Mayor’s Message for August 2021

The summer season has fully arrived in the Village. As always, this season brings constant reminders of how lucky we are to call Rhinebeck home. Yet, this month we have also been faced with what scientists warn is the “new normal”; extreme heat, extreme rainfall, and the air filled with smoky haze from extreme fires burning thousands of miles away. This only highlights the long-term issues we face from the changing climate.

At the same time, we must continue to protect our community from the increasing rate of COVID19 infections in this area. We are following health officials’ guidance and for now, while there are no new regulations regarding social distancing and mask wearing, we encourage everyone to take reasonable precautions given the surge caused by the highly infectious Delta Variant.

I want to personally urge everyone to get vaccinated. My wife, as many of you know, suffers from long Covid. She is now part of the Covid recovery program at Northern Dutchess Hospital where she is getting help in her struggle. Meanwhile, we are mourning the loss of a 31-year-old family friend who was unvaccinated.  His family has set up a vaccination center in his honor in their hometown of Sumter, South Carolina. His experience is encouraging many friends and neighbors to take the lifesaving shot. If you are hesitant, please reach out to your doctor or other accredited source of medical information to get accurate information. The vaccine saves lives.

We are asking everyone in the Village to weigh in on two major initiatives.

We have a deadline of December 31, 2021, to decide how to regulate sale and consumption of marijuana in the Village as New York State has voted to legalize recreational use. I have included information on the options at the bottom of this newsletter. The other question we face is how to spend the money we are getting from the U.S. American Rescue Plan. We received our first check of $130,901.07 on July 27th and expect to receive the second for the same amount next year. We held a public workshop on July 28th. Among the options discussed at that time:

●      Aid to Non-for-profits through loans or grants

●      Internet and broadband expansion

●      Improve air quality in Village Hall as an Emergency Shelter for residents

●      Infrastructure improvements (water distribution) and create green infrastructure

The government provides guidelines for how the money can be spent. I have included those at the bottom of this newsletter. We will be scheduling more public meetings, and encourage you to reach out to me or one of the other Board Members.

Although we have a Village-wide municipal storm sewer system in place, it has never been formally mapped, and there are few records of existing structures or maintenance history in Village records. When we discovered this fact, we realized we needed to take action. With climate change, the Village has been experiencing increased frequency of flooding of Village streets and neighborhoods related to the storm water system capacity.

Working with our engineers Tighe & Bond we have applied for a grant to pay for the mapping, the first step towards improving the system to address changing runoff patterns. This project will enable the Village to better manage storm water runoff which directly impacts bodies of water including the Hudson River, Landsman Kill, and Crystal Lake, and in turn impacts drinking water quality.

We are also re-submitting our grant proposal to tackle immediate drainage problems on South Parsonage Street, at the crossing of Landsman Kill and South Street. Water has been pooling there during storms, and we plan to retrofit the area with green infrastructure, replace paved roadway shoulders with five foot wide porous pavement sidewalks, lawn areas, and 10 storm water street tree pits.

This project will serve as a demonstration project for management of storm water in the Village through the use of green infrastructure. The subject site is located in an area of high visibility and is the primary pedestrian and auto route to the Rhinebeck Central School.

We are stepping up our monitoring of Short-Term Vacation Rentals in the Village.

Granicus Host Compliance Services will provide a 24/7 Hotline so neighbors can report, prove and resolve non-emergency short-term rental problems as they are occurring. The company will also monitor STR websites to check rental activity, zoning and permit compliance. We have recorded very few complaints, but nonetheless believe it is important to monitor. This program will be fully paid for by Dutchess County.

Two outstanding longtime Rhinebeck Village Police officers are retiring.

Congratulations to Officer Ken Landers who has retired from the Village of Rhinebeck Police Department after 19 years of service. He will be missed, especially at large scale events like Sinterklaas and the Memorial Day Parade.

And congratulations on the retirement of Officer Brian Reavy after 20 years of dedicated service.  Officer Reavy shared his vast knowledge and experience as a police detective with our department and played an integral part in identifying and locating persons of interest.

Both officers will be missed, and their contributions to the Rhinebeck Village PD will always be deeply appreciated.

We will be looking for qualified candidates to fill these part-time positions.

Candidates must be presently employed or retired police officers, who have completed an approved DCJS Basic Course for Police Officers. Starting salary is $23/hr. All candidates must complete a series of interviews and a background investigation. The Village of Rhinebeck is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. Please send resumes to: pdunn@rhinebeckpd.com or via mail to  Officer in Charge Pete Dunn 76 E. Market Street.

Thanks and Congratulations to the following Village employees on their anniversaries:

Treasurer - Karen McLaughlin - 6 years

Police Clerk Danielle Rector - 12 years

Water Treatment Plant Operator Justin Draibick - 12 years

Water Treatment Plant Operator Tony Fata - 20 years

Highway MEO Tom Johnson - 20 years

Our Highway department is expanding and has added an additional laborer, Joe Zipp. Joe was working as a temporary employee at the department prior to this. Please welcome Joe to our staff.

As always, please reach out to me with any questions or comments. You can reach me by phone 845-876-7015 ext 2 at Village Hall or via email to MayorBassett@VillageofRhinebeckny.gov

Gary Bassett
Mayor Village of Rhinebeck

RHINEBECK VILLAGE

CANNABIS SALES AND USE

The Village has several choices prior to Dec 31:

●      Pass local laws and regulations governing the time, place, and manner of the operation of retail dispensaries and/or consumption sites (lounges), provided such laws or regulations do not make operations unreasonably impracticable.

●      Pass a local law opting-out of either on-site consumption (lounges) or dispensaries. We must adopt a local law subject to a permissive referendum on or before December 31, 2021

●      Pass a local law opting-out of both on-site consumption and retail establishments, subject to a permissive referendum by December 31, 2021.

Currently under state law, cannabis smoking and vaping is treated the same as smoking or vaping tobacco products. All cannabis sales will be subject to a 13% sales tax, which 4% is a local sales tax that will be distributed to the county where sales take place. Counties are entitled to retain 25% of the local tax collected and must distribute the remaining 75% to the municipalities within the county in proportion to sales in each locale. (Communities without sales will not receive revenue.)

There will be another in-person discussion on August 10th, 5:00PM, Village Hall.

The Village will also be sending out a brief survey to collect public opinion.  

AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN

RHINEBECK VILLAGE USE OF FUNDS

We may use these funds:

●      To Respond to the Public Health Emergency or its Negative Economic Impacts to  local govt. services needed to contain COVID-19. Assistance to households, small businesses, Non-profits, and Impacted industries (e.g., tourism, travel, and hospitality), Public communication efforts, Purchases of personal protective equipment, Ventilation improvements in congregate settings.

●      To Respond to Workers Performing Essential Work during the COVID-19 public health emergency, including: Premium pay (with limits) to eligible workers of the local government, prioritizing lower income workers and providing grants to eligible employers that have eligible workers,

●      For the Provision of Government Services (in an amount not to exceed COVID-related loss in revenue). Villages will calculate the loss based on what could have been expected to occur in absence of the pandemic and use the funds to off-set future costs.

●      To Make Necessary Investments in Water, Sewer, Broadband Infrastructure; construct, improve, and repair waste-water treatment plants, control non-point sources of pollution, create green infrastructure, manage and treat storm-water; water reuse; protect water bodies from pollution.

●      Miscellaneous considerations: Local Governments allowed to transfer funds to Private non-profit organization

Within these overall categories, the Village will have broad flexibility to decide how to best use this funding to meet the needs of our community.

We have two years to USE THE FUNDS.