Two weeks ago, Cornwall-on-Hudson Mayor James Gagliano and Deputy Mayor James Kane, as well as Cornwall Supervisor Josh Wojehowski and Deputy Supervisor Wynn Gold met with a representative of the state’s NY Forward program to discuss how to proceed with the awarded NY Forward projects in the town and village.

At last week’s Village Board meeting, Gagliano noted the village has the only private project, the Storm King Theater, which is under a separate oversight committee from the Department of State. The town will be taking oversight of the joint pollinator connector trail; branding, marketing, and wayfinding; and the small project fund. The village will focus on the trail from Donahue Farm to Donahue Memorial Park.

The two municipalities have two years to get shovels in the ground and four years to complete the projects, the mayor said, but start dates will be January 1 in the town and March 1 in the village because that’s when the fiscal year begins in each municipality. The first order of business will be to establish a memorandum of understanding between the village and town for the three projects the town will be overseeing.

In several other matters from the Village Board meeting affect residents of both municipalities:

Pro-housing. The village will be taking a pause on signing onto the pro-housing community program after the Town Board opted not to pass a resolution. The belief is as long as the village is meeting the levels of new housing required there’s nothing to fear with regards to not being eligible for grant funding in the future.

Beer garden. Gold, RiverFest organizer, is proposing a beer garden for next year’s event. Alcohol would exclusively be served and consumed within the confines of a tent and the village board was in favor of the idea. Local Hudson Valley breweries would be invited to serve beverages.

Tree lighting. Cornwall-on-Hudson will be lighting its tree at 6 p.m. on Nov. 30. A number of events are planned for the late afternoon, starting at 5 p.m., including a snow machine, cookie decorating, a letter to Santa writing station, and a visit from Santa himself at 5:30 p.m. Santa will be available to pose for photos and will be flipping a new switch to illuminate the tree.