8- CAPE GAZEqTIE, Friday, August 20 - August 26, 1993
I"
Commentary
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Continued from page 6
that specifically the fire of Assis-
tant Treasurer is not listed in the
City Charter as an office. She is
incorrect in accusing myself and
other members of the City Council
in violating the City Charter. Sec-
tion 8, Subsection (b), Organiza-
tion and Annual meeting of Coun-
cil, states "at this annual meeting
held on the first Regular meeting
following the annual municipal
election, the City Council shall
organize and elect, by ballot, a
Deputy Mayor, who shall hold
office for the term of one year or
until the first Regular meeting
-ffter the next municipal election.
lt shall also choose an Assistant
Secretary (currently Linda Evans)
to serve as aforesaid, who may or
may not be from among its own
members, and such other officers
and employees-as may bedeter-
mined to be necessary." This
wording allows the Mayor and
Council to not seek a Charter
change through State Legislation
if they feel the need to establish a
particular office with the changing
times. Mrs. Sheehan failed to
communicate the entire picture.
Mrs. Sheehan criticized Council
(of which she is a member) for
spending $88,000 on the Roadline
Avenue fix. She did not vote
against this motion. She is a part
of her own criticism. The vote
was, and in the order which it was
called, Ford and Smith in favor,
Pratt against, Sheehan abstains.
Her abstention allowed the motion
to pass. A "nay" vote would have
forced the Mayor to decide the
outcome of a tie. By abstaining,
she essentially voted with the
majority.
Mrs. Sheehan blatantly criti-
cized the City Manager position
for the "extended fringe benefits
with a thirty-hour work week."
The City Manager, in addition to
the "thirty-hour work week,"
spends countless hours preparing
for and attending such meetings as
regular and special meetings of the
Mayor and City Council, Planning
Commission, workshops, assess-
ment hearings, S.C.A.T. Meet-
ings, Delaware League of Local
Governments meetings, as well as
serving on appointed committees.
This was evident by her atten-
dance at the August 9th meeting
during the reading of Mrs. Shee-
han's statement. Many times she
has taken minutes at meetings to
substitute for others, and has not
charged the City for this service.
Mrs. Sheehan is correct that the
City Manager gets 24 days vaca-
tion each year. This is true for any
employee of the City with twenty
years of service. How many vaca-
tion days over the last three years
has the City Manager taken? Six-
teen out of possible seventy two.
When Ms. Bisbee first became
City Manager in 1984, the
Reserve Funds were approximate-
ly $646,000. Today we have $2.8
million. She must have helped do
something right. In May of 1984,
when appointed City Manager,
Elaine Bisbee also was incorrectly
appointed City Treasurer. Upon
realization of this error, a correc-
tion was immediately made on
June 11, 1984 and the City
appointed John Rhodes as City
Treasurer. Mrs. Sheehan was told
this on the day of the University of
Delaware Annexation Election,
April 23, 1993. During my 15
months on Council, Elaine Bisbee
has always provided me with
answers to my questions directly
or in the immediate future, acting
in a professional nmnner. She is a
dedicated, extremely hard work-
ing employee who probably saves
the City the financial equivalent to
her salary each year with the
knowledge and experience she has
acquired. She has constantly
shopped prices to-get the best
insurance and investment rates,
grouped bond coverage to reduce
premiums, guided proper proce-
dural techniques to keep costs
such as required mlvertising and
legal fees down, etc.
Residents of Lewes should be
extremely pleased to have an
entire administrative staff as dedi-
cated and hard woddng as we do,
spearheaded by an outstanding
City Manager. To attempt to pub-
licly humiliate and embarrass this
City offficial was not totally out of
line, but was also diminishing to
Ms. Bisbee's role as a leader in the
eyes of her subordhtmes.
Mrs. Sheehan criticized the
overrides on the lmdgets for the
past four years. The budget is an
estimate, a guideline. How much
money will the City take in from
parking meters aml fines? How
many lots at Cape Shores will
sell? How much overtime will the
police department work? These
are a few of the mny variables.
