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"A love and passion for history, developed into a love and passion for my hometown"

About

Town Supervisor  Joseph D. Cavaccini is tested, tried, and true and has dedicated most of his life to bettering the quality of life for the people of Wappinger. Having started his public service career at age 12, he was appointed to his position within the Office of Town Historian for the Town of Wappinger. This appointment made him the youngest person to be appointed to a post within a municipal historian's office in New York State, as well as the youngest official to serve in a public capacity in the State.​​​​

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On January 25, 2023, then Dutchess County Legislator, Joseph D. Cavaccini announced his candidacy for the position of Town Supervisor of the Town of Wappinger. Following this announcement, Cavaccini went on to receive the Republican endorsement after a 29 - 5 vote of the Town of Wappinger Republican Committee. On June 27, 2023, he won the Republican Primary by nearly 60% against the incumbent Town Supervisor to secure his spot on the General Election ballot. On November 7, 2023, Cavaccini went on to secure the Town's top spot when he was overwhelmingly elected to be the 30th Town Supervisor of the Town of Wappinger.

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Throughout his time in public service, Town Supervisor Cavaccini has worked daily to be a transparent and accessible public official. He strongly supported, sponsored, and passed legislation that works on behalf of the taxpayer rather than against, by lowering taxes and bringing back over one million dollars in County grant funding to projects here in Wappinger. As the Chairman of the Dutchess County Legislature’s Environment Committee, he had the honor to lead meetings on land use, including the preservation of our farmland and open spaces. Cavaccini has a proven voting record in support of our small businesses, conscious development, first responders, and fiscal conservatism.

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In keeping his promise, within his first 100 days as Supervisor, he launched the Wappinger Protection Act. A series of legislative actions to strategically plan and protect the character of the Town. In doing just that, the Town Board took action to support farmland and agriculture by expanding agricultural programs at Carnwath Farms Historic Site & Park to 10 acres of community farming plots. In addition to this, the Town Board has voted to enact conservation easements and covenants to support open space. Supervisor Cavaccini is most proud that in March 2024, he championed historic legislation, to protect our quality of life by adopting a moratorium on the construction of large-scale multi-family housing developments in the Town of Wappinger.

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In the spirit of streamlining government operations and restoring accountable leadership to Town Hall, Cavaccini has saved taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars in eliminating wasteful spending as well as began generating close to $1million per year through diversifying Town funds in depositories with strong interest payments. He is proud to have ended a two-year long arbitration between our CSEA members of the Highway Department and the Town government. Ensuring that the Town looks out for the best interests of our employees and holds firm on contracts. Cavaccini completely overhauled the Town's budget and budget process; through these innovative realistic budgeting efforts, taxpayers saw expanded programs and tax reductions.

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He developed a “Quality-of-Life Taskforce”, through the Code Enforcement Office whose efforts are focused on removing illegal signs that clutter our roadways and street corners, addressing and sub sequentially removing abandoned unsafe buildings. Cavaccini’s focus on enhancing the aesthetics and safety of our town has resulted in eliminating eye sores and further demonstrating his commitment to protect your property values. On that note, in March, he issued his first Executive Order, demolishing an unsafe structure on Route 9D that the Town had recently purchased, demonstrating swift action to remove these blighted and dangerous structures around our community. The purchase of 2513 Route 9D marks the first expansion of the Wappinger Town public parks system in nearly 25 years following the purchase of Carnwath Farms Historic Site & Park.

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Through his Wappinger Parkland Infrastructure Improvement Act, announced in 2024, the Town began authorizing funding to complete the (Challenger) Inspiration Field and enhancing amenities such as activating the wellhead at Airport Park to bring water to the soccer program for the first time in 30 years; paving Rockingham Park; removing large overgrown dirt and debris piles in various parks; a new Vietnam War memorial plaza, light towers at the pickleball courts, and racquetball wall at Martz Field, and funding the completion of the nearly decade long – unfinished Spook Hill Park project; reflecting his dedication to promoting recreational opportunities for all residents and proving our commitment to optimizing resources and improving service delivery.

