I have attended several meetings of the Rehoboth Beach Commissioners over the past month about the shifting plans to give voting rights to LLCs, LPs, LLPs, corporations, etc., and it has become obvious that the mayor and each commissioner must vote no on this proposal, which in my opinion will destroy Rehoboth for the residents and part-time residents.
First, the mayor and commissioners have not defined the so-called problem they are trying to fix. Mayor Kuhns says that he just wants to help his neighbors get a voice. But under the existing law, residents who own their property through an LLC already have the right to vote, and nonresidents can vote by simply establishing a long-term lease with their LLC. In fairness, there is just no reason to amend the city charter.
Second, the mayor and commissioners have no idea how broadly this proposal is going to change the electorate and the city. They don't want to talk about the fact that their proposal is not limited to homeowners who have LLCs. Commercial landlords and investors also will be eligible to vote.
Whereas Commissioner McGuiness claimed in a recent meeting that there are not a lot of LLCs in the city, the online tax records show that LLCs are the entity of choice for the most of the commercial landlords in Rehoboth Beach. This proposal allows hundreds of anonymous commercial landlords and investors to become voters in Rehoboth Beach.
Third, they have no idea how the staff of the city can possibly administer this LLC voting to ensure accuracy on the voting rolls. LLCs are designed for secrecy, and the mayor and commissioners have not found any way for the city staff to verify LLC ownership from the public records. Mayor Kuhns said the other day we will just have to trust the owners of LLCs. At that point in the meeting, several commissioners and most in the audience became exasperated at this nonsense. When it comes to something as fundamental as voting rights, trust is just not good enough.
In the public meetings, Mayor Kuhns and Commissioner McGuiness have said nothing more than guesses and speculation about the impact of this proposal - no facts, no supporting evidence, no analysis. It is irresponsible to be writing laws affecting fundamental voting rights based on guesswork. They are engaging in a social experiment in Rehoboth Beach, which will give away control of this wonderful city to secretive, nonresident LLCs.
The anonymous owners behind these LLCs are protected from personal liability, so they can recklessly run up debts and bankrupt the city with subsidies to the businesses - here comes the towering parking garage they have wanted - while they siphon away their tax-free profits.
The commercial businesses pay no taxes to the city on their receipts. It is the rest of us who pay to clean the beach, the Boardwalk, and Rehoboth Avenue. We pay for the police and the other great city services. And after voting control is handed over to nonresident businesses and investors, the rest of us will be paying a whole lot more.
While they are at it, they can stop pretending to care about our residential neighborhoods, and just rezone the entire city into a commercial zone of mini-hotels.
No, the best way to amend the city charter is to get back to basics: Rehoboth Beach should go back to the traditional principle of American democracy after the Civil War, in which full-time residents have the right to vote, and nobody else. It is simple and democratic. Although my main residence is in Maryland, I would rather give up my own right to vote in Rehoboth Beach, than to see this city destroyed by the LLC investors and commercial landlords.
Gary A. Glass
Rehoboth Beach
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