Village of Red Hook Mayor’s Report June 2025
PERSONNEL
The position of Payroll/Acct Clerk was posted to Indeed. 17 applications were received. Phone interviews are proceeding with 4 applicants at this time.
WIIA – WATER PROJECTS:
Financing – Additional financing took place June 26. A disbursement request to EFC has been fulfilled. There are a few punchlist items to complete before final completion is achieved for all projects.
SEWER PROJECT I:
The major outstanding item is the Single Audit. We are still waiting for the final audit from the audit firm. The final MWBE report from Carver Construction has been submitted to EFC. The Q3 2025 (Apr, May, June) was submitted as final on July 10, 2025.
BENNER ROAD/TRIBUTARY COALITION:
No meetings took place in the month of June.
SEWER PROJECT II:
The Benner Road/Tributary Coalition and subsequently several residents have requested that the Village rescind the resolution adopting a negative declaration after completing the Full Environmental Assessment Form on July 15, 2024. I have reviewed this with our Land Use Attorney and Delaware Engineering, who both assisted the Village in it’s preparation, for their review and response.
SAWKILL WATERSHED COMMITTEE (SKWC) – Leadership Team:
The Committee met on Wed., June 25 in Village Hall. Attendees included: Chair Karen SchnellerMcDonald, Leah Papeika, Amy Shein, Ruth Ford, Sheila Buff, Henry Woods. Jonathan Brady attended as a guest. He is the CSC Coordinator on the Town’s Conservation Advisory Council.
Jonathan shared that the Town’s CSC certification has expired. He was there to see if there were any projects that could be included in the Town’s application for renewal.
The team then discussed their upcoming presentation of testing results from the 17 sites – funded by the Town. The date for the presentation is July 16[th] at 7pm at Town Hall. Several team members are in the process of reviewing and writing up their analysis of the results. Chair Karen Schmelling-McDonald also brought up the discussion of finding a fiscal sponsor so the group can apply for grants. Bard College has been a significant funder for many years; however, their funding is not always consistent and may be reduced in the future. With a fiscal sponsor, this group would be able to apply for grants and find other ways to fund their operations. The team also discussed their mission and future plans. Karen indicated that the original model for the committee was to be community based. These meetings of the Leadership Team were meant to be a way to get the committee back on track after COVID. She feels that it’s time to get back to more community-based meetings. She also indicated that she will be stepping down as Chair soon – though no immediate date was given.
RED HOOK LIBRARY (RHPL):
The RHPL had their May board meeting on June 18[th] . Attendees included: President Anna Greig, Secretary Sarah deVeer, Board members - Leah Bahnatka, Gareth Davies, & Kelly French, Executive
Director Alex Geller. Absent: Treasurer Grace Kachigan, Vice President Martha Tepepa. The Policy Committee shared that former Bard Security Director did a safety walk through of the library building. He offered a few suggestions for improvements. The Strategic Plan was established for 20252030. The four priorities are 1) Culture 2) Community 3) Early Literacy 4) Sustainability. The treasury report noted that the accountants are completing an insurance audit. They are awaiting the final check from DASNY to close out the Porch Project. There was a discussion around ebooks and how Red Hook and Tivoli share the expenses. The Summer reading program is underway. Alex reported that patterns of use of previous years/pre-Covid have returned. Parking lot paving – June 30 bid package to be ready. Completion is slated for October 3. Pod cast equipment will be on loan – with a pod cast area set up on the 3[rd] floor. This was Sarah deVeer’s last meeting – she resigned as of the end of the meeting as she is moving to Michigan later this summer. She was thanked for her service. As a guest, I shared dates of the Pride Parade/Festival 6/22, and Hardscrabble 9/20. I also mentioned the new equipment coming to Village Hall for Language Access/Translation. Mentioning that more information will follow.
For more information, you can find their board packet on the library’s website – redhooklibrary.org/board-of-trustees. Their next board meeting will be Thursday, July 17 at 6:30pm at the library.
PUBLIC SPACES/ABRAHAMS PARK:
I met with Ash Rickard, Chair of the Public Spaces Initiative again on June 26[th] . We reviewed the committee resolution details. This resolution is now ready to be brought to the Board for review and discussion. It is on the July 14[th] meeting agenda.
CLIMATE SMART COMMUNITY TASK FORCE:
The Task Force met on June 12[th] to review status and share the approved Task Force Resolution. Attendees included: Karen Smythe as Liaison, Betsy Brauer, Tony Salvia & Alex Geller.
We reviewed what documentation we had and what our next steps should be. The Compost program will gain the Village CSC points. Having the Compost signup on this page may be a good location for it. Betsy Brauer & the Mayor are working on a Vehicle Inventory, which will also provide CSC points. There is a subgroup that was previously formed called “Safe Routes to School”. Given all the other focus on walkability and speed calming, we will be discussing the purpose of this subgroup. The Mayor met with Scott Kleinberg of Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) who has been tasked with helping the Village gain CSC certification. Scott is newly assigned to the Village. It turns out that the Village has an account with NYS ClimateSmartNY.gov. The Mayor coordinated getting Scott access to our account. Scott indicated that he would be willing to take care of uploading documents to our account. All this can be done in advance, but the application needs to be complete before we submit. Our next meeting is scheduled for July 17[th] at 4pm in the Village Hall 2[nd] floor conference room. We will be reviewing the recommended programs and documentation required to identify a priority list and action plan that can then be presented to the Board. At the next meeting, the recommended list of members should be available for approval.