Deputy Mayor Melkorka Kjarval's Monthly Reports

Deputy Mayor Melkorka Kjarval’s Monthly Reports

February, 9th, 2026

Red Hook Together

On January 21st a subgroup interested in exploring housing assistance models met at Town Hall for a presentation by Christa Hines of Hudson River Housing. In attendance were myself, Mayor Smythe, Town Supervisor Mckeon, Community Center Director Sara Ugolini and CC Program Director Jeung Ill, as well as Nevill Smythe, Red Hook Together Treasurer. I believe Cicely Wilson, from Bard CCE attended virtually. Hines summarized the federal and state aid programs that provide funding for Hudson River Housing’s programs, as well as explaining some of the eligibility requirements.

The group meeting is organized by Bard Center for Civic Engagement & meets every first Thursday of the month. On Thurs, Feb 5th the group of Red Hook Together met over zoom. Bianca Verrelli, former Red Hook Responds director is now program director at Culture Connect. Historic Red Hook has two upcoming fundraisers, Chilli Night and Tavern Night. Rotary is planning Apple Blossom Day for May 9th - all non profit organizations are invited to table for free at the event. Panda TV is working with Ben Cooley’s Public Access Class at Bard, and the class is looking for any events and/or content that students could do for their classwork. Tivoli Library is working with Nextrex to collect 1,000 lbs of plastic film for recycling in exchange for a community bench. The Town of Red Hook will have E-waste recycling day the morning of Appleblossom day, from 7am -1pm at the Town Recycling Center. The Red Hook Public Library is looking for partners to host one of their 12 story walks, and an organization to host the Tour De Red Hook, a group ride through the Village of Red Hook. The Town of Red Hook Comprehensive Plan Committee is helping organize displays in the ‘art boxes’ around town to promote engagement in the plan process. Bard Center for Civic Engagement is looking to place students for their March Match opportunity, which is an Alternative Spring Break program. Students and local organizations are surveyed separately to match them for volunteer and mini-internship opportunities over spring break. Bard’s spring recess falls between March 14 – Mar 22 this year.

Town of Red Hook Comprehensive Plan:

The Town committee meets monthly from 7:30pm to 9pm on the fourth Tuesday at Town Hall. The latest meeting was January 27th. The meeting focused on final kitchen table conversations, formats for comprehensive plans and the outreach being conducted by the Community Engagement Subcommittee, who are working very hard to find ways to connect and invite different communities and neighborhoods to engage with the process. Anyone looking to be more involved in the plan which seeks to envision Red Hook’s shared future should consider joining or volunteering for the subcommittee; they are doing some great outreach.

The next phase of the planning process will be to focus on goals and strategies around specific topics. For those who were not able to attend the first workshop, there will be a second workshop that will focus on goals and strategies that emerged from the earlier visioning process.

|The next phase of the planning process will be to focus on goals and strategies around specifc topics. For those who were not able to attend the frst workshop, there will be a second workshop that will focus on goals and strategies that emerged from the earlier visioning process.|The next phase of the planning process will be to focus on goals and strategies around specifc topics. For those who were not able to attend the frst workshop, there will be a second workshop that will focus on goals and strategies that emerged from the earlier visioning process.| |---|---| ||| |Links to Learn more about the Town Comprehensive Plan:|| |CompPlan Site:|redhookny.gov/578/Town-of-Red-Hook-Comprehensive-Plan| |Keyfacts about RH:|redhookny.gov/DocumentCenter/View/4982/| |What is a CompPlan?:|redhookny.gov/DocumentCenter/View/4933/| |Online survey:|surveymonkey.com/r/RedHookVision| |VisioningWorkshopSummary|redhookny.gov/DocumentCenter/View/5069/|

Town of Red Hook Community Preservation Fund:

Source:Town Board Packet: https://www.redhookny.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Item/1098?fleID=20234

Mayor Smythe, myself, Tivoli Mayor Emily Majer & Tivoli Trustee Sarah Imboden met twice during the month of January, once on January 5th and once on January 21st.

The goal of the meetings was to better understand if the Village of Tivoli and the Village of Red Hook currently have any role in advocating for Village resident interests during the identification and prioritization of projects within the villages in the CPF plan.

We also were interested in exploring whether respective municipalities can contribute to the process that develops eligible projects (within the villages boundaries).

For context, property owners who purchase village properties that exceed the threshold of the Dutchess County median home sale price are required to contribute an additional tax at the time of purchase to the Town Community Preservation Fund.

For a reminder the fund can be used to acquisition development rights or property for the purpose of:

• Parks, nature preserves, wildlife refuges, greenbelts, and recreation areas

• Lands of exceptional scenic value

• Protection of wetlands and aquifer recharge areas

• Rare or endangered habitats and unique ecosystems

• Public access to land for recreational use

• Rivers, streams, shorelines, and waterway protection

• Historic places and properties

• Viable agricultural lands

Village of Red Hook Communications:

This month the Mayor and I made progress on a few ongoing projects:

• At the request of the Village Clerk, I re-designed an emergency contact sticker that is affixed to exterior sewer pump utility panels; they will be ordered soon in a weatherproof material.

