Sen. Ernie Lopez did a great service to the people of Dewey Beach in organizing a meeting of state and county officials to come and explain to citizens the oversight of a complicated project like Ruddertowne. The meeting served to allay many citizen concerns and it appears that Dewey Beach Enterprises is up to date with its county permit and inspections and approvals.
What was not so clear is the status of town oversight which many think has been painfully slow. It is time to let the professionals do their jobs. The town has hired an engineer with substantial experience in overseeing these kinds of projects. To date he has only been used sparingly and although he was hired Dec. 8 by the council three months later he has still been working very little for Dewey Beach.
My concern is that we have hired a professional, yet is he being allowed to do the job? Let the engineer do what he is trained to do and what he does for several other towns. Rather than trying to direct him or micro manage him, let him inspect the construction and take whatever action is necessary in an impartial and professional way.
This building has certainly been controversial but by settlement agreement the developer is allowed to build it, so it is in everyone's interest for it to be built right. We have a duty to show citizens that we have hired professionals to oversee compliance with the settlement agreement signed by the developer with the town, and we have a duty to be fair to the developer by giving timely notice of any issues or concerns our professionals may have. In that way, there will be no last minute crises or problems with permits or certificate of occupancy.
Dewey Beach has been sued previously for not doing the job of code compliance properly, lets make sure that doesn't happen in this case.
Joy Howell
commissioner,
Dewey Beach
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