Accountability * Open Government *
Respect for the People of Dewey Beach
About Me, My Service to
Dewey and Business Experience
I’m Dave Davis and I am running for commissioner in Dewey
Beach in the September 20th election because contrary to what some would have
you believe, things aren’t hunky dory here.
There are real issues that need fixing, particularly in the lack of
transparency and openness at Town Hall, the failure to implement an equitable
business tax and the increasing threats to public safety that also affect the our
image and property values.
My wife Trish and I have owned our cottage on Swedes St.
since 2007 and I’ve been volunteering on town committees and community events
continually since then. I was a member
of both the IT Committee and the Policy Committee and have been a member of two
Town Manager Search Committees. I
recently completed two years on the Budget & Finance Committee. I am a
strong advocate for businesses paying their fair share of town costs and was a
proponent of the 2013 Gross Receipts Tax (GRT) proposal, which the Town Council
failed to pass or even put to a referendum to give you a voice in the matter.
I've also been a member and now serve on the board of the Dewey Beach Civic
League. I’ve led the effort to introduce a new and
more relevant website for the organization, which includes an Event Calendar
listing many of the goings-on in Dewey, from town government to social
events. Trish and I have been active in the town beautification which the
Civic League sponsors. I am a member of Citizens to Preserve Dewey Steering
Committee and have always been a strong supporter of the 35-foot height limit.
As to my career, I am the CEO of Otovation, a medical device company I founded
in 2004. Over my 30+ year career, I have
founded and built several successful businesses in healthcare and have a strong
background in management. I received a bachelor's
degree in Business Administration from Ursinus College and am working on a master's
degree in psychology at Harvard.
Why I Am Running and My
Views and Focus During the Next Two Years
Trish and I spend a good deal of
our time in Dewey. We love and care about the town and its future. But I
believe that there are some fundamental problems in Dewey right now and that
the majority of Town Council members have not sufficiently addressed and have
not represented property owners’ concerns about them. Here are the key issues I plan to address if
I’m fortunate enough to be elected by you as Commissioner:
- Operational
Irregularities: arbitrary law
enforcement, financial misreporting and unenforced
mandated policies
Decisions and actions taken in areas like code enforcement are costing the town and the property owners tens of thousands of dollars, risking lawsuits, and are a drain on town resources. There is no rational reason for many of these actions. Zoning code enforcement seems to be arbitrary and the application of laws, policies and procedures is inconsistent or ignored. In addition, the most recent annual financial audit revealed irregularities in accounting practices and financial misreporting of $190,000 in legal fees. The Town Council must take immediate and decisive measures to ensure that the Town Manager is accountable to you and that he is correctly, completely and openly reporting all town business and making the information available in a timely manner to all commissioners and to the public.
- A Fair
Share initiative is needed and the current council is losing ground on this
issue
The Council needs to require the business community and big bars in particular, to pay a fair share of the town’s expenses. As a member of the Budget & Finance Committee, I strongly supported the Gross Receipts Tax (GRT) initiative that we recommended to the Council last summer. The Council chose not to enact the tax, with Commissioner Gary Mauler moving to prevent even putting the issue to referendum so that property owners could voice their opinion on this issue.
Thus, no action was taken except to agree that the Dewey Business Partnership (DBP) should work with the Town Manager to come up with a solution that both the town and the businesses could accept. DBP put forward an offer last spring that was inadequate to the point of being insulting, and later House Speaker Pete Schwartzkopf secured enactment of House Bill 333 which removed Dewey’s authority to tax without the express approval of the legislature. While the Town Council appropriated funds to hire a lobbyist to fight the bill -- as it promised property owners it would -- it appears no lobbyist was hired. The Council is now back at square one in getting the business community to pay its fair share and it will be even more difficult to achieve balance now thanks to the new law.
To illustrate the imbalance, the property owners who rent their properties will provide the town with approximately $515,000 in revenue this year from rental licenses and the 3% accommodations tax. This accounts for almost 19% of the total budgeted revenue of $2.7 million. All other businesses in town will pay a total of between $55,000 and $60,000 in license fees and pay no meaningful tax. And yet they require hundreds of thousands of dollars in services from the town, including much of the $1,200,000 in police costs.
One of the first things I will do if elected is work with Council to schedule and hold a special referendum on this issue to make sure that you, the property owners of Dewey have the chance to voice your opinion on this matter.
