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Facing a $500,000 budget deficit and dwindling reserves, Dewey Beach has scheduled a special town meeting and public hearing to discuss and vote on requests that it pay legal expenses incurred and to be incurred by members of town committees.
Specifically at issue are requests for payments of legal fees made by Diane Hanson and David King. The position of Mayor Dell Tush is that the legal fees incurred by Hanson and King must be paid.
The legal fees, she said, deal with allegations made to the Public Integrity Commission (PIC) against Hanson and King.
Legal fees incurred by Hanson, now a Dewey commissioner, in the amount of $1,500 have been paid. She came before the PIC after, as a member of the Ruddertowne architectural review committee, she spoke out strongly against the proposed project before all of the information was presented. “Anything less than $2,000 doesn’t have to be authorized by town council and the case was dismissed,” Tush said.
King’s fees currently total approximately $5,900, Tush said, adding she questioned the PIC opinion that found King had a conflict of interest in certain planning and zoning matters with which he had been involved.
One problem with King’s requests for fees, however, is that his case is still ongoing, said Commissioner Dale Cooke. “He’s appealing the PIC decision and they’re saying we have no control over the case. We don’t know how far he plans to take this,” Cooke said.
Other problems, Cooke said, are that the town attorney had told King to recuse himself from certain matters and King’s statements that the complaint against him regarded things he said in his capacity as a private citizen and not as a town committee member. “If he didn’t listen to the town attorney and was acting as a private citizen, we have to decide whether it is fair or right for us to pay his legal bills,” Cooke said. “That’s why we’re having a public hearing.
Tush said the PIC never reviewed the facts and never gave King an opportunity to address the charges against him. “A complaint was filed and it’s not correct. How fair is that?” Tush asked, adding that King backed off as soon as the first email went out questioning his comments about a hotel proposal for Ruddertowne.
The PIC could only act against King because he was a member of planning and zoning, and that obligates the town to indemnify him under the code, Tush said. “The town should pay even if it is facing a significant financial deficit. To not do so would deny King due process,” Tush said.
“I wouldn’t sit here as an elected official if I thought if someone sued me I would have to pay,” Tush added.
Tush said she thinks the focus on the legal fees of Hanson and King is misdirected. The greatest legal fees are attributable to the Campbell case, having reached approximately $75,000 as the town and its insurers continue to dispute coverage issues, she said.
The special meeting and public hearing on addressing legal fees is scheduled for 2 p.m., Saturday, April 5, at the Dewey Beach Lifesaving Station located at 1 Dagsworthy Street.
More information is available online at www.townofdeweybeach.com or by calling 302-227-6363.
Contact Georgia Leonhart at g.l.leonhart@comcast.net
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