Kevin Mallinson spoke his mind at the end of the May 7 meeting of the Lewes Historic Preservation Architectural Review Commission.

Mallinson had resigned as the commission's chair at the end of his term two weeks earlier. He began his late-night address by praising the members of his former panel and the work they do to protect the city's historic district. He then hurled critical comments at city management, and accused mayor and city council of playing politics with preservation.

"I am disappointed and disillusioned. I have witnessed repeated attempts by city representatives to undermine HPARC functioning and influence decision-making," Mallinson said. "I noticed a pattern to delay, deflect and deceive."

Mallinson accused mayor and city council of making critical decisions that affected HPARC in executive session, out of public view, and without anyone from the commission present.

Mallinson went on to criticize Councilman Joe Elder, who is an HPARC ex officio member and was sitting 6 feet away.

"When I scheduled an executive session to privately address the erratic and ineffective actions of the ex officio to the city council, Joe Elder, the meeting was canceled by the city council," Mallinson said. "His inappropriate comments, his backroom negotiations with applicants and wild confabulations, have really been disruptive. He is often unprepared and unwilling to effectively fulfill his role to the commission."

Elder did not respond.

Mallinson's comments came less than 48 hours before voters went to the polls to choose among Elder, Councilperson Tim Ritzert and Lewes Planning Commission Vice Chair Kevin Keane for two open council seats in the city's municipal election. Elder and Ritzert won the election.

But, what happened in the next 12 hours became the buzz in city hall circles, even on election day.

Someone in the city ordered the video recording of the HPARC meeting be stricken from the city website. It had been posted, like most meeting videos, by the next morning.

When the Cape Gazette asked Mayor Amy Marasco how balloting was going May 9, her first response was that she was trying to figure out the who, what, when and why surrounding the missing video. She said she ordered it to be re-uploaded immediately. The video was back on the website on the evening of May 9.

After the May 11 mayor and city council special meeting, the mayor said she decided the investigation would take a different turn.

"I'm going to call an executive session to address what we should do about the issue," she said. "I will address it on the record after the executive session. We have to address what prompted it, what happened, what's the best practice going forward and why did people do what they did? If it were not election day, it still needs to be addressed."

She said the executive session will be held Wednesday, May 20.

The City of Lewes website does not state a specific policy regarding posting of public meeting videos. The website does link to state Freedom of Information Act guidelines and open-meeting requirements that all municipalities are expected to follow.

As of 2025, the law regarding public meeting videos states:

Chapter 100 of Title 29, public bodies must make digital recordings of meetings, post these recordings on their website within seven business days after the meeting concludes, and keep the recording on the website for at least one year. If the meeting has an executive session, the executive session portion of the recording may be withheld from the digital recording posted on the website. 

The full May 7 HPARC video can be found at lewes.civicweb.net.