Susan Gay wins easily in Rehoboth election

Moments after Rehoboth Beach election polls closed and the tallies were announced, Susan Gay was all smiles.

The high vote-getter with 607 votes, Gay said, “It feels great. I’m going to go home and celebrate with family friends,” said Gay. “Tomorrow morning, though, I’ll start getting to work.”

Edward Chrzanowski also won, receiving 345 votes. Finishing third was Gary Glass, with 328 votes. Candidates Mark Betchkal received 292 votes, Charlie Garlow received 252 votes and Suzanne Goode received 122 votes. There were 701 voters the day of the election and 335 absentee voters, for a total of 1,036 voters. There were 1,501 registered voters. 

Chrzanowski said it was a big relief to have won and for the election to be over. He said he thought his message of a balanced approach toward governing came through.

Of the six candidates, Chrzanowski was the only candidate who faced public opposition to his candidacy. Multiple people questioned whether he met the city’s residency requirement.

Shaking his head, Chrzanowski said those people were just making noise. He said he looks forward to working with his fellow commissioners and proving himself to the constituents of Rehoboth. 

Commissioner Lisa Schlosser yelled out, “Yes!” and threw her hands into the air when Chrzanowski was announced as the second-highest vote getter. Afterward, she said she really just wanted him to win. She said she looked at all the candidates and he was the most qualified, adding that he and Gay ran positive campaigns and that meant a lot to her. 

This is the second year in a row that no incumbent ran for re-election. Commissioners Stan Mills and Toni Sharp announced the week before the filing deadline they would not be seeking re-election. Last year, former Commissioners Patrick Gossett and Jay Legree did not seek re-election.

With the loss of Mills and Sharp, and their 20 years of experience between them, the institutional knowledge of the commissioners continues to dwindle. Mills, Sharp, Gossett, State Auditor Kathy McGuiness and former Commissioner and Mayor Sam Cooper together account for roughly 85 years of commissioner experience lost from the Rehoboth Beach Board of Commissioners in the last three years.

At this point, the senior commissioner is Commissioner Pat Coluzzi, who served from 2007 to 2013 and is about to begin the second year of her current term. Mayor Paul Kuhns served as a commissioner from 2006-09 and from 2015-17, before being elected as mayor in 2017.

Standing in the convention center parking lot in the minutes before the polls closed, Coluzzi recognized that no matter what happened, she would be the one with the most experience. It’s going to be fine, she said.

“They’re a vocal group, and I hear from them all the time,” said Coluzzi of the former commissioners.

Gay, a member of the planning commission, said there’s no denying the loss of institutional knowledge, but she said she’s prepared to do her homework and study every issue as it arises.

“I like to do that kind of stuff,” she said.

It’s only the second time since the turn of the century that more than five candidates have run in the city’s municipal election.

Seven candidates ran in 2014, but that year included a race for mayor. In 2011, another year with a race for mayor, six people filed, but incumbent Dennis Barbour withdrew his candidacy in the weeks before the election, so only five candidates were on the ballot. Until this year, the most candidates in a race that didn’t include an election for mayor was in 2015, when there were five. Gay and Chrzanowski will be sworn into office at the regular commissioners meeting Friday, Sept. 20. The length of the term is three years.