Rehoboth commissioner calls out another for conduct

Rehoboth Beach Commissioner Susan Stewart has had enough with the way fellow Commissioner Susan Goode conducts herself during meetings and in private, and she wants everyone to know.

“I want to address something that is very troubling, and I think the time has come that commissioners need to speak out about this,” said Stewart, at the end of a commissioner meeting March 9. “The public deserves to hear Suzanne in her own words.”

Sitting at the opposite ends of the dais at the front of the commissioners room at city hall, Stewart proceeded to say Goode has engaged in a sustained pattern of conduct across her official communications that includes: racially and sexually demeaning characterizations of city staff and officials; statements meeting the legal element of defamation under Delaware law; harassment of city staff and commissioners on the basis of religion; demeaning and contemptuous references to disabled family members of fellow commissioners; false and unsubstantiated allegations of corruption and collusion directed at the mayor and fellow commissioners; dereliction of duties of elected office; active support for the litigation brought against the city; and communications that solicited outside interference in the city’s operations.

“The city issued formal, multiple cease-and-desist letters, yet the conduct did not stop,” said Stewart. “It’s only escalated. That matters, because it tells us this is not inadvertent. It is deliberate.”

As part of her statement, Stewart requested Goode’s full email record be made accessible by a link on the city website. She said providing the emails will not disclose anything private, but make it easy for any resident who cares to see what’s happening to city staff to come to their own conclusion. She added she would also like to see consideration of formal reprimand.

There is a moral and legal obligation to protect the people who work for the city, said Stewart.

“And we need to stand up and we need to do it now,” said Stewart.

Goode took office in September 2024, after running a campaign related to fiscal responsibility. Her primary example of how the city was spending out of control was the employment contract the city had given City Manager Taylour Tedder a few months before the election. In the 18 months since, she’s brought up the contract at every opportunity, sometimes multiple times a meeting.

Stewart, who was elected this past summer, made her comments following a three-hour-long budget discussion for Fiscal Year 2027 that included Mayor Stan Mills telling Goode to be quiet a number of times because she kept speaking before being recognized. At the same meeting, Stewart apologized to city staff for the way Goode was addressing them during the discussion.

This isn’t the first time Stewart has expressed her frustration with Goode’s conduct. A couple months ago, she requested an executive session be held for commissioners to discuss the subject in private. The executive session was never scheduled.

The city posted Stewart’s comments March 10 on its website and also emailed the comments to everyone who had signed up to be on the city’s email list.

In response, Goode said it’s unconscionable and wholly inappropriate for the city to post Stewart’s comments on its official website.

“I dispute Ms. Stewart's entire statement,” said Goode, in an email March 10. “The animosity and hostility toward me is unacceptable. Her claims are false and unfounded.” 

Goode said Stewart’s vendetta against her is long-standing, and she mischaracterizes attempts at oversight as harassment of top administrators. 

“Note that I have limited contact with Stewart, and that I have never once attacked her in public session. She has never deigned to communicate with me in private,” said Goode. “It’s ironic that she chooses to be so vindictive and angry given our nonexistent interactions outside public session, and extremely limited interactions during public session.”

Goode said the city needs to remove Stewart's remarks from its website.

“I have already been given a legal opinion from an experienced attorney that the posting on the city’s website violates my civil rights,” said Goode. “They possibly would have been within their rights had they encouraged folks to look at all commissioners’ emails, and had they included a response statement from me. They didn’t do either.”

Commissioner Mark Saunders said he’s not happy it’s come to this, but the time has come to address Goode’s conduct.

This internal problem affects the staff and must be addressed, said Saunders. No one can deny Goode has had a conflict with senior staff, especially Tedder and attorney Lisa Borin Ogden, but it’s also other staff members who are feeling harassed by the email and phone calls.

“I’ve read some of those emails, and they are highly inappropriate, to say the least,” said Saunders. “Making these emails public may show the public the reason for the mayor's actions, and why our senior staff feels harassed.”

The mayor has demanded it stop and even instructed Goode to only communicate with staff through him, said Saunders. She has not cooperated, so Stewart spoke up, he said.

This is not an attempt to stop Goode from expressing herself, said Saunders. As a matter of fact, he said he’s agreed with her on several of her initiatives.

“It’s the delivery and the personal attacks on staff that need to be stopped,” said Saunders.

Not all commissioners thought city staff should have gotten involved. Commissioner Craig Thier questioned the city posting Stewart’s comments.

“The City of Rehoboth Beach is facing a $12.5 million deficit. It is extremely disappointing and demonstrates questionable judgment by the mayor and the city administrative team when their immediate focus following the budget meeting on March 9 is on anything other than this $12.5 million deficit and how we are going to address this deficit without depleting the city’s savings, raising property taxes, parking rates, water/wastewater fees or any other fees,” said Thier. “Communications such as this undermine the collective efforts to brand the City of Rehoboth Beach as the Nation’s Summer Capital.”

In an inteview March 11, Tedder and City Communication Manager Brooke Thaler addressed why the city posted Stewart’s comments.

It’s constant, at meeting and through emails, said Thaler, of Goode’s conduct. Everyone sees how she acts in the meetings, but there is no action for her emails, she said.

“It’s not good and it needs to stop,” said Thaler, adding there are voicemails too.

This is not the city meddling in commissioner disputes, said Thaler. Stewart asked for the comments to be posted, she said.

“She is defending city employees,” said Thaler.

Tedder said he’s not going to comment on Goode’s emails, because they speak for themselves. It’s one thing for him to be the subject of the email, but it’s spread to every employee, and that’s not OK, he said.

Moving forward, Goode said she plans to be less involved and not bother to convince anyone that the current spending trajectory is unsustainable.

“I will refrain from trying to change anyone’s mind since it’s clearly not working,” she said. “That will include speaking far less in meetings, and simply voting in the way which protects those who pay taxes and fees to the city.”

Tedder said he’ll believe Goode will change when she changes.

“She’s said that before. We have an email,” said Tedder.

The Cape Gazette has submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for Goode’s emails. A follow-up story will be published when the City of Rehoboth Beach fulfills that request.