Dewey council silences crowd on town manager issue

With a summer thunderstorm raging outside, a July 14 Dewey Beach council meeting remained relatively calm after commissioners voted to eliminate public comment during the first meeting held since 18 complainants came forward asking for the removal of Town Manager Marc Appelbaum.

Public comment was denied one day after Richard Cross, attorney representing the complainants, filed a lawsuit July 13 in Chancery Court seeking, among other things, an emergency injunction to stop Appelbaum’s interference with the operations of the police department, beach patrol, building inspector and Alderman Court. The court did not grant the injuction, instead, said Cross, telling the town and the complainants to work on a scheduling order for discovery in the case. 

The whole issue with Appelbaum began June 14 when 12 employees, including police Chief Sam Mackert, beach patrol Capt. Todd Fritchman and Building Inspector Bill Mears, sent a letter to town commissioners asking for the immediate removal of the town manager. The 13th, 14th and 15th complaints were submitted to the commissioners June 27 by Alderman Court clerk Diane Jones, and June 28 by Martha Sweeney, Highway One Properties comptroller, and former Alderman Court clerk Barbara Kyewski. Then June 29, Cross filed a complaint with Delaware’s Public Integrity Commission. Complainants 16 and 17, both submitted July 5, are property owner Robert Belmonte and former Commissioner Rick Solloway. Former town clerk Katrina White became the 18th person with her July 10 submission.

Commissioner Mike Dunmyer made the motion to amend the agenda, which garnered a noticeable rumble of frustration from the sardine-packed crowd in the life saving station. He said he was sympathetic to the concerns of the audience, but the issue had become highly charged, and the meeting was not the appropriate time for public comments.

Commissioner Gary Persinger said removing the public comment was against his principles, but noted in this particular case it really is the right decision. The commissioners can’t offer a forum to strongly support or object against the issue, he said.

Town officials still went through with a scheduled statement on the issue.

Mayor Dale Cooke said he expected the independent investigation to be completed by the end of August, and the council was committed to a thorough process. These allegations are serious, he said.

Fred Townsend, Dewey solicitor, said the Chancery Court case would waste town resources and accused Cross of telling his clients to not cooperate with the investigation. This has clearly been done to frustrate the process moving forward, he said.

The character of the investigation has changed, said Townsend, before briefly explaining that as a result of the court case, the discovery process could take months.

Cross attended the meeting. Afterward, he said he had repeatedly asked for confirmation as to the scope of the investigation before having his clients voluntarily appear for interviews. Part of the Chancery Court suit says the hiring of attorney Max Walton to conduct the independent investigation was done in violation of Freedom of Information Act rules because no public vote was taken.

Townsend, who found and retained Walton on behalf of the town, said he’s confident Walton was hired lawfully and was not a violation of open records laws.

Cross said Townsend is allowed to provide advice, but not engage other law firms without council’s approval.

“Hiring others with a blank check is not in the charter,” Cross said in a July 15 email.

Still, the commissioners went through the process of publicly approving the hiring of Walton after Cooke and Townsend made statements.

Town council has expressed a desire to resolve this issue and lift the cloud that’s hanging over the town, said Townsend.

Commissioner Courtney Riordan voted against the measure, because he said, since it was part of the lawsuit, the courts should be left to decide.

Noticeably absent from the meeting was Appelbaum. Despite not taking public comments from anyone else, Townsend read into the record a statement from Appelbaum’s attorney Laurence Cronin, from Wilmington-based Smith, Katzenstein & Jenkins.

Cronin said Appelbaum was out of town for a wedding and that he was confident the good name of Appelbaum and his reputation would be restored. Cronin ended his statement saying he and Appelbaum would not be commenting on the issue until the time was appropriate.