About

Town Supervisor  Joseph D. Cavaccini is tested, tried, and true and was elected to serve the people of the Dutchess County Legislature’s 15th District in 2019. As a community advocate and appointed Wappinger Town Historian, County Legislator Cavaccini 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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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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Throughout his time in public service, Legislator 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. Locally, he has worked to promote innovative
economic development by advocating to fill empty storefronts and eyesore plazas before building new
malls, reconstructing County roadways to accommodate existing traffic needs, and limiting large housing developments that cause increased traffic and crowding in schools. As the Chairman of the Dutchess County Legislature’s Environment Committee, he has had the honor to lead meetings on land use, including the preservation of our farmland and open spaces. Cavaccini has a proven 4-year voting record in support of our small businesses, conscious development, first responders, and fiscal conservatism.

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In serving as your County Legislator, he is proud to have made much progress here in our community. Within the 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 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.

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On January 25, 2023, 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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“I have continuously stood up against ‘overdevelopment’ that causes increased traffic and overcrowding in schools, in doing so we are protecting YOUR property values. In addition, we eliminated the County sales tax on clothing and footwear, temporarily suspended the gas tax, introduced legislation to offer tax exemptions for our veterans, seniors, and volunteer firefighters, all while lowering property taxes each year.” Cavaccini stated.

 

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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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 through his employment under two Town of Wappinger Supervisors, and as the Legislative Aide for the Town of Pawling in administering the day to day activities of the government on behalf of the Supervisor and Town Board. 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, and Locust Grove. 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, and was named as a Hudson Valley Forty Under 40 Mover and Shaker by the Dutchess County Regional Chamber of Commerce.

 

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.