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Deputy Mayor Melkorka Kjarval's Monthly Reports — May 2025

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  1. 12025-05-08
    Mayor's Report — April 2025
    working documentmeeting · 2025-05-08
  2. 22025-05-12
    Mayor's Report — April 2025
    attached documentmeeting · 2025-05-12
  3. 32025-05-12
    Deputy Mayor Melkorka Kjarval's Monthly Reports — May 2025
    working document

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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

for public review are available in the March 13th special workshop agenda: redhookvillage.org/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_03132025-662

Planning/Zoning,

This month's reports have been delayed and will be prepared for next month's meeting.

Building Department;

This month's reports have been delayed and will be prepared for next month's meeting.

Changes between versions

2025-05-08→2025-05-12
substantive change+24 −36

The document was expanded to include a detailed monthly report from Deputy Mayor Melkorka Kjarval.

  • Document date advanced from 2025-05-08 to 2025-05-12
  • Added Deputy Mayor Melkorka Kjarval's Monthly Reports section covering Human Relations Committee, Village Communications, and Village and Zoning Review
  • Added new vendor/consultant names: 'CMI Tech' and 'Civicplus'
  • Added specific updates regarding the '.gov' domain transition and a new 'WWTP Operations Update' webpage
  • Added details regarding a replacement 'Welcome Bard Students!' banner and a pending social media policy
Show red-line diff
## **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] . - They discussed the recent samples that were taken – 15 sites, done by 17 volunteers. The results will be discussed at their May meeting. - 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. - 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. - 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. - 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. - 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
2025-05-12→2025-05-12
substantive change+10 −34

The document was truncated to remove the Mayor's Report and focus exclusively on the Deputy Mayor's Monthly Reports.

  • Title changed from 'Mayor's Report — April 2025' to 'Deputy Mayor Melkorka Kjarval's Monthly Reports — May 2025'
  • Removed entire 'RED HOOK LIBRARY (RHPL)' and 'RED HOOK TOGETHER' sections previously authored by Mayor Karen Smythe
  • Added URL to the end of 'Village and Zoning Review' section: 'redhookvillage.org/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_03132025-662'
  • Added new section: 'Planning/Zoning,' stating reports are delayed until next month
  • Added new section: 'Building Department;' stating reports are delayed until next month
Show red-line diff
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 for public review are available in the March 13th special workshop agenda: redhookvillage.org/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_03132025-662 ## **Planning/Zoning,** This month's reports have been delayed and will be prepared for next month's meeting. ## **Building Department;** This month's reports have been delayed and will be prepared for next month's meeting.

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