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It may have seemed John Brady was driven out of town by the Dewey Beach commissioners, but the town attorney drove back for the planning and zoning meeting later in the afternoon.
In the middle of the town’s rezoning process, and with the possibility of lawsuits looming, Brady resigned Saturday, Oct. 13, when the council considered hiring outside legal help, which Brady apparently took as a vote of no confidence.
An executive session for legal counsel was announced after what until that point seemed to be an uneventful council meeting. When the public was allowed back into the Lifesaving Station, the council was preparing to make a motion to vote to hire additional legal counsel.
Brady said that if such a motion were made, he would resign. And sure enough, Brady walked up to the table and handed in his letter of resignation and identification card before the council had a chance to vote.
Such a vote would not have counted anyway, because it was neither advertised nor on the agenda, Commissioner Claire Walsh said Monday. A visibly choked-up Brady told the commissioners that if they did not feel confident in their attorney, they should seek another. Then Brady packed his things and walked out the door.
He was driving north along Route 1 when he said he received a call on his cellular phone from Mayor Dell Tush asking him to reconsider. “If it wasn’t for technology, I would have been home before they could reach me,” Brady said.
Tush asked Brady to reconsider, which he did. Walsh and fellow Commissioner Dale Cooke also placed calls urging Brady to reconsider. Town Manager Gordon Elliott said Monday, Oct. 15 that it’s not necessary to go through a rehiring process because Brady’s resignation was not accepted by the council.
The events leading to Brady’s resignation stemmed from a possible lawsuit. Developers Harvey, Hanna and Associates have proposed a 48-foot resort complex where Ruddertowne currently sits, and the company is pushing for a relaxation of the current 35-foot height limit. A letter from Harvey Hanna attorney Shawn Tucker of Wilmington-based WolfBlock, indicates a lawsuit could ensue if his client’s property rights are violated. But there is a catch: the suit regarding Harvey Hanna’s property rights cannot be filed until the end of the 18-month period the planning and zoning commission has to rezone the town, because no height limit has been set. The town has until 2009 to enact ordinances to update the comprehensive plan.
Walsh and Cooke, who opposed hiring outside legal help, said there was no need to hire another attorney without facing a lawsuit.
“If we hired an outside attorney every time a lawsuit was threatened, we’d be hiring attorneys at the drop of a hat,” Cooke said. Walsh suggested waiting until the next meeting so the item could be put on the agenda and thought through before making a decision. She was distraught at the way things transpired.
“I’m ashamed to be sitting up here right now,” Walsh said in her closing comments. “I said this was going to smell bad – well, it stinks to high heaven.”
Perhaps the most thankful group upon Brady’s return were the planners, who were already without town planner Chris Fazio, who had a prior commitment. Brady arrived halfway through the planning and zoning meeting and joked that he was the pizza boy. Soon after Brady’s arrival, pizza was indeed delivered to the Lifesaving Station and a jovial Brady passed out slices to everyone in the room.
Contact Eddie Phillipps at eddiep@capegazette.com
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