After trailing by 465 votes out of about 10,000 district-wide in the Election Day results for the GOP nomination to oppose first-term Democratic congressman Antonio Delgado of Rhinebeck this November, Kyle Van DeWater, an up-and-coming Dutchess County lawyer, a decorated Army veteran and a major in the Army Reserves, reversed the numbers with an overwhelming plurality in the absentee ballots against Ola Hawatmeh from Poughkeepsie.
The Town of Woodstock has emerged victorious in a land-use battle waged by a property owner over refusal to issue a certificate of occupancy after he clear-cut trees and constructed a highly reflective roof in violation of zoning regulations.
The killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer and the resulting demonstrations prompted a discussion of policing practices and praise for the local department and its leadership.
Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan announced today the appointment of Lauren Sheeley to be the new public defender. Sheeley, who has served as first assistant county attorney since September 2019, previously worked as the attorney in charge of Legal Services of the Hudson Valley.
Woodstock officials are considering closing town-owned swimming holes amid concerns over the spread of Covid 19 as temperatures rise and out-of-towners seek an escape. “Do we want to have those open?” councilman Reggie Earls asked of the popular swimming holes Big Deep and Little Deep. “We will have a lot of people. It’s natural to want to get out of there [the city] and come up here. I think it’s going to be hard to have them safely open.”
Woodstock town coffers and employees will benefit from a state and federal program to provide unemployment assistance to municipal workers with reduced work hours due to Covid 19. Through a new program administered by the state Department of Labor, affected employees will receive regular pay for hours worked, about half their pay from unemployment benefits for hours not worked, plus $600 in weekly federal unemployment payments.
In a move that is more timely than ever, given people’s anxiety about being confined to their homes and rising concerns about the future, Woodstock’s town board passed a resolution is support of Mental Health Awareness Month in May.
Woodstock officials have approved a one-month grace period for those who are having a hard time paying water and sewer bills. They will not ask for proof of financial difficulty and will allow the bills to be paid a month late with no penalty.
Can one zoom a public hearing? Could any of us have even imagined such a question three months ago?
Woodstock’s town board unanimously passed a measure last week allowing town government workers sidelined by the pandemic to continue receiving full pay.