Mayor’s Message March 2025

A word often used to describe the weather in March is “blustery.” So far, that seems accurate. As the season turns, I wanted to take a moment to thank our Village employees for all that they do. We all benefit from their work and dedication every day.

It turns out that there is an unofficial holiday in March called “Employee Appreciation Day”. I think it’s a great idea, and want to share our appreciation with all of them. 

There was a public hearing at Village Hall on February 11th to discuss the application for a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) to improve the drainage at the Village of Rhinebeck Mini-park. The proposed project will prevent runoff by upgrading the drainage system in the park and at the intersection of North Park and Arnett Roads.  These improvements involve the installation of a new outfall to discharge runoff to the adjacent Landsman Kill to improve the Park's poor drainage conditions. This work is part of the larger "Safe Routes to School" project, aiming to improve travel conditions for children as they go to and from school, as the park is less than 1,000 feet from the Rhinebeck Central School along North Park Road. This will allow for an upgraded playground with accessibility improvements suitable for all children. This project has the support of the Autism Supportive Committee, the Parks Committee, Safe Route to School, and the Rhinebeck High School.

The Village is applying for a $200,000 grant, the Village obligation would be $20,000.

Dutchess County has approved the initial letter of intent, now we will submit our application to the Dutchess County Department of Planning & Development.

The Village Board received the first bid on February 19th for pricing on the Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) electricity supply program. Unfortunately, the pricing offered was higher than predicted. Our consultant Joule recommended waiting for the next round of pricing which will be offered on March 12th.

CCA programs can provide eligible residents and small businesses with access to renewable electricity supply options at competitive rates, with no individual contracts for consumers. Benefits include support for renewable energy, competitive rates, and strong consumer protections. This program has opt-out enrollment, which means that if the municipality moves forward and selects an electricity supplier, all eligible residents and small businesses will have the option to opt-out. The program can have a measurable positive environmental impact by giving each of us a way to reduce our carbon footprint.

The Village board has voted to allow sidewalk dining in the Village for 2025.The program was originally a lifeline for restaurants during the pandemic. Now, outdoor dining has evolved to become a way to foster community, bring increased foot traffic to all businesses, and provide a comfortable dining environment for everyone, including those who are immunocompromised, or otherwise uncomfortable with dining indoors.

With approval, Village’s restaurants that have no available adjacent land on which to provide outdoor dining, other than the sidewalk in front of their façade, will be allowed to have outdoor dining on the sidewalk. There are regulations, which ensure the safety, attractiveness, enjoyability and convenience of sidewalk dining to diners and pedestrians. The Village Board will consider legislation to permit sidewalk dining as part of the Comprehensive Plan zoning code update currently underway.

There will be a Public Hearing on Tuesday March 11 at 6PM at Village Hall. We are asking for input on a proposed Utility Tax Local Law which will affect utility businesses operating under supervision of the NY State Department of Public Services. For more information go to: Utility Tax Law

 Project updates:

Water and wastewater - Legal reviews have been completed and we have confirmed that all submitted bonds and insurance from the prime contractors have been approved. It is now time to schedule the preconstruction meetings. Which have been scheduled for March 5th at 9:00 AM for the WTP and 11:00 AM for the WWTP.

Safe Routes to School- The village is still waiting for NY officials’ signatures on our State & Local Agreement (SLA). GPI, our engineer/consultant for the project has informed us as far as they know, we are on track, but can’t start work until the fully executed SLA is returned to us. So, short answer, we are on schedule, at least for now, but stuck at the starting line.

This Month is budget month for the Village 25-26 fiscal year. The Board of Trustees and Village Treasurer will hold several budget meetings to discuss the Village Budget.

-       3/4/2025 - 3:30 pm - Police, Capital Projects & Fund Balance

-       3/6/2025 -  2:00pm - Highway, water and wastewater

-       3/25/2025 - 4:30pm - Fire, Court, Environmental and General

-       3/27/2025 - 2:00pm - Total Budget review    

-       4/8/2025 -  6:00 PM - Public Hearing ahead of the regularly scheduled Board of Trustees meeting.

Please join me in celebrating our employee anniversary:

Planning and Zoning Clerk Ryan Dowden - 7 Years  Happy Anniversary!

It’s a pleasure to announce that the Rhinebeck Rotary Club will be honoring Meg Crawford Chair of the Village Tree Commission for her outstanding dedication to preserving and protecting our local urban forests and green spaces. This special recognition will take place during the Rotary’s Cocktail & Recognition Event on May 15, 2025, at the Fairgrounds Horticulture Building.

The village election is on March 18th!  Vote at Village Hall 12p - 9p Get more details on voting and absentee ballots at https://villageofrhinebeck.org/

Gary Bassett
Mayor Village of Rhinebeck