Town Meeting - Saturday January 8, 2011

By David King

The Dewey Beach Town Council held its regular monthly meeting Saturday January 8, 2011. A synopsis follows of some of the discussions that might be of interest to Civic League members.

Voter registration system. Election Committee Chair Beverly Corelle briefed the commissioners on the committee’s plans for a voter registration (the committee’s plan is detailed in a document posted on the town web site under the December 11, 2010 Town Meeting date). The objective is a single, comprehensive computer database of eligible voters. This is a complicated undertaking because the relevant data is located in a “hodgepodge” of incomplete documents – some of the data are in potentially incompatible electronic files, while other data is only available in paper format, and may only list one of many eligible voters at any one property address. Beverly said the committee estimated the costs associated with meeting this objective – including new/updated hardware and software – might run between $10K and $35K, and wanted to confirm as soon as possible that these monies would be included in the FY12 budget now under development. The commissioners wanted a better estimate of costs and Rich Hanewinckel, an IT professional experienced with setting up IT systems, volunteered to review the available databases and provide additional input at the next Election Committee meeting.

Additional support from IT professionals to define the scope of the problem and implement a solution would be welcome. You can contact Beverly Corelle or the Town Manager Diana Smith (dsmith@townofdeweybeach.com).

Workshop dates regarding Dewey Beach Enterprises litigation. A final set of dates for three workshops and final public hearing/special called meeting were established. They are:

· Saturday January 15, 2011 at 2:00 pm – 1^st public workshop

· Thursday January 27, 2011 at 6:00 pm – 2^nd public workshop

· Saturday February 5, 2011 at 10:00 am – 3^rd public workshop

· Saturday February 26, 2011 tbd – additional public workshop if necessary due to cancellation of any of the prior workshops, Public Hearing, and Special Called Meeting

All sessions will be held at the Dewey Beach Lions Club, 115 McKinley St. Public comment will be taken at the workshops, but will not be a part of the official record. If you have questions or would like to make a comment for the record, please send via email to workshop@deweytown.us or via fax or mail to the Town Manager at Town Hall. Answers to frequently asked questions will be posted on the town web site.

Additional revenue sources and funding for the Bayard Ave. project. Town Manager Diana Smith briefed the commissioners on areas she and Finance Director Bill Brown are looking at for new/augmented revenue to support town operations. Ideas mentioned included implementing a business license requirement for paid entertainers (“just like required for roofers”), extending the accommodations tax to apply to hotel/motel accommodations, a cost-of-living adjustment to business license fees, fees for excessive police service calls (i.e., repeated false alarms or rowdy house complaints), re-instatement of the penalty for failure to purchase a business license, increase in fees for public hearings to cover actual costs of such hearings, and seeking of donations to fund life guard programming. While some of these steps can be implemented immediately, an Ad Hoc Committee on Long-Term Revenue/Expense was formed to research options and perform cost/benefit analyses This ad hoc committee will be chaired by Rick Solloway and has scheduled meetings for 1:00 to 3:00 pm at the Dewey Beach Life Saving Station on the following Fridays: January 21 and 28, February 4 and 25, and March 4 and 11. If you have comments or suggestions please come to these meetings or you’re your comments to Rick (Solloway@aol.com) and the Town Manager (dsmith@townofdeweybeach.com). This committee will also review and recommend the best way for repayment of the DNEC loan secured to pay for the work on the Bayard Ave. project.

Police report. The police report noted

1) a string of burglaries in the North end of town in December, similar to what was going on in Rehoboth in November/December. The thieves seemed to be targeting flat-panel TVs and other high-end electronics, especially from houses with “For Rent” signs out front and on-line house tours. Many of these break-ins were discovered by Dewey police while on house watch and regular patrols. You can get on the Winter Watch list by registering on-line or contacting the non-emergency Dewey Beach Police number 302-227-1110;

2) they were inundated with noise and rowdy-house complaints New Years weekend, which kept all the officers busy and wishing there were more (officers); and for some good news

3) during the snow of the last few weeks, the officers patrolled in snow plows and helped residents and visitors get plowed out.

Finance Report. Director of Finance Bill Brown reported a net positive cash flow through the end of November 2010 of $218K, on expenditures of $1,800K. Noting that the $65K realized in Transfer Taxes in December 2010 brought the Q3 Transfer Tax result significantly above the full-year budget amount, Bill commented that a net positive cash flow at the end of the fiscal year was likely – as the result of $90K in cost-cutting measures in Town Hall – provided Q4 legal expenses were not outrageous.

A video recording of the meeting has been posted; it may be viewed by clicking here. It is a big file and will take several minutes to download, even at cable connection speeds.