Dear Neighbors,

Wappinger is a truly blessed waterfront community of 17 miles of shoreline located in New York’s beautiful Hudson River Valley. Our Town is home to 28.5 square miles of quiet neighborhoods, five-star dining, premier shopping amenities, breathtaking natural sites, fascinating history, exceptional schools, and so much more!  Whether you are a resident, business owner, or one of our many visitors, we hope that the initiatives taken on by your government spark your interest in getting involved in our community.

Our celebrated history as a community dates back to 1659 as one of the first European settlements in our region. Our Town is proudly named from the Wappinger Native Americans, who once inhabited this land for thousands of years. We cherish what makes Wappinger special; our open spaces, local businesses, historic sites, and small town charm which is demonstrated through our rural-suburban way of life. Our hardworking families, seniors, veterans, and youth are the backbone of this culturally diverse community.

As your Town Supervisor, I am committed to enhancing your quality of life through actively improving our parks and recreation facilities, replacing aging infrastructure, and working to revitalize our hamlet centers and vacant retail to attract innovative destinations. Additionally, we are working to streamline Town operations through innovative management, fiscal responsibility, and through audit and control procedures. Ensuring that projects are accomplished on time and on budget, securing Union contracts consistently on time, and holding government contractors accountable—protecting your tax dollars.

Please consider following our Town on social media, fully exploring this comprehensive website, signing up for email alerts through Wappinger Delivery, reading our Town Guide, and watching WappingerTV (Optimum Channel 22, Verizon Channel 35, streaming on YouTube) to be fully engaged and informed, as we strive to be as transparent and accessible as possible.

It is an honor of a lifetime to serve my hometown as your Town Supervisor. Whether it is to live, work, or visit we are so excited that you have chosen Wappinger and we hope you enjoy your time in this Hudson River Valley Community.

Joseph D. Cavaccini – Wappinger Town Supervisor

Current Years of Service
January 1, 2024 – Present

Responsibilities of the Office

The Supervisor serves as the Chief Executive, Operations, and Fiscal Officer of town government. He presides at all meetings of the Wappinger Town Board, directing the legislative and administrative functions of that body. The Supervisor also oversees the day-to-day operations of a municipal government of nearly 20 departments, employing around 100 people, and providing services to nearly 30,000 residents. As the Chief Financial Officer of the town, the Supervisor is responsible for the implementation of the town’s budget.

Biography

What began as a love and passion for history, developed into a love and passion to improve his hometown. Town Supervisor Joseph D. 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.

Cavaccini has worked on the front lines of local government throughout his career. In working alongside five different administrations across three Towns, he has seen what works and what does not work for municipalities, and brings this innovative approach to Town Hall today. In 2014, he was appointed Curator of the Sports Museum of Dutchess County and in 2016 was the Founder and 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 remains involved in many recreation events and programming in Wappinger, formerly serving on the Town’s Recreation Committee. From 2017 to 2019, he served as Town of Fishkill 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. In 2019, he was elected to serve the people of Dutchess County’s 15th Legislative District as our County Legislator.

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.

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.

In keeping his promise, within his first 100 days, 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.

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 hold firm on contracts.

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.

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 light towers at the Martz Field tennis/pickleball courts, 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 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.

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, 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.

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