I was elected as a Village Trustee in November 2020, but I’m not new to Village Hall.
I was a member of the Historic District Review Board for 12 years and led as Vice Chair from 2014. I’ve served on a number of long-term Village projects, including the Comprehensive Plan Special Board and one of its working groups. As a member of the Advisory Committee on Tree Management, I helped draft our local ordinance for the maintenance of public trees. I’ve been working on the ground in this community almost from the day my family joined it.
Our children, Josephine, 14, and Henry, 12, were born in this community, and we are so pleased to be raising them here. Every day the kids see adults around them being good neighbors: engaging in, serving, and leading this community—including Dad, who currently serves on the boards of Haldane and the Philipstown Soccer League.
I served on the board of the Tot Park when the kids were little, and played a lead role in fundraising for new equipment in 2009. I've been a Haldane class parent since Josephine was in kindergarten, and have led her Girls Scout troop all those years as well. I'm proud that all the girls in the troop will be earning their Silver Awards this year.
I’ve volunteered for local candidates in Village, Town, and County races, helping to get out the vote and elect strong leaders. I love serving my community.
I am the principal of one of Cold Spring’s many women-owned businesses, Mirador Consulting. My professional life has been diverse and cross-disciplinary, with the central, organizing values of civic engagement and participatory processes. I studied communication management and design as an undergraduate; in graduate school, I pursued historic preservation and land use planning. The work I’ve done in those fields for close to 30 years—primarily engaged with local governments—ranges from strategic planning through project management; institution building; resource development; and conflict mitigation. I have done extensive community organizing for environmental protections as well as economic and social justice issues.
This range of experiences has given me the essential skills Cold Spring’s mayor needs.
Mayor Merandy and Trustees Early and Murphy put themselves forward at a fragile, challenging time in our Village, and they have accomplished so much. They have worked tirelessly to rebuild and professionalize our staffing, budgeting and operations. I’m grateful to them for their mentoring and teaching, and I hope we’ll have a seamless transfer of institutional knowledge from them to the next generation of Cold Spring’s leadership.