You are not in Kansas anymore, Mr. Tedder! Yet, you earn more than the governors of Kansas, California, Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey, Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, Nevada and Delaware. I have no doubt that you served Boulder City, Nev. (population 15,000 residents) well. But, for the salary you are expecting from Rehoboth taxpayers, you are expected to be a real wizard.
Welcome to Rehoboth. You are now the non-elected city manager of Rehoboth, which has a peak summer population of 25,000 residents. As implied in the city’s name, Rehoboth has a beach. Institutions like the Rehoboth Beach Patrol are essential for protecting Rehoboth’s most valuable asset: its beach. Just one drowning during beach patrol hours could jeopardize Rehoboth’s reputation as one of the safest beaches in the country.
So, why was one of your first public statements a proposal to penny-pinch on the Rehoboth Beach Patrol headquarters while ignoring the more significant cost overruns related to your salary and perks? See the July 5 Cape Gazette article: "Rising costs could alter Rehoboth Beach Patrol project."
Regarding the July 8 commissioners meeting, the main problem with this meeting was that once the overwhelming majority of citizens’ voices were aired against Tedder’s contract, their voices were resoundingly ignored. It seems this meeting was an ex post facto rubber stamp on a decision already made in violation of FOIA.
The right thing to do would be to reopen the entire hiring process, put out an advertisement for new candidates and then consider those candidates in compliance with FOIA protocols. I understand that at least one other candidate – a Marine lieutenant colonel – had applied for the position. Not enough time was permitted for Rehoboth citizens to understand and discuss whether this officer satisfied the city charter’s prerequisites for the position (engineer or four years of prerequisite experience), nor his salary requirements.
Making matters worse for the city is that the Court of Chancery still may void any actions related to Tedder's hiring, particularly because he doesn’t satisfy the charter’s prerequisites for the position and due to the FOIA violations with his hiring. The city should have spent much more time at the July 8 meeting considering the actual costs of Tedder’s hiring.
If we consider the time value of Tedder’s $750,000 loan, forgivable after seven years, the actual cost of this loan to city taxpayers is almost $1.05 million. During those same seven years, Tedder’s salary will have been $1.5 million. Add to this Tedder’s taxpayer-funded $50,000 relocation, and the total seven-year cost is almost $2.6 million. Divide that number by seven, and we realize Tedder’s time value adjusted salary is almost $370,000 per year (significantly higher than the salary of the vice president of the United States). This excludes the costs to defend the pending lawsuit that Mr. Kittila has promised. It is clear the city has gotten itself into a tornado-sized problem that three clicks of ruby slippers will not resolve.
-
A letter to the editor expresses a reader's opinion and, as such, is not reflective of the editorial opinions of this newspaper.
To submit a letter to the editor for publishing, send an email to viewpoints@capegazette.com. All letters are considered at the discretion of the newsroom and published as space allows. Due to the large volume of submissions, we cannot acknowledge receipt of each submission. Letters must include a phone number and address for verification. Keep letters to 400 words or fewer. We reserve the right to edit for content or length. Letters should be responsive to issues addressed in the Cape Gazette rather than content from other publications or media. Letters should focus on local issues, not national topics or personalities. Only one letter per author will be published every 30 days regarding a particular topic. Authors may submit a second letter within that time period if it pertains to a different issue. Letters may not be critical of personalities or specific businesses. Criticism of public figures is permissible. Endorsement letters for political candidates are no longer accepted. Letters must be the author’s original work, and may not be generated by artificial intelligence tools. Templates, form letters and letters containing language similar to other submissions will not be published.
