REHOBOTH BEACH, DE - The Delaware Court of Chancery has ruled that a lawsuit against Rehoboth Beach over the hiring of City Manager Taylour Tedder will move forward, though some counts have been dismissed.
The lawsuit, initially brought forward against Rehoboth by two residents last summer, argued Tedder’s hiring violated the city charter as well as Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) laws. Defendants, including Mayor Stanley Mills and Tedder, moved to have the suit dismissed.
In a ruling filed Wednesday, May 28, Court of Chancery Vice Chancellor Bonnie W. David acknowledges that the plaintiffs are not challenging Tedder’s compensation package in the lawsuit. The only two issues the Court is focused on is whether the City violated its charter in hiring Tedder and whether they violated FOIA.
Plaintiffs argue that Tedder did not meet the required qualifications for the position of City Manager as stated in the Charter’s Section17(b) and therefore his salary is an illegal use of municipal taxpayer funds.
“The parties agree that Section 17(b) sets qualifications for the City Manager,” David writes. “He or she must (1) have a college degree in engineering, (2) have served as a city manager for at least four years, or (3) have at least four years of practical engineering experience. The parties disagree, however, on how to interpret the clause emphasized above: “provided, however, that nothing contained herein shall prohibit the Commissioners of Rehoboth Beach from imposing such other qualifications as may be deemed necessary . . . .”
Ultimately, David argues this language is too ambiguous for the case to be dismissed and requires the Court to further consider any possible violations of the charter.
The lawsuit’s FOIA allegations, however, did not hold up under David’s legal review. Plaintiffs, the Vice Chancellor argues, did not bring their FOIA complaints against Rehoboth in a timely manner and did not provide a legitimate complaint of FOIA violations at a specific meeting on July 8, 2024. David therefore dismisses the FOIA complaints.
“For the reasons explained above, the Motion to Dismiss is denied in part and granted in part,” David writes. “The Complaint states a claim for violation of the Charter. It does not state a claim for violation of FOIA.”
The Vice Chancellor concludes by directing the involved parties to come up with a proposed case schedule for the suit to continue, now focused only on the alleged charter violations.