Rehoboth planning commission looking for new counsel

Citing a change in law firms that is presents a conflict of interest, attorney Luke Mette is no longer representing the Rehoboth Beach Planning Commission.

The city hired Mette in early 2022 to replace attorney Glenn Mandalas, who had represented city commissioners and the planning commission for well over a decade. However, city commissioners decided in late 2021 that the two bodies each needed separate attorneys after Mandalas was forced to represent the planning commission, not city commissioners, during a months-long appeal process related to the proposed Clear Space Theatre project on Rehoboth Avenue.

At the time of Mette’s hiring, he was a partner at the Wilmington-based law firm Armstrong Teasdale.

Earlier this year, Mette joined City Solicitor Alex Burns’ firm, Baird Mandalas Brockstedt & Federico, said Lynne Coan, city spokesperson.

“As a result of a professional conflict that has recently arisen with two attorneys serving the city from the same firm, Baird Mandalas withdrew from representing the Rehoboth Beach Planning Commission,” said Coan.

The city hinted at Mette’s departure when it issued a press release Oct. 9 saying a meeting two days away, Oct. 11, was canceled for two reasons. One of those reasons was that “the planning commission does not currently have an attorney to represent it.” 

When Mette was hired to replace Mandalas, he was the only attorney to apply for the job of representing the planning commission.

Substitute counsel for the planning commission has not yet been retained, said Coan.

Role of building official coming back to commissioners

The original agenda for the planning commission meeting Oct. 11 was posted Sept. 19 and didn’t include either of the hotel projects. Instead, the items for discussion were related to the role of the city’s building inspector and the planning commission, whose members have said they should have a say in determining code compliance as part of the site-plan review process for large commercial projects.

The following day, Sept. 20, city commissioners discussed an ordinance that would give the city building official the interpretive authority over the zoning code. Ultimately, a vote to send that ordinance to a public hearing failed after a 3-3 vote. Commissioner Don Preston was absent.

A few days after the tie vote, planning commission Chair Michael Bryan said, despite the vote at the city commissioner level, the planning commission would still be discussing the topic during the Oct. 11 meeting.

About a week later, the city issued a notice Oct. 4 saying the agenda for the Oct. 11 meeting had been amended. The discussion on the role of the building official and the planning commission had been removed, while the hotel projects had been added.

Coan said the role of the city’s building inspector and planning commission is expected to be back before city commissioners at their Friday, Oct. 18 meeting.