Mayor’s Election Message

Mayor’s Message I am humbled and deeply grateful to have been elected for a second term as your Mayor. Also congratulations to Trustee Ric Lewitt on his reelection and ongoing commitment to serve the Village. And congratulations and welcome to the newest member of the Village Board, Paul Korczak. On behalf of all of our Village, I want to express my deep gratitude to Trustee Howie Traudt for his ten years of public service on the Village Board and all of the late night dinners. I strive to represent every member of this community, and I hope you know that you are always welcome to contact me with comments, suggestions, or even complaints. This is how the work of Government gets done as we are all partners in this endeavor. I pledge to work hard, stay focused on the positive, and reach out to everyone with a stake in the welfare of this community. One phrase I have always embraced is “Moving Forward”. It is a positive approach focused on the future. I firmly believe that the future of the Village of Rhinebeck could not be brighter. I love serving our Village because I am passionate about preserving our community, serving our residents, and facing the challenges of the future. To do this we must continue to create a vision, to be innovative, and be solution oriented. I plan to continue cooperation between the Village and the Town of Rhinebeck to raise efficiency and lower costs with shared services and equipment. We must continue to dedicate ourselves to creating a “walkable, bikeable, sustainable” village by improving sidewalks, bike paths, providing well defined, safe crosswalks, charging stations for electric cars, replacing older street lights with LED fixtures, and doing our part locally to protect the environment. We will continue to demonstrate leadership on the environment with other municipalities to protect the Hudson River. As always, we must maintain a balanced budget, stay under the “tax cap”, and continue to aggressively seek County, State, and Federal funds for Village improvements. We have lots of work to do, a bright future ahead, and I look forward to working with all of you in the next two years.

With gratitude, Gary Bassett Mayor Village of Rhinebeck 76 East Market St. Rhinebeck, NY 12572 845-876-7015