Rehoboth Beach has grown from a seasonal town with a small winter population to a thriving year-round community. Historically, the city manager system made sense. However, this system no longer serves Rehoboth Beach effectively. The city manager, an unelected and unaccountable figure, functions as a de facto mayor. The city manager system is inherently anti-democratic, as exemplified by the recent opaque and excessive hiring of Taylour Tedder, whose salary will be higher than the mayors of Wilmington, Baltimore and Philadelphia, accompanied by perks typically reserved for CEOs of for-profit companies, with no direct accountability to the people of Rehoboth.
The city manager system has outlived its usefulness in Rehoboth Beach. If you are disappointed by the excessive perks and salary of the new city manager, you can take action by voting to replace the mayor in the 2026 election. You can support a mayoral candidate who promises to immediately end Tedder’s contract, thereby depriving him of the excessive perks which no voter in Rehoboth has approved. If his services are in such high demand as alleged, he should have no problems finding alternate employment. You can support a mayoral candidate who promises to abolish this outdated system of governance.
We should provide the elected mayor with a salary and benefits commensurate with those of mayors in similarly sized towns. Given the requirement for mayoral candidates to already have housing in Rehoboth Beach, Tedder's excessive housing costs can be avoided. If necessary in the future, the city can acquire an official mayor's residence, ensuring the city retains ownership of the property for future mayors.
Mayor Stan Mills has been a recipient of a legacy system that no longer suits Rehoboth Beach's year-round status. Mills has made several correct decisions, notably his ardent support of the Rehoboth Beach Patrol. However, he has also made significant mistakes. One such error was the failure to negotiate to keep Deauville Beach, resulting in a large swath of pristine Rehoboth Beach now being managed by the State of Delaware. This change creates inherent safety risks due to the lack of a unified lifeguarding system, potentially leading to non-coordination during perilous rescues – this puts swimmers at risk of serious injury or drowning while also risking the reputation of Rehoboth as one of the safest beaches in the country. You can support a 2026 mayoral candidate who promises to immediately negotiate the reacquisition of Deauville Beach to ensure, moving forward, it remains under the stewardship of Rehoboth and for the use of Rehoboth beachgoers.
Notably, Mills would like to change the city charter since Tedder does not meet the qualifications for city manager as outlined in the city charter. The only city charter change that we should seek is to abolish the city manager position so that, finally, we can have an accountable mayor whose pay and benefits are accountable to the people of Rehoboth Beach.
Is democracy such a radical idea? If not, let's introduce democracy to Rehoboth Beach in 2026.
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