- Public
Safety Problems and Public Image: effect
on quality of life and property values
Most everyone likes to have a good time, and Dewey is certainly known as a party town. But things have gone too far and need to be reined in to ensure that you have the quiet enjoyment of your property and that public safety is adequately addressed. Does Dewey have an image problem? You bet we do. A young lady and her friends brought a giant phallic balloon on to the beach a couple of weeks ago. She appeared on the Conan O’Brien show a few days later and talked about the incident, characterizing Dewey Beach as a place where “anything goes.” What’s being done to change this image? Not much.
Mayor Hanson has been saying what a family friendly place Dewey is. We do attract families and have beach movies and bonfires but town officials are not doing enough to curb the rude and unruly behavior that is offensive to families, especially those with children. Do you think that the people who live and rent along McKinley Street bayside think Dewey is family friendly at 1:00 a.m. on Tuesday nights when hundreds and hundreds of partiers come pouring out of North Beach? I attended a meeting in June where Police Chief Mackert pleaded with Council to help him address this saying he feared for the safety of his officers and the public. Recently, when the North Beach exodus occurred there were mounted state police to help manage the crowd. This is not a solution. Nor is the drunk and disorderly behavior that happens most every weekend in Dewey acceptable – and we shouldn’t stand for it. Council needs to do better and implement controls to address this problem.
At the Civic League-sponsored Candidates Forum on August 23 at the Lions Club, Commissioner Gary Mauler and I answered questions posed by the Civic League and attendees. Commissioner Courtney Riordan could not attend. When asked if Dewey was safe, I gave examples of why I believe much more needs to be done to improve Dewey’s safety and reduce crime and drunk and disorderly behavior. I spoke about a young woman who was assaulted on Coastal Highway near Collins Street on July 20 at about 1:45 a.m. Two men approached her from behind, pulled her dress off and pushed her to the ground. One of the two men made a video of the incident.
When Commissioner Mauler answered, he said this young woman’s assault was probably “more of a prank, rather than a criminal activity.” I was surprised to hear a sitting Commissioner call the assault of a young woman on Dewey’s main street “a prank.” He then said it was not acceptable but that it wasn’t a rape or a robbery, as if that made it okay. I spoke with Chief Mackert about the situation and he takes this very seriously, and is using all the resources he has to solve this crime and arrest these two men. This was not a prank; it was a criminal assault on this young woman.
We should also care about the town’s image because it is a major contributing factor to the depressed property values in Dewey Beach. There are beachfront townhouses and condos for sale for between $500,000 and $600,000 that have not sold in months and sometimes years. Why are Dewey property values so much lower than our neighbor Rehoboth’s? I think a lot has to do with Dewey’s reputation and image problem.
- The current
lack of openness and transparency in town government is unacceptable
FOIA requests for information seem to be at an all-time high, and this is a clear indicator of a lack of transparency and public distrust. Requests for information from the public and even from commissioners are often not addressed by the Town Manager in a timely and complete manner. Meeting minutes are inadequate, not consistently posted to the town website and agenda items are not clearly articulated. This was especially true during the first phase of the Ruddertowne Development Project where the public’s insistence on complete transparency was largely ignored by town officials and it continues today.
The current level of transparency by town officials is unacceptable, and it prevents you as the property owners in Dewey Beach from being adequately informed and able to participate in decisions that greatly impact the future of the town. If elected, I promise to work with council members and Town Hall and do a much better job in providing you, the property owners the information and openness you’re entitled to.
Why Support Me?
The majority on the current council has not done what’s necessary to address these problems, and others. I ask for your support in the September 20th election, in order to ensure that your voice is heard and your interests are fairly and consistently represented.
John Lennon once said “Being honest might not get you a lot of friends, but it will always get you the right ones.” If you’ll support and vote for me, I promise to speak the truth and work to make Dewey a better place for all of us to live and play.
Pick up the phone or email me and give me your thoughts and ideas on how I can work for you to make Dewey Beach the best it can be. I can be reached by phone at (610) 613-5600, or email me at dave@dave4dewey.org. Please also visit
www.dave4dewey.org (though of course you're already here) to learn more about my background and views on key issues throughout the campaign.
Enjoy the rest of this beautiful summer weather!
Sincerely,
Dave Davis
