Rehoboth candidates face the homeowners

Rehoboth Beach property owners got their first look at the four candidates for city commissioner at the Rehoboth Beach Homeowners' Association candidates forum July 24.

The candidates – incumbents Patrick Gossett and Bill Sargent, former Commissioner Paul Kuhns and Rehoboth resident Rick Perry – are competing for two seats in the Saturday, Aug. 8 election.

Asked to name the three most important issues facing the city, Kuhns said noise, occupancy and, most importantly, the city’s enforcement of its rules and regulations.

Kuhns said the commissioners have appropriately dealt with noise, but occupancy and vacation rental homes are still a substantial problem.

Perry listed finances, property rights and citizen participation. He said the city should be improving and encouraging citizens to participate in their government.

Sargent said the biggest problem was the commercialization of residential neighborhoods, noise and trees.

Gossett said his three biggest concerns were noise, increased staff within the city's building and licensing department, and a vacation rental ordinance.

Richard Byrne, 125 St. Lawrence St., asked incumbents Gossett and Sargent what they would do differently if they could redo this term, and what Perry and Kuhns would do that Gossett and Sargent did not.

Perry: “One thing I would do is encourage more debate on suggestions and ideas and even criticisms that audience participants make during those meetings. Too often I believe there is no debate, no deliberation, no consideration given to how those suggestions can be incorporated.”

Sargent: “I think the suggestions from the audience are highly considered.  I think that at times we focus too much on the first problem that comes to us and we work on that. We worked too much on pools and kind of pushed aside zoning. We all knew zoning was the issue but somehow we got bound up in talking about pools for too long.”

Gossett: “The one area that I think maybe I could do better on is I’ve been pushing at budget hearings for a public information officer. We have not reacted to the needs of how people receive information these days. Having one individual as a public information officer that is responsible for communicating, getting that message out. Whether it’s by tweets, whether it’s by Facebook or whether it's by our website.”

Kuhns: “The city did a phenomenal job talking about the referendum. Look at how important the referendum was to the commissioners. They put out two or three newsletters, there was a YouTube video, there were a couple of interviews on the radio. This was something the city really wanted. Why wasn’t that done for the recent zoning changes? The city needs to reach out to the community and ask questions.”

John McClelland, 527 N. Boardwalk, asked the candidates if there was a parking problem in the residential neighborhoods:

Kuhns: “It depends on which residential neighborhood you’re in. Is it a problem? In some neighborhoods it is. Some of it comes from the occupancy issue. If a home allows 25 to 30 people, there are probably five to seven cars there. I think that’s something the city needs to deal with. I think once you handle the occupancy problem, the parking problem goes away.”

Perry: “My observation is weekdays it's not that big of a problem. During the weekends when the day-trippers and tourists come into town? Yes, it’s a problem.”

Sargent: “Yes, we have a parking problem. In my neighborhood it's much more of a weekend problem. But it’s a growing problem. It’s just going to increase. We can use price mechanisms; we can use changes to our permit systems. The thought of solving the parking problems at the expense of trees is unacceptable to me.”

Gossett: "There’s 2,160 metered spaces in Rehoboth Beach. That’s never going to be enough on Fourth of July and that’s probably 2,000 too many on Dec. 31. The parking issue is not one of parking as much as it is trying to manage the density of a large number of people in the residential areas.”

Bill Zimmer, 224 Stockley St., asked the candidates if they would support term limits for elected officials in Rehoboth.

Kuhns: “Yes.”

Perry: “Yes.”

Sargent: “I’m torn on term limits. Sometimes I just want the rascals out, whether it's in Washington or Rehoboth. I think term limits sometimes hinder the democratic process. So I’m very uncomfortable with that. If we replace good leaders with poor leaders then we haven’t come out ahead. I would not favor term limits.”

Gossett: “We have term limits, and that’s your vote.”