At 3 p.m., Friday, June 21, Dewey Beach Town Council will discuss critical issues, including the possible expansion of voting rights to include LLCs, LLPs and corporations.
A potential outcome is that the four largest property owners, all of whom reside out of state, could effectively choose the town commissioners. This could result in the commissioners prioritizing the interests of the four property owners over those of the residents, leaving the community with little say in local governance.
Diluting your voting rights - This could allow the four largest property owners in town to collectively have around 50 to 100 votes in an election where outcomes have been decided by as few as three votes. Worse, a building like the surf club, with units divided into four ownership periods, could potentially have four times the votes of other residents. It’s crucial that residents act to protect valuable voting rights. Rehoboth stopped this after getting resident feedback such as turning the town from residents to commercial investors, and once the genie is out of the bottle, the folks who live here will never have the power to let that genie back in.
Removing the residency requirement for commissioners - The current requirement that at least two of the five commissioners must be residents may be reduced or removed. Given the increase in full-time residents, this requirement should be increased to three, as other neighboring towns have, not eliminated. Having a town council of all nonresident elected officials undermines local representation and disenfranchises residents. The mayor is required to be a resident. Having an alternative or backup to the mayor is important. Can you imagine an emergency situation where all five commissioners are residing in Florida? This would leave our community without immediate, local leadership in a critical time, especially a hurricane.
Weakening the oversight role of the commissioners - Commissioners currently approve the budget with detailed line items. The town manager, who has struggled to adhere to the budget due to an overspending problem, proposes using aggregate details, weakening the commissioners' oversight role. Removing line-item supervision will severely limit oversight. Residents will have no insight into how the town is spending money.
Voting on removing an investment committee that focused on the town's investments - There is a proposal to transfer management of the town’s investment funds from the investment committee to a consolidated budget and finance committee. The investment committee has successfully managed the town’s investments, generating significant returns over the past decade.
Before that time, there were attempts to make commissions off that money or give it to their friends. In fact, one member of the budget committee was a town commissioner when his friend, the former mayor, had his company get a commission on the town portfolio. The budget and finance committee is generally members of the public and will lack the necessary investment expertise.
The first three items would change Dewey to where residents will have no say in the process, and the fourth item can result in mischief with the town's money. Please attend the town meeting virtually or in person and voice your concerns to protect our town's interests.
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