Rehoboth city manager declines merit pay increase

Rehoboth Beach City Manager Taylour Tedder has declined to pursue a merit pay increase of up to 3%.

“Taylour has informed me that he wishes to create goodwill in the community and will not accept a merit increase at this year’s evaluation,” said Mayor Stan Mills at the outset of a special meeting June 9.

Tedder began working for Rehoboth Beach May 15, 2024. Among other things, his contract calls for a $250,000 annual salary, plus $50,000 in moving expenses and a $750,000 home loan that will be forgiven in full if he stays for seven years.

His immediate predecessor, Laurence Christian was hired at a starting salary of $160,000. Christian was on the job for less than a year. The city manager prior to Christian was Sharon Lynn, who began with a salary of $120,000, but it had risen to $141,250 by the time she left in May 2022 after a decade on the job.

The special meeting was the second time Tedder’s potential pay increase was on an agenda. Commissioners spent three hours in executive session May 16 discussing the possibility.

The possible pay increase was the second item on the June 9 agenda, but Mills rearranged the order to handle that issue first. He provided a bit of background on the possible increase, saying that Tedder’s contract has wording that calls for the same merit increases that all regular full-time employees have.

Commissioner Suzanne Goode, who has been a strong opponent of the contract since before she was elected commissioner last summer, asked Mills to explain why commissioners were only given five minutes’ notice on Tedder’s decision.

Mills declined to answer, instead banging his gavel and ordering Goode to remain quiet because she didn’t have the floor.

Goode persisted for an answer. At that point, City Solicitor Lisa Borin Ogden, who began in late May and was sitting through her first day of commissioner meetings, interrupted the back-and-forth between Goode and Mills to support the mayor. The matter has been removed from the agenda, she said.

Goode eventually acquiesced, but not before saying, “I think the public will reach its own conclusions on how this was handled, or mishandled.”

During a brief public comment period, city resident Frank Cooper said he thought Tedder was doing a great job and, while he understood why he declined to pursue the pay increase, under other circumstances he would deserve a raise.

Tedder did not make any comments prior to commissioners going into executive session.

Separate from the pay increase discussion, a lawsuit filed by property owners against the city for hiring Tedder remains in play. A couple of weeks after the initial executive session discussion, a Chancery Court judge ruled parts of the lawsuit against the city can proceed. The judge’s May 28 decision said claims that the city violated its charter can move forward, while claims the city violated the Freedom of Information Act cannot.