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Dewey commissioner candidates debate safety, budget, infrastructure

Four seek three seats in Sept. 21 town election
September 9, 2019

Safety, infrastructure and the town budget topped the Dewey Beach Civic League’s annual commissioner candidates forum Aug. 31. 

Incumbents Paul Bauer, Dale Cooke and TJ Redefer, and challenger Phil Rowe have filed for three open commissioner seats in Dewey’s municipal election Saturday, Sept. 21.

Cooke said Dewey is a more family-friendly town than ever. He said problems with one business, referring to two fights outside Northbeach in June, had been solved.

“Dewey was a pretty rowdy town when I first got here. That’s one of the reasons probably why I came here,” he said to laughter.

Redefer said the town worked to prevent more fights, which Bauer said cost money. 

“What’s the choice?” Bauer asked. “Would you rather be safe and worry about the money later, or do you want to worry about the money now and have the problems persist? We chose to fix it immediately.”

Rowe said the real choice was to spend the money up front to staff the police department properly.

“Without proper police staffing, you’re going to have problems,” Rowe said. “They’re going to reoccur. It wasn’t taken care of ahead of time. It was dealt with as an emergency, at $6,000 a weekend after the fact.”

Candidates said more full-time, year-round police officers are needed. Rowe said enforcing ordinances would generate funds to hire officers; Cooke said the department brings in almost all of its budget.

When asked what is being done to reduce the number of lawsuits against the town, Rowe drolled, “I have no idea,” rolled his eyes and passed the microphone to Cooke, who said lawsuits have gone down.

Redefer said better employee training can prevent litigation; Bauer said commissioners caused some problems.

“You probably read in the paper employees are publicly humiliated,” Bauer said. “You’re going to get sued when that happens. No one wants to open a newspaper the following morning and see your name in it with one of your bosses calling you out.”

Redefer said the town is addressing recommendations of a recent $25,000 organizational analysis of the police department by consultant Greg Warren. Bauer said the police chief and officers are prioritizing findings. Rowe disagreed with that process.

“One of the biggest problems in the Warren report was the police chief, so kicking it back down to him to fix seems like an odd way to go,” Rowe said. “The police department is a shambles and an embarrassment to Dewey Beach.”

Cooke rose from his seat.

“To say the police department is a shambles is grossly inappropriate,” Cooke said. “It comes from not knowing what’s going on yourself. You can’t just jump in and tell somebody, you’re doing a horrible job. You should actually have an investigation. People who don’t know should find out first before they say what should be done.”

Regarding an occupancy tax, Cooke said owners of short-term rentals must apply a 3 percent tax to their renters.

“The hotels do not, and I don’t think that’s right. Hotels need to step up to the plate,” Cooke said, adding he would agree to a 3 percent accommodation tax on hotel rooms if the revenue goes toward infrastructure. “People are willing to pay if they know where it’s being spent.”

Redefer agreed, “We’re going to need hotels to help us in this effort to fund things we need.”

Rowe said the budget should be reviewed before taxes are increased. 

“Last I heard, the budget is done by dividing revenue by 12 months,” Rowe said. “If anybody thinks that’s the way to do a budget, they’re in the wrong job, because the budget is supposed to be a monthly map of your finances.” 

Redefer scoffed when asked how to avoid the town’s revenue deficit of several hundred thousand dollars.

“It’s not hundreds of thousands by a long shot,” Redefer said. “We have been spending in efforts to make commissioners happy and get things done in areas that we probably shouldn’t have over the last few months, and we need to take a look at that.”

Rowe said Redefer asked the town manager an excellent question at the last commissioners meeting.

“TJ asked, ‘we are 100-something thousand dollars behind; what is your strategy?’ And he said, ‘well I hope’ - operative word hope - ‘transfer taxes will cover the deficit,’” Rowe said. “Let me tell you, when you’re budgeting, hope is not a strategy.”

On infrastructure, Bauer said a beach tax was enacted 22 years ago through referendum, and that commissioners need to discuss infrastructure needs for the bayside. Redefer said commissioners can raise the beach tax up to 20 percent without referendum for infrastructure. 

Bauer said he opposed a property tax; Redefer said a property tax is a question for residents. 

“When we get to 50 percent full-time residency, we can talk about that,” Redefer said, noting commissioners need to consider an infrastructure tax and a phased-in hotel accommodations tax.

Cooke said sea-level rise will cause drastic infrastructure costs. Bauer said in the short term, drainage issues need to be addressed; he said a long-range plan was needed.

To reduce vacant storefronts, Rowe said the mayor, as town ambassador, can try to recruit businesses.

Bauer, Cooke and Redefer said businesses have conditional uses and everyone has different rules, making them confusing and difficult to enforce.

Redefer said the town makes $500,000 in business licenses. “Some of this we have done to ourselves,” he said. “There’s a vacant building in the south part of town that was a business. We zoned it residential, and now the owner of that property can’t do anything with it. We can’t use zoning that hurts people.” 

Redefer said parking rules need to be communicated better. “The worst part is, people figure out parking after they get a ticket and that’s not the best way to move forward,” he said.

Bauer and Rowe said the number of parking spaces is a problem; Rowe said a city planner could evaluate how to park more cars in a small area. 

“It’s difficult to mark streets, particularly on the beach block, because sand blows across the road,” he said. “Too often, people are getting tickets for doing things they have no idea is wrong.”

Voter information

Eligible voters must be registered to vote, 18 years of age or older who are bona fide residents, property owners, property leaseholders for more than five years provided the lease is recorded with the Sussex County Recorder of Deeds, or a settler/creator and trustee of a valid trust that is the owner of real property within city limits.

Eligible voters may vote by absentee ballot before the election or by voting machine on election day.

Absentee voting takes place in Town Hall, 105 Rodney Ave., from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Friday, Sept. 6; Monday, Sept. 9 to Friday, Sept. 13; and Monday, Sept. 16 to Thursday, Sept. 19. The final chance to vote absentee is 9 a.m. to noon, Friday, Sept. 20. 

Weekend absentee voting will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 7, and Saturday, Sept. 14, in Town Hall.

The election will be held 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 21, in the Dewey Beach Lifesaving Station, 1 Dagsworthy Ave. For more information, call Dewey Beach Town Hall at 302-227-6363.

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