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Trustee Amy Smith Reports — February 2026

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Amy Smith February Reports

Water & Utility Billing

In the month of February, the Village Water Department treated a total of 6,290,437 gallons with an average of 209,681 gallons per day. The average residual free chlorine level at the point of entry was 1.26 milligrams per liter of water.

Two samples were taken for testing on February 5, 2026 and all came back clear of both e.coli and fecal coliform. A third sample was taken on February 19 and that also came back negative for e.coli and fecal coliform.

Project Reports

I participated in a Personnel Policy Development meeting with the mayor and Payroll Clerk Irene Holsapple. My assignment is to draft two policies: one about the use of municipal computers, internet and tech security; and the second on personnel files and archival requirements as set by laws of the NYS Library and Archives.

The School Speed Zone , I submitted the packet to the email address supplied by Mr. LaRose and I received an initial reply that the request was submitted to the Regional Traffic and Safety Group. I emailed and then called to follow up. The Village’s request is in the pile.

Grants

Tighe and Bond was able to edit the proposal for a prioritized plan to improve pedestrian experience in the Village center to fit a smaller budget. As a reminder this change was necessary since the Greenway Compact Grant committee requested the Village reapply but limit the project to planning only. This means that the Village’s match needs to be in cash, not labor.

In keeping with the Board vote to have Karen submit the Greenway Compact Grant for this project, I have been doing the light editing required of our original application. The portal opens on March 23. The committee will notify recipients in June.

Finally, I wrote the Language Access Grant extension explanation as requested by the mayor who submitted it to the Community Investment Officer for their consideration. The extension would allow the Village to use the balance of the Language Access Grant funds to improve the signage at the Prince St entrance and establish a public notice board as well.

Events

With the mayor and Lieutenant Hildenbrand, I met with the Chamber of Commerce for discussion of their plan to be the sponsoring organization for the Celebration of Lights parade in December.

The mayor and I also met with a group of youth who shared their enterprising ideas on raising money to help animals. I connected them with the coordinator of Apple Blossom Day and also the Methodist Church Food Pantry to support their plans. I hope everyone looks for their table at Apple Blossom and buys lemonade or some youth-made animal-themed art. You won’t regret it.

Finally, I reached out to Dave Wright the coordinator for Red Hook Rotary’s Apple Blossom Day to schedule a meeting.

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  • Title changed from 'Deputy Mayor Melkorka Kjarval’s Monthly Reports — March 9, 2026' to 'Deputy Mayor Melkorka Kjarval's Monthly Reports'
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Deputy Mayor Melkorka Kjarval’s Monthly Reports **March, 9th, 2026** ## **Red Hook Together** The group meeting is organized by Bard Center for Civic Engagement & meets every first Thursday of the month. On Thurs, March 5th the group of Red Hook Together met in-person at The Grove, A newly renovated restaurant & bar at Red Hook Golf Club. The conversation focused on hearing about attendees upcoming events and programs as well as discussing funding opportunities, such as celebrating the Community Center’s recent NY BRICKS grant and Dutchess County MIG grant. Kris Munn from the County Legislator, District 20 talked about the County Budget and the upcoming discussions. PANDA tv is looking for furnishing donations for its nearly completed studio. If you have Club chairs, rugs or other furnishings in good condition, consider giving them a new career in show business. Also exciting, PANDA tv now has a 24-7 programming available on its livestream app, through Spectrum cable channel 1303, or through your internet browser at: - panda ny.cablecast.tv/cablecastapi/live?channel_id=1&use_cdn=true Visit: https://panda-ny.cablecast.tv/internetchannel/schedule for the full schedule of programs. ## **Town of Red Hook Comprehensive Plan:** The Town committee meets monthly from 7:30pm to 9pm on the fourth Tuesday at Town Hall. The last meeting was February 24th. The Consultants are working with the Committee to close out the Visioning process and are beginning to gather the key goals/topics raised during those sessions. Those larger goals will be presented with strategies/policies for further engagement at the upcoming second workshop in the spring. Below is a list of some of the programming & metrics of the Public Visioning Sessions: |Below is a list of some of the programming& metrics of the Public VisioningSessions:|Below is a list of some of the programming& metrics of the Public VisioningSessions:| |---|---| ●Tabling at Hardscrabble Day 2025 ●Visioning Workshop:**70+ participants** ●Visioning Survey (mostly online, some paper surveys):**170 respondents** ●Kitchen Table Conversations:**21** ●Tabling and engagement at the Community Center (Teen time, Community Closet, Senior Friends Lunch) ●Pop-up boards at Bard ●Pop-up boards at Red Hook High School (next week) ●In-class workshop with**~200 7th and 8th graders**(later this month) |CompPlanSite:|redhookny.gov/578/Town-of-Red-Hook-Comprehensive-Plan| |What is aCompPlan?|redhookny.gov/DocumentCenter/View/4933/| |CommunityEngagement|https://www.redhookny.gov/DocumentCenter/View/4931/| ## **Town of Red Hook Community Preservation Fund:** |**Town of Red Hook Community Preservation Fund:**|**Town of Red Hook Community Preservation Fund:**|| |---|---|---| |||**Balance**| |M&T Consolidated Account|Cm C’munityPres 0102|<br>234,683.02| |NYclass Master Account|Cm CommunityPres. 0203|1,500,533.97| ||Green CPF 0204.100 Investment|1845703.47| ||Greene(CPF Funds)0204|111,102.20| |Town of Red Hook CPF Total Balance as of 2/10/2026||**3,692,022.66**| |Source: Town Board Packet:https://www.redhookny.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Item/1112?fleID=20477 <br>From the Monthly Statement of the Red Hook Town Supervisor||| ## **Village of Red Hook Communications:** This month the Mayor and I made progress on a few ongoing projects: - The Communication Survey online has been posted to the home page under “Government News”. Questions range from what methods of communications work well, which could be improved, which improvements should be budget priorities. - The Updated Waste Water Treatment Plant Operations Page was relaunched on Wed March, 4th. The aim was to streamline information and add contextualizing information to the reports and updates listed on the page. We also improved the layout, implementing a “jump link” index at the top of the page so users are able to navigate directly to each heading. - I also posted a sign-up tutorial to the NY Alert system, which was first created by Sewer Clerk Jen Cavenaugh, and shared by Mayor Karen Smythe via email. You can locate the page under the Stay Informed heading on the website. ## **Village and Zoning Review:** On February 9th, the Village Board voted to send the North Broadway Corridor Land Use & Zoning Study Draft to Dutchess County Department of Planning, Village of Red Hook Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals, to be reviewed for comments within 30 days. The Public Comment period was also extended to March 9th. ## **Links to Video Recordings:** Draft Study Information Sessions: Mar 13,2025 , Oct 13, 2025. Public Hearings : Dec 8, 2025 , Jan 12, 2026 , February 9th The Proposed Study can be accessed here: redhookvillage.gov/360 ## **Planning/Zoning & Building Department:** This past month, with the permission of the Mayor, I have been working with the Planning Clerk, Lara Hart to prepare a guide for businesses that are opening a Village location. It was a concept that the Mayor and I discussed years ago with business owner Lauren Cunningham-Housman, and was seconded recently by Chamber of Commerce director Colin Stark. The guide will attempt to explain common requirements and processes (fire inspections, ‘Change of Use’ etc). See attached Reports

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