The budget is an edlncated guess to
provide guidelines to spending.
The Annual Audited Financial
Statement is the real indicator of
the City's financial picture. Mrs.
Sheehan has been told this but
seemingly does not grasp this. In
1988 the City reserves were $2.8
million. In 1992 the City reserves
were $2.8 million. Granted,
monies have been generated dur-
ing the four year period that were
spent instead of invested into City
reserves, but the monies were
spent on Capital lmlm)vements to
benefit the year-rmmd residents
and/or tourist population, which is
so vital to the economy of the
City. There is no doubt that fiscal
spending should be closely moni-
tore& Lewes has a finite amount
of income generated from an
agreement with Ca Shores. This
money should not be squandered,
and maybe the Mayor and Council
should take a hard look at future
expenditures such as street
improvements. Perhaps upon
entering Phase IV of the street
improvements, the Mayor, Coun-
cil and public feel emmgh finances
havebeen spent and it is time to
pause for a review. The City has
maintained a figur© of $2 million
for a bottom line. We currently
stand at $2.8 million. Mrs. Shee-
hart said, "Plans me being drawn
now for an addition to the school,
how much will this cost?" It will
cost the City of Lewes nothing.
In reference to the applause
Mrs. Sheehan received after her
statement, what type of tierson can
applaud a falsified, misrepresent-
ed, rambling statement of accusa-
tions, yet not attend and applaud a
tremendous presentation by Chair-
man Joe Baker at the Workshop
meeting for the report of the sub-
committees on the Long Range
Plan Implementation Committee?
Excluding members of the Coun-
cil, Committee Members and the
Press, there were three people
from the public in attendance.
Where were all the "concerned"
citizens who applauded Mrs.
Sheehan at the August 9th meet-
ing? These people did not attend
and support a meeting that con-
tained a volume of information
aimed at guiding the city in a posi-
tive direction for the future, and
was presented to the public in a
highly professional manner by Mr.
Baker. There are many other falsi-
fications in Mrs. Sheehan's state-
ment, and to analyze each one,
piece by piece, becomes too
lengthy.
The bottom line is this: All
members of the Council and the
Mayor are unpaid volunteers.
With the exception of the Mayor,
we are not in an office at City Hall
during working hours. I have a
finite amount of time to contribute
to my role as a member of the
Council due to commitments to
my family, my job, etc. Because
of misrepresentation and false
accusations towards myself and
the City, I find the majority of my
time allotted to City business
being spent clarifying points of the
past or points of irrelevancy. If the
citizens of Lewes, in particular
Mrs. Sheehan and her supporters,
feel this is in the best interest of
the City, they will continue to feed
the falsified, negative image of
Lewes to the public and the press.
As an elected official, all mem-
bers take an oath and have certain
ethics by which they have to
abide. The out-of-context ribbing
and ridiculing of the City govern-
ment and its employees taints the
image of the volunteers in govern-
ment, the volunteers on commit-
tees, the City employees, and all
the people of Lewes. Certain pro-
tocol, procedures and ethical prac-
tices are mandatory for an elected
City official. Mrs. Sheehan's bla-
tant unannounced attack with her
statement on August 9th violated
these practices. I simply ask Mrs.
Sheehan to use tactics as were
demonstrated August 9th as a
last resort when she has not been
able to communicate her thoughts
and ideas to her peers in a profes-
sional, acceptable manner.
Lewes has many tremendous
attributes that are constantly
shoved to the rear in light of nega-
tivity. The constant pounding of
Lewes and its government could
soon evoke an image of this City
that is detrimental to its character,
its people and its economy. Let us
prove to the public that in the
proper manner, with proper, ethi-
cal procedures, we can move for-
ward into the next century with a
positive outlook and approach to
government and management,
rather than delving into the past to
attempt to reveal some negative,
grave injustice by presenting lim-
ited, edited information.
