Emails fuel Rehoboth City Hall turmoil

Rehoboth Beach City Solicitor Lisa Borin Ogden said she understands there are going to be strong disagreements in her line of work, and she’s fine with that. However, Ogden said she couldn’t believe what she was reading when Commissioner Suzanne Goode referenced her brother Josh, who had died six years earlier, in an email Feb. 6.

“My jaw just about hit the ground,” said Ogden, in an interview April 1, which also happened to be her brother’s birthday.

In an email sent at 9:50 p.m., Feb. 10, more than 24 hours after two commissioner meetings the day before, Goode complained that Ogden had rudely interrupted her while she was talking with a city staff person and that it was unacceptable to allow Commissioner Susan Stewart to bully her from across the commissioner table.

“I am sorry that I learned from Google when you were first interviewed [in the] spring [of] 2025 that you are Jewish. My opinion of my fellow Jews declined significantly thanks to you since last summer,” said Goode. “Actually would have thought you would have more compassion than the average person, based on your late brother. Except you don’t. I am sick of your haughty attitude toward me.”

A few days later, Feb. 12, Mayor Stan Mills emailed all the commissioners to admonish Goode for her email to Ogden and for one she sent to City Manager Taylour Tedder a few days prior to that.

“As mayor, I find such communications to be reprehensible and unbecoming of an elected official in our community. I trust you feel the same. We should all be concerned with the manner in which city staff are being treated, and I felt these communications from Commissioner Goode to our city solicitor and to our city manager should be shared,” wrote Mills.

After hundreds of questionably appropriate emails and public confrontations, Ogden said the Feb. 10 email was the one that pushed things too far. How can Goode possibly justify those actions? she asked.

Goode said she wasn’t searching Ogden’s religion inappropriately as part of the job interview process. Instead, she was looking for information related to Ogden’s past salary as an employee for the state. Her family’s work in the Jewish community in northern Delaware was among the information that is easily available online, she said.

“Yes, it was a mistake and I absolutely own it,” said Goode, in an interview April 2.

Goode said she sent the email to Ogden because she was frustrated with feeling attacked by Ogden since she came on as city solicitor. Additionally, she said, Ogden and Tedder have been making it impossible to do her job as a commissioner because they control how all information is disseminated.

Thousands of emails sent in last 18 months

A month after Goode sent the emails to Ogden and Tedder, during a meeting March 9, Stewart called out Goode for the ongoing barrage and content in emails. She said Ogden advised her the city couldn’t post the emails on the city’s website, but urged anyone interested in the content to submit a Freedom of Information Act request. The Cape Gazette did. A few weeks later, the city provided thousands of emails Goode has sent to commissioners, staff and private citizens since taking office in September 2024.

Many of the emails are from Goode’s personal email account, but her city commissioner email has been added because she goes back and forth between the two interchangeably. There are emails to commissioner colleagues, senior staff and constituents. Some of the emails are congratulatory in nature or tell someone that it was nice seeing them while walking on the Boardwalk, but a significant portion are related to the same few topics – the city manager’s contract, the salaries of senior staff and commissioners, the city’s growing budget, and a deep concern about a plot by Mills, Tedder and Ogden to limit her from information she thinks she’s entitled to as a duly-elected official.

More times than not, an email has a simple subject line, which is addressed in the first few sentences, but then the email slips into a stream of consciousness on topics that don’t have any connection to the subject line. As the words are typed, Goode opines on her colleagues, staff members and constituents. Many of the opinions are critical in nature and are often personal, especially if the person she’s writing about has disagreed with her.

“I was naive. I was trying to cozy up to them with stories of my family, but it was clearly a mistake. They already had their minds made up about me,” said Goode.

In her emails, Goode appears to recognize she’s stirring the pot.

“Sometimes you need some conflict to get things moving and to change directions away from excessive spending and grandiose projects,” wrote Goode, in an email July 18, 2025, to herself. “There is no particular definition of what constitute[s] rude or uncivil behavior. Can be used by administrators to sideline people who disagree with them. Too arbitrary to be enforceable.”