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In serving as your County Legislator, he was proud to have made much progress here in our community. Within his first month in elected office, he advocated on the floor of the Legislature for the County to step in and provide crucial water and sewer maintenance operations to the mobile home park on Cooper Road, which allowed for 50 individuals to remain in their homes after the property owner walked away. In the second month, Cavaccini joined members of our community to help the displaced residents of the fire that ravaged 10 Market Street in the Village of Wappingers Falls, through these humanitarian efforts, and the support of our great community we were able to raise over $25,000 and find new homes for these individuals. As we entered March of 2020, our community became effected by the COVID-19 pandemic. He had the honor of serving alongside community leaders in assisting the Town get through these tough times and launching our #WappingerStrong initiative to support small businesses who were hit hard in the greater Wappinger area.​

 

He continues to fight for grant funding for parks and programming in our community from the State and County level, funds in which projects throughout the Town benefit by receiving; including crucial funding to develop a Community Center for all ages at the Reese Cultural Center at Carnwath Farms Historic Site & Park. He, for a decade, continued to be involved in day to day activities within the Wappinger Town Government and continue to work to enhance the quality of life in our town such as rehabilitating Carnwath Farms Historic Site & Park and enhancing our hamlet centers like at New Hackensack and Hughsonville. He strongly supported the new long term agreement with the Hudson Valley Renegades, the new Yankees affiliate, to ensure that Dutchess Stadium does not sit empty; supported the establishment of a multi-use facility for recreational, educational, and healthy opportunities for youth; championed expanding County resources for mental health and opioid addiction at our one of a kind Stabilization Center; and helped DCC return to the Town of Wappinger in establishing an aviation maintenance technician degree resulting in high paying blue-collar jobs.


Cavaccini's love of his community started as a love for local history when he worked to recognize the forgotten hamlet of Swartwoutville by erecting signs marking the historic settlement. In 2014, he was appointed by the Board of Directors of the Sports Museum of Dutchess County to fill the vacancy of Museum Curator. He is also the Founder and was Executive Director of the Friends of Carnwath Farms Historic Site & Park Inc., a community-based organization working with the Town of Wappinger to promote and preserve the town-owned Carnwath Farms Park. He is also involved in many recreational events and programming in Wappinger, formerly serving on the Town's Recreation Committee. From 2017 to 2019, he served the Town of Fishkill as their Town Historian. On October 3, 2017, Cavaccini was elected to his first elected office representing the Grinnell Public Library District, which includes the Village of Wappingers Falls and Town of Wappinger. Assuming this office, made him the youngest elected official in the Town of Wappinger and the youngest at the time of taking office in New York State.

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Cavaccini is a lifelong Town of Wappinger resident and lives on Rosewood Drive. His family have been proud Dutchess County residents and taxpayers since 1912. He has a background in public relations, communications, and government administration. He also serves on the Board, as well as a member, of several non-profits including the Wappingers Historical Society, Sports Museum of Dutchess County, Lafayette Lodge, No. 18 IOOF, Chelsea Sportsmen’s Association, Locust Grove Estate, and the Beacon Elks. Cavaccini has been recognized by our community a number of times when he was awarded the Dutchess County Historical Society’s Franklin D. Roosevelt Award,  inducted into the Dutchess County Sports Hall of Fame for the preservation of sports history, a 2021 Rising Star by the New York State Young Republicans, recognized by CAPE of Dutchess County through their Change Maker Award, and was named as a Hudson Valley Forty Under 40 Mover and Shaker by the Dutchess County Regional Chamber of Commerce.

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Cavaccini attended Wappingers schools and Marist College and is a proud graduate of Roy C. Ketcham High School. He enjoys spending his free time out and about in Wappinger supporting small businesses, traversing through our parks, and providing public tours of local historical sites and museums.​​

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Cavaccini's mission is simple, get projects accomplished that will work in the best interests of protecting the quality of life of those who live in Wappinger. In preserving property values, Cavaccini plans to abide by the Town's Comprehensive Plan and limit the overdevelopment of large housing projects in our rural areas and work to revitalize our hamlet centers and vacant retail to attract innovative destinations. Further, Cavaccini intends to improve management and fiscal responsibility by returning a strong managerial presence to Town Hall. Ensuring that projects are accomplished on time and on budget, securing Union contracts consistently on time, and holding professionals accountable—protecting your tax dollars. In doing this, Cavaccini anticipates to further prioritize our parks and infrastructure across the Town of Wappinger. 

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