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Board advances creation of Climate Smart Communities task force; trustees request edits and workshop review
Summary
Trustees reviewed a proposed resolution to form a Climate Smart Communities task force to pursue Climate Smart certification. Members debated membership terms, liaison roles, meeting schedules, open‑meetings compliance and deliverables; trustees asked to revise the draft and return it for workshop consideration.
Trustees discussed a proposed resolution to formally establish a Climate Smart Communities (CSC) Task Force for the Village of Red Hook. The proposal sets a membership range (minimum four, maximum seven), provides for a board liaison, and directs the task force to use New York State DEC Climate Smart Communities pledge elements to prioritize actions and recommend them to the village board.
Trustees and staff debated several draft provisions: whether a member of the village board should be a voting member or a non‑voting liaison, whether a trustee may serve as chair, term lengths and staggering, public notice and meeting schedule, the relationship to Open Meetings Law, and a clear description of the task force’s powers and duties. Multiple trustees favored a structure that leaves the trustee role as liaison and not chair, so the task force remains principally a resident/advisory body; the draft was revised in session to state the board representative would serve as liaison and would not serve as chair.
Trustees asked the task force to explicitly prioritize actions that would further the village’s ability to secure Climate Smart Communities certification (starting with Bronze) and to present timelines, estimated steps and cost implications when bringing recommended actions to the board. Members also discussed whether the task force should maintain minutes and a designated note taker or secretary, and recommended that the chair (or chair’s designee) be responsible for filing agendas and minutes with the village clerk.
Board members asked staff to incorporate the meeting’s edits, confirm template language with the village attorney and bring the revised resolution and accompanying materials back for discussion at a workshop so trustees can finalize membership, duties and reporting expectations before an official vote.