• After back and forth with the Town CAC who generously offered to create a Helpsy explainer panel design for the Village, we decided to create a sign in a scale that could be read from a moving vehicle. The new panel announces both the Helpsy Textile Recycling & the newly launched Food Waste Collection Program.

• After measuring the food collection shed, using copy developed by Trustee Uku, Mayor Smythe and I arranged the copy on the shed signage. I designed the layout, and then Mayor Smythe printed drafts for Trustee Uku to view after the January board meeting. Karen ordered the files, picked up the printed signage and installed it on the shed ahead of the Launch event on January 31st. Community members were invited to the Village Hall courtroom to pick up their compost bucket, as well as printed information guides outlining what could be composted and how to open the shed located in the Village Municipal Lot. Lucky attendees also enjoyed a delicious spread of Mighty Donuts kindly supplied by the Smythe family.

• In order to decide the most efficient way to improve upon existing communication efforts, Karen and I have created a survey. Included are questions on which are the most effective existing communication methods, as well as which improvements constituents would like us to prioritize. We are hopeful that any data we receive will allow us to direct village resources most effectively. Please look out for flyers and promotions of the survey soon.

• After consulting with the Village Clerk and Mayor, I created a designated page on the website within the building/planning dept called “Proposed Zoning Legislation & Meeting Recordings” to contain links to the draft study and draft zoning law. The draft documents & recordings were previously listed on the building and planning dept landing page. I updated the homepage newsflash to link to the new page and created a link in the previous document location to redirect users to the new page.

• I attended the January 28th Chamber of Commerce meeting at Yum Yum Noodle to follow up my conversation with Chamber Director Colin Stark about the best way to connect with the Village Business community about their thoughts on the proposed zoning law. Colin was kind enough to include the upcoming law in his latest chamber newsletter in a section called “ A collaborative conversation with the Village of Red Hook… ”. I was pleased that he was able to convey how the Village board is eager to hear input on the draft law.

• The Mayor contacted me to discuss how we could better organize the now extensive information housed on the Waste Water Treatment Plant Operations Page. We have finished a draft layout and are undergoing the final review process before implementation.

Village and Zoning Review:

There have been two Information Sessions on this Draft Study where our Planning Consultant, Bonnie Franson of Nelson Pope & Voorhis shared the background and process for development of the Draft Study and guided the discussion on Mar 13,2025, and Oct 13, 2025. Our land use attorney, Victoria Polidoro of Rodenhausen Chale & Polidoro was also in attendance at the Mar 13 session.

There have been two Public Hearings: Dec 8, 2025 and Jan 12, 2026 where Consultant Franson attended via zoom to hear the public comments and answer board member questions. Included in the online version of this report are links to those session recordings.

On Tues, Jan 20th, 2026, at noon, the Mayor and I met with Consultant Franson to review the comments from the public hearing, any further comments from the board including a written document from Trustee Uku, as well as requests and typo corrections identified from fellow trustees. Franson screen-shared the Land Use Study Document and went page by page, identifying areas where suggestions and requests could be implemented, and/or typos could be corrected.

On Mon, Jan 26th, the board had its regularly scheduled monthly workshop, where I shared that we had made efforts to expand the historical context in the study, and that Nancy Bendiner’s project “Let's Meet The Elmendorph's Nineteenth-Century Neighbors” had been instructive as we sourced historical information about the Cherry/Graves neighborhood. The board scheduled a special meeting on Feb 5th to review and discuss the (then not yet completed by Franson) revision of the draft study.

On Wed, January 28th Franson emailed Mayor Smythe and me the draft with changes redlined in yellow requesting a final review before broader distribution. I sent the Mayor the list of corrections I identified, she then refined the list, adding her own corrections, which were forwarded to Franson on Feb 1st. Franson corrected the errors and re-sent the document to the Mayor and me on the afternoon of Feb 4th. In the end, 21 pages of the 43 page study contain highlighted edits that were implemented following public feedback from the two public hearings and board feedback from the public hearings, subsequent board meetings, and any written feedback received.

The evening of Feb 4th there was an email exchange between Trustee Uku and Consultant Franson over requests that Trustee Uku had sent directly to the consultant on January 16th which had been discussed at length at the January 12th board meeting with Franson following public comment. The Mayor responded to Trustee Uku providing written responses to her Feb 4th email, summarizing the takeaway from the board discussion and further clarification from

Franson. (I was not included in that thread to comply with OML - although I was informed afterwards).

At the February 5th Workshop meeting, board discussion produced a few additional requests which were sent to consultant Franson via email in order for a final study document to be prepared for the February 9th Public Hearing.

Planning/Zoning & Building Department: See attached Reports