News Briefs

Access to Milton Boat Ramp limited June 18, 19

Access to the Milton Boat Ramp and its parking area will be limited Tuesday and Wednes­day, June 18 and 19, to complete a small construction project, De­partment of Natural Resources and Environmental Control’s Division of Fish and Wildlife announced recently. The project is expected to be complete, with full access restored, on Thursday, June 20.

Contractors will be install­ing a pipe outfall for a newly constructed rain garden in the parking lot’s traffic island. The rain garden is designed to elimi­nate ponding water that collected in the lot’s ingress lane.

As an alternative, boaters who regularly use the Milton ramp for access to the Broadkill River are asked to use the Lewes Boat Ramp, located on Pilottown Road in Lewes. For more information, call 302-739-9921

Rehoboth to make candidacies official

The Rehoboth Beach com­missioners will vote on the nominating petitions for com­missioner candidates Stan Mills and Toni Sharp 7 p.m., Friday, June 21, in the city commission­ers’ room.

Approval of nominating peti­tions is the last step before a candidate is officially on the bal­lot. In this case, approval will seal the deal for Mills and Sharp, who are running unopposed, although they will have to wait until Fri­day, Sept. 20, to be sworn in.

Commissioner Patrick Gos­sett will lead discussion on the process for hiring a new city manager, including drafting a timeline and a description of the position. City Manager Greg Fer­rese recently announced he will be stepping down Friday, Dec. 6, after 30 years on the job.

The commissioners will con­sider authorizing a new 10-year lease with the Department of Natural Resources and Environ­mental Control for the 21 acres of land known as Deauville Beach and will also set the real estate tax for the tax year beginning Monday, July 1, and ending June 30, 2014.

Commissioner Stan Mills will lead discussion considering the recommendation of the Commu­nications Committee to extend the online availability of audio recordings of all city meetings to six months.

Milton committee to discuss budget June 19

The Milton Finance Com­mittee will meet at 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, June 19, at the Milton Public Library, where it will dis­cuss the fiscal year 2014 budget process. For more information, call town hall at 302-684-4110.

Milton to discuss sidewalks June 20

The Milton Streets and Side­walks Committee will meet at 6:30 p.m., Thursday, June 20, at the Milton Public Library. The group will discuss the town’s issues with sidewalks as well as problems with several streets throughout town, includ­ing the intersection of Union and Chandler streets. For more information, call town hall at 302-684-4110.

Lewes to discuss police agreement

Lewes Mayor and City Council will meet in a special session at 10 a.m., Friday, June 21. Agenda items include discussion regard­ing ratification of an agreement with Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge No. 2, for the period be­ginning April 1, 2013 and ending March 31, 2016; and discussion on planning, coordination and responsibilities for development of the Schley Avenue property currently called the Blue House property, and the power plant and water treatment plant facil­ity.

Lewes BPW to discuss treatment plant

Lewes Board of Public Works will meet at 7 p.m., Wednesday, June 19 in the board’s second­floor meeting room.

Agenda items include dis­cussion and action on water treatment plant construction progress and integration of Blue Ocean data processing software; discussion of the capacity auc­tion results and reliability pricing model for the Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland interconnection power pool regional transition area; and discussion of the board­accepted 2012-13, PKS Inc. audit report.

For a complete agenda visit City Hall, the Lewes Public Li­brary, or go to www.ci.lewes.de.us.

Cape residents in for school tax savings

Every penny counts. And when it comes to tax bills, even a 3-cent decrease in the tax rate as pro­posed in the Cape Henlopen School District fiscal year 2014 budget makes a difference. The tax rate decrease is the re­sult of a reduction in the tuition, debt service and match taxes, said Oliver Gumbs, director of business operations.

The total budget is $92.4 mil­lion, an increase from the $89.6 million budget last year. Gumbs said the budget increase is a result of including tuition-based programs in the calculations. “The associated revenue for those programs make up for the difference,” he said. Reserve levels are similar to last year, and Gumbs said he paid special attention to the technol­ogy reserve account.

“I want to continue to bolster the technology reserve,” he said. Under the proposed tax rate, a home assessed at $100,000 would see a $30 savings on the annual school tax bill for a total of $2,947. The school board will approve the preliminary budget at a fu­ture meeting.

Woman dies in crash near Milford

A Delaware woman died June 16 after her SUV ran off the road­way and struck a utility pole.

Melissa M. Perez, 39, of Wyo­ming, was driving on Route 36 west of Lighthouse Road at 3:24 p.m. when she ran off the road­way along a curve, said Cpl. John Day of the Delaware State Police. The 2000 Jeep Grand Chero­kee travelled through a soybean field before returning to the roadway and striking a utility pole, Day said.

The SUV overturned fol­lowing the impact; Perez was pronounced dead at the scene, Day said. A passenger, James Perez, 30, of Dover was taken to Milford Memorial Hospital where he was treated for nonlife-threatening injuries. Neither driver or pas­senger were properly restrained, Day said.

The roadway was closed for about three hours during the investigation.