Mayor’s Message June 2018

It would not be the beginning of summer without Rhinebeck’s Memorial Day Parade, honoring Americans who died while serving in the armed forces. I would like to thank all those who participated, either on the parade route, or cheering from the sidewalks. On Sunday in a small ceremony sponsored by the American Legion, new POW/MIA flags were formally presented to the Village and Town. Rhinebeck also observed National Police Week, which was May 13 -19, in honor of law enforcement officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty. It is so important for us all to remember those people who exemplify the concept of public service. Our own Village Police Department is led by Sgt. Dunn and includes Police Clerk Danielle Rector, and 12 part time police officers. Safety is a primary concern for all of us and we very fortunate to have a dedicated police force that oversees the safety of the village, events, schools and provides partrols to the Town of Rhinebeck. I want to also welcome Kyle Jennings back to our police dept. Kyle had previously worked for the Village Police and has returned as a part-time officer. Summer 2018 will officially start on June 21st, and we are already gearing up for a busy season. This is our second year using summer hires to maintain the landscape and beauty of the village. John Raimondo of the Village Maintenance Department is supervising the work. We are happy to have Norman John Dupont already at work as a Part-Time Seasonal employee. Samuel Fallon will start after he is finished with school in June. They will be weed whacking, mowing, mulching, edging and weeding flower beds, and painting fire hydrants and curbs. On rainy days, they will also be busy working with Village Clerk Pat Coon on the reconfiguration of the records maintenance room by cleaning, removing a dropped ceiling, and more painting. This to make way for new shelving which will be installed later this month. More helping hands are being provided by Rhinebeck High School students Jack Madigan and Ian Breckenridge. They are working in records storage, busily boxing, labeling, and moving over 50 boxes of files. Ian is also assisting Ryan Dowden, our Planning/Zoning/Building Clerk, with records retention in the office. We are very fortunate to have their help and are grateful for the community service encouraged by our local schools. Speaking of helping hands, here is the schedule for Brush and Yard Waste Removal for June, July, August and September. Please work with us to keep the streets clean and the brush picked up: The 1st Monday and the 3rd Monday of the month is pick-up north of East and West Market Street, including East and West Market. The 2nd Monday and 4th Monday of the month is south of East and West Market Street. Grass clippings are prohibited from the pick-up. Colton Johnson, head of the Zoning Board of Appeals, has announced that Ward Stanley has resigned. Ward, a long-standing member of the Zoning Board of Appeals, brought many contributions to both the ZBA and the Planning Board and he will be missed. Josh Pulver who was an alternate member to the ZBA will now fill the seat vacated by Ward. We welcome Josh to this important role in the village. Peter Rathjen who was the Village’s Chief Wastewater operator at the wastewater treatment plant for many years resigned on May 11th to pursue other interests. The Village’s plant was always well run and his knowledge will be missed. The board is considering all options before making a decision on a replacement. And, we welcome Emma Elbaum to Village Hall. Emma will lead the development of a food waste reduction strategy and help pilot a municipal compost program in Rhinebeck and neighboring facilities. This is a result of our Joint Village and Town Environmental Committee which is working with the Center for Environmental Policy at Bard. Emma is a graduate student working towards her MBA in sustainability. She will work closely with elected officials and committee members. A stipend, courtesy of the Good Work Institute, is being used to for this position. The Village received a grant of $18,509 to create an Electronic Document Management System for the village. This will allow us to input more than 46,000 digitized images that are now on paper including minutes of meetings and payroll records. Paper is, of course, susceptible to wear and tear, and right now, could be lost in a fire or flood. Digitizing will allow the records to be stored permanently and make them easier to access, as they will be indexed by name and date. The grant that makes this possible comes from the Local Government Records Management Improvement Fund. On May 31st, there was a meeting between the Village and Town of Rhinebeck, municipal leaders from the Towns of Esopus, Lloyd, Hyde Park, and the City and Town of Poughkeepsie. This is part of the ongoing effort to develop policies to protect the drinking water of communities which draw water from the Hudson River. This historic agreement between seven Hudson Valley municipalities, designed to protect drinking water for over 100,000 people, was signed Thursday on the grounds of Marist College in Poughkeepsie. Collaborative efforts like these are expected to make the seven municipalities more competitive for grants and other support associated with New York’s historic $2.5 billion Clean Water Infrastructure Act, which will provide multi-year funding for relevant projects, including $1 billion for clean water infrastructure and over $100 million for protecting drinking water at its source. We continue to work towards drafting a policy regarding “short term vacation rentals” in the Village. Our May 23rd workshop focused on the fire/building code. Our Zone Enforcement Officer John Fenton was working with us to define the term “owner occupied”, which will be an important part of the new code. This is an ongoing discussion and we are making certain that all parties are communicating effectively as we work towards a final version.

As always I can always be reached at 845-876-7015 or MayorBassett@VillageofRhinebeckny.gov or come to see me during open hours from 1pm to 2pm daily Gary Bassett Mayor Village of Rhinebeck 76 East Market St. Rhinebeck, NY 12572 (845) 876-7015