Mark Saunders sworn in as Rehoboth Beach commissioner
By a 5-1 vote Dec. 9, Rehoboth Beach commissioners appointed Mark Saunders to fill the vacant seat of former Commissioner Don Preston, who stepped down last month after a little more than a year in office.
Saunders ran for office this past summer, missing out on being elected by about three dozen votes. He’s been a property owner in Rehoboth Beach since 2005 and a full-time resident since 2013. He’s been a board of adjustment member since 2022 and also served on the Rehoboth Beach Homeowners’ Association board, including terms as president and vice president.
Commissioner Suzanne Goode, who defeated Saunders, was the no vote. She questioned the process and said the addition of Saunders would lead to a lack of diversity on the board.
Goode also questioned whether Commissioners Francis “Bunky” Markert and Craig Thier, who also defeated Saunders, should vote on Saunders’ appointment. She said Markert served as the de facto campaign manager for Saunders and Thier ran as slate with Saunders.
Markert denied being Saunders’ campaign manager. Neither he nor Thier recused themselves.
Resident Hoyte Decker said he was in favor of balance, and while he thought Saunders seems like a great candidate, he said he’s concerned with rubber stamping. Prior to the meeting, he wrote a letter to the commissioners recommending Rachel Macha, the fourth candidate in this year’s election, to be the nomination.
Saunders’ term ends in September 2026.
Chris Flood has been working for the Cape Gazette since early 2014. He currently covers Rehoboth Beach and Henlopen Acres, but has also covered Dewey Beach and the state government. He covers environmental stories, business stories and random stories on subjects he finds interesting, and he also writes a column called Choppin’ Wood that runs every other week. Additionally, Flood moonlights as the company’s circulation manager, which primarily means fixing boxes that are jammed with coins during daylight hours, but sometimes means delivering papers in the middle of the night. He’s a graduate of the University of Maine and the Landing School of Boat Building & Design.