Goode also recognizes she sometimes pushes the boundaries. In another email, sent in July 2025 to former Commissioner Edward Chrzanowski, Goode wrote, “It is true that out of frustration I have sent some emails which were a bit harsh. I don’t know anyone who hasn’t.”

Beyond the emails, one of Stewart’s criticisms of Goode has been her relationship with the two property owners who are suing the city over Tedder’s contract – Tom Gaynor and Steve Linehan.

Goode addresses those concerns in multiple emails.

“Tom G and Steven L are extremely careful not to discuss the lawsuit with me, given my seat on the [board of commissioners], I have no more insights into their motivations than anyone else,” wrote Goode in Dec. 18 email to Commissioner Chris Galanty.

Stewart has limited her comments on the emails since she issued the all-call. With the emails now part of the public record, Stewart provided more insight into her thinking. It is impossible to adequately capture all of the relentless denigrating, abusive assertions in a few short sentences, she said, in a prepared statement April 1. 

“There is an important distinction between vigorous dissent and targeted harassment,” said Stewart. “A commissioner who believes the city is overspending has every right to say so loudly and repeatedly, even without evidentiary support. But invoking a colleague's religion as a criticism, using sexually degrading language about a city employee, commenting on staff and constituents' physical appearance and mental acuity are not policy disagreements. They are conduct that would end most people's employment in any professional setting.”

Mills, a frequent target of Goode’s, agreed with Stewart.

“Commissioner Goode can disagree, she can question, she can vote against something, but she cannot continue speaking to employees this way. As we have requested multiple times through cease [and] desist letters, she needs to stop,” said Mills, referencing letters sent by Ogden and Tedder last year.

Mills said Goode has crossed the line countless times in her correspondence with him through name-calling, lies and accusations, implying he has paid people off, and using terms like dictator, corruption, fixes and blood money.

“Now through this FOIA request, I am learning of so many more times she has used these terms and allegations in her correspondence with fellow commissioners, staff members and constituents,” said Mills, in a prepared statement. “It’s unfair to our community to paint me, and the city, as untrustworthy or morally questionable just to fit her own false narratives. I’d like the public to understand this.”

Again, Goode said some of her comments might be too personal, but it’s out of frustration. She’s been banned from communicating with city staff, and when Mills provides her with the information she asks for, it often comes in dribs and drabs, she said.

“There are errors of omission in the information I receive, and what’s been left out is relevant to me being able to do my job as a commissioner,” said Goode.

In a follow-up email, Goode said Stewart’s accusations are ridiculous.

“Stewart might as well accused me of murder as some of the allegations like racism are so outrageous,” said Goode.

Goode also disputes the description that she’s harassing employees.

“It is hard to hear repeated mention that I am harassing employees in general when the two employees who allege harassment are Tedder and Ogden. They often mention harassment as though I’m harassing dozens of city employees, which is a false narrative,” said Goode.

Emails don’t prohibit continued elected position

Stewart, a lawyer, said she knows, short of a felony conviction, Goode cannot be removed from office, and this exercise in transparency was the only course of action.

“Public record is the only accountability mechanism available,” said Stewart. “I asked for the emails to be linked on the city's website after the city’s repeated attempts to get her to stop attacking staff only caused her to escalate the behavior. That is not silencing anyone. That is transparency working exactly as intended.”

Tedder said he’s hoping these communications stop because everyone wants to work in a respectful workplace. It would be great if everyone can adhere to a civility policy that was instituted last summer, he said.

Goode said she’s been in touch with a lawyer about suing the city, but ultimately doesn’t have the time to follow through even though there’s been emotional distress and character defamation.

“It’s been a horror, and I try not to think about it,” said Goode.

Editor’s note: This story has been corrected to recognize Commissioner Suzanne Goode was the commissioner who referenced the faith of the city solicitor.