No progress made on hiring Rehoboth city solicitor

Rehoboth Beach has been without a permanent city solicitor for about four months, and it doesn’t appear that position will be filled soon because negotiations with a candidate for an in-house position have failed.

The city will have to restart the recruitment process, said City Manager Taylour Tedder.

“Ultimately, there were no issues with terms discussed, but the candidate lived over two hours away, and family matters prevented them from moving to the Sussex County area, so they passed on the opportunity,” Tedder said. “The benefit of an in-house attorney is that they can be here as a member of our executive team and in the community. Fully remote work isn’t an option.”

The law firm of Baird Mandalas Brockstedt & Federico had represented the city on a contractual, as-needed basis for nearly two decades when it told city officials in late October that it no longer wanted to represent the city. With an initial goal of filling the position by January or February, the city has been using the services of Wilmington-based firm Connolly Gallagher to temporarily fill the role of city solicitor since early November.

The city has conducted two interviews to find a new solicitor. One was in mid-December with attorney Gregory A. Morris during an open session because he was being considered as a contractor – similar to the previous arrangement. The second was conducted during an executive session Jan. 10, with a candidate the city was considering for an in-house attorney. That was allowed to be done in closed session because that candidate was being considered as a city employee.

Commissioners and staff haven’t specifically updated the public about the negotiations for the in-house attorney; however, during a Feb. 10 budget workshop, Tedder said $300,000 worth of legal services had been added to the proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2026, which begins April 1.

Looking ahead, Tedder said he anticipates returning to a commissioners’ meeting within the next month to determine a path forward. As a courtesy, he said, Connolly Gallagher will extend its interim role for another three months.

Tedder said Morris is still an option, but he needs direction from city commissioners.

A month ago, Tedder said the city was tracking toward spending $850,000 on attorney’s fees during the current fiscal year.