Rehoboth’s new advisory committees get to work

After two years of discussion and then organization, Rehoboth Beach’s two new advisory committees have held their introductory first meetings.

The streets & safety advisory committee, chaired by Commissioner Mark Saunders, met Nov. 13. The environmental advisory committee, chaired by Commissioner Craig Thier, met Nov. 14.

The streets committee meeting featured a broad overview of current conditions by Police Chief Keith Banks. There was talk of extra enforcement personnel and better enforcement of rules already in place. There were discussions about the proliferation of electric modes of transportation – one-wheels, scooters and bikes – and what to do about them. Committee members talked about bike sharrows and speeding on Henlopen and Columbia avenues.

The environmental committee meeting featured a presentation on dark sky compliance and another on the management plans for city lakes. Committee members also listed an anti-idling ordinance, recycling, the proliferation of invasive plants and animals, keeping the city’s tree canopy, and wireless communications as future topics to discuss.

Ultimately, Saunders and Thier each said issues raised at their meetings would be compiled into a list and be discussed at future committee meetings to see which issues should be pursued.

Commissioners began a shake-up of the city’s committee structure in November 2023. They were concerned about city staff spending too much time preparing documents and fulfilling information requests for the city’s five committees, only to have committee initiatives not be taken up by commissioners.

Seeking an improvement in efficiency, the original proposal called for eliminating the five committees that existed at the time in favor of one general committee. The committees include: streets and transportation, beach and boardwalk, environment, animal issues, and trees and green infrastructure. Ultimately, instead of one generalist committee, commissioners landed on the two advisory committees. Additionally, over the course of the past few months, the city has been working to officially sunset the previous five advisory committees.

Moving forward, it appears the committees will take topic suggestions from the public, committee members and commissioners. However, topics suggested by the public and committee members will likely be vetted at the commissioner level first to see if there’s an appetite by commissioners to pursue the topic.

The streets & safety advisory committee is expected to meet again mid-December, while the environmental advisory committee is expected to meet again mid-January.

Rehoboth has a number of code- or charter-required committees and boards that were not included in the downsizing – planning commission, board of adjustment, parks and shade tree, audit, board of elections and personnel.