from Patterns for Progress. Conversation focused around kitchen table kits, further engagement opportunities and key themes that emerged from the public workshop. One of the takeaways discussed was the overlap of Town and Village services and amenities. It will be interesting what the resulting plan addresses this issue.
Town of Red Hook Community Preservation Fund:
Thank you to both Village Clerk Jennifer Cavanaugh & Town Clerk Deanna Cochran, for explaining to me how to access the CPF balance in the Town meeting documents, below are the past two months balances:
| balances: | balances: | |
|---|---|---|
| From theMonthly Statement of Supervisor | Balance | |
| M&TConsolidated Account | CmC’munityPres 0102 - | 285,281.52 |
| Nyclass Master Account | Cm CommunityPres. 0203 | 1,190,909.97 |
| Green(Cpf 0204.100 Investment | 1,816,403.44 | |
| Greene(Cpf Funds)0204 | 69,965.49 | |
| Town of Red Hook CPF Total Balance as of 9/9/25 | 3,362,560.42 | |
| Full Statement available online at: redhookny.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Item/1024?fleID=18526 |
| From theMonthly Statement of Supervisor | From theMonthly Statement of Supervisor | Balance |
|---|---|---|
| M&TConsolidatedAccount | CmC’munityPres 0102 - | 109,758.40 |
| Nyclass Master Account | Cm CommunityPres. 0203 | 1,501,356.21 |
| Green CPF 0204.100 Investment | 1,828,486.09 |
Greene (Cpf Funds) 0204 69,966.66 Town of Red Hook CPF Total Balance as of 10/31/25 3,509,567.36
Full Statement available online at: redhookny.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Item/1057?fleID=19461
Also of note, the Town of Red Hook has a public hearing for an amendment to the Community Preservation Plan on November 19th at 7:35pm. link to hearing notice
The amended text is as follows: “ In accordance with New York State Town Law 3 See Bond Resolution (Resolution 2003 #16) dated July 8, 2003. Town of Red Hook Community Preservation Project Plan Article 4, § 64-h, monies from the fund may be utilized to repay any indebtedness or obligations incurred pursuant to the local finance law consistent with effectuating the purposes of this section of Town Law.” this can be found on Page 1.2 link: https://www.redhookny.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Item/1040?fleID=1909
Village of Red Hook Communications:
We have been working on various communications updates, such as Tivoli garbage & recycling guides and upcoming election information signage for the sign in front of Village hall.
Also at Trustee Uku’s request, I provided her with graphics for the Red Hook Food Waste Collection Program & Village Green Committee both based on the visual Village guides created earlier. I also created a simple sign for the Town Clerk to advertise signing up for the program at the Village clerk window.
Village and Zoning Review: There was an Information Session regarding the Gateway North Zoning Amendment draft law on October 13th at 4pm. Public comments revolved mostly around neighbors' concerns around Traffic & the visual impact of having a large scale multi-family dwelling prominently located on Route 9 at the North Gateway of the Village. The Special Zoning meeting can be watched in its entirety here: youtube.com/watch?v=Dnew07N7QYA&t=1s
On October 30th, The Mayor and I met with Rupco representatives, Timothy Allred & Lorne Norton. Both Allred & Norton shared funding sources, ownership models, sewage system setups & phasing of the overall project that they are exploring in the aims of creating dwelling units that will be ultimately priced lower than traditional developers could do. At the time of the meeting Rupco had not yet purchased the property from the Town, although they had been recently awarded $850,000 from the Dutchess County Housing Trust Fund (HTF) for this project specifically.
Planning/Zoning & Building Department: See attached Reports.