Standing room only crowd for Taylour Tedder coffee talk

Rehoboth Beach City Manager Taylour Tedder hosted a get-to-know-me coffee talk June 5, and even though public comment as a group was brief, he still got a good taste of a few important topics in town.

Addressing the standing-room-only crowd in the third-floor meeting room of city hall, Tedder said he wasn’t sure if there was desire in the community for him to host the coffee.

“I guess there was,” he said.

City officials announced Tedder’s hiring April 8. His first day on the job was May 15.

Tedder spent the majority of the hour-long gathering milling about the room, speaking to community members directly. However, he did take a few questions from the audience.

One resident said he would like Tedder to take the year-round residents into consideration when making decisions and suggesting rule changes to city commissioners. This city is more than just businesses and tourists, and many times the 1,100 year-round residents are forgotten, the man said.

At the other end of the spectrum, a property owner who rents two properties asked Tedder to make the permitting process easier for people who need to get capital improvements completed in the off-season.

Tedder said he’s dealt with issues like this in the past and is already looking into the city’s permitting process. There’s software that can help track everything so it doesn’t get lost on a desk, he said.

A business owner asked Tedder to help clarify city code because there is too much gray area. Who is responsible for making it black and white? he asked.

Tedder said he loves talking with small business owners and would be willing to talk with them directly to help resolve issues.

In response to a months-long hold on committee meetings, another resident asked Tedder how he felt about city committees.

They provide value and he will take a look at the situation, said Tedder.

Possible strategic plan coming

Three weeks in, one of the things Tedder said he’s already identified as a need for the city is the creation of a strategic plan that will help guide city staff as they move forward. Work is expected to begin in the coming months and will include public meetings, he said.

Following the meeting, Tedder explained how his strategic plan is different from the city’s existing comprehensive development plan, which included many public meetings and is only a couple of years old.

The CDP is focused on goals and policies primarily regarding land use, zoning and future growth of the community, said Tedder. The strategic planning process would result in a document and implementation plan that would provide commissioners with a clear vision of where Rehoboth Beach is headed, and provide policy direction for the city manager and staff as they prepare budgets and work plans for the future.

“It’s a completely different concept,” said Tedder. “Community and employee input through workshops, surveying and other methods are important elements of a true strategic plan.”

Looking forward, Tedder said he plans on presenting his strategic plan to the commissioners at the July workshop meeting for their feedback and consideration.