Dear Mayor Redefer and Town Manager Koening:
Reports of various matters of concern to Dewey residents has reached me in my capacity as the town's outside watchdog group. I have attempted twice to contact Mr. Koneig, most recently at 3:37 today in person at town hall, but was told he had left for the day. I am preparing a newsletter to go out shortly and wish to give one or both of you the opportunity to respond to the following matters with a confirmation or denial of the truth of the matters as follows:
It is your obligation as town officials, elected and/or paid to answer these questions and should they not receive answers I have detailed the next steps at the bottom of this email letter.
1) ATV. It has been reported to me by a long time Town resident, and confirmed by another that one or two ATVs owned by the Town were recently found, on a weekend, in the sand abandoned and with unspecified damage.
Is this is true or false?
2) its has been reported to me that one of the persons involved in the ATV incident that the driver of one ATV was employed at the time of the incident as a Dewey lifeguard or DBP at the Lutenantant level.
Is this true or false?
3) The relative of a person involved in the ATV incident reported that a lifeguard had been fired and then rehired in the period of a day or days.
Is this is true or false?
4) In my 30 years experience with drug and alcohol testing protocols for the federal government all incidents of the nature of this ATV incident (property damage and accident if not reasonable suspicion) require a drug and alcohol test.
Therefore I ask were any persons involved in the ATV incident tested for drugs and alcohol following the incident, Yes or No?
5) A resident wrote that a bike lane that enters Dewey Beach, and used by many of us, is partially blocked due to a new DelDot "improvement: Upon inspection (on my bike and taking photographs) I found this to be true, with a curb now extending into the bike lane in such a manner to make it impossibly narrow. Its clear, from riding the lane today, that bike travelers and walkers face being shoehorned into traffic, or hitting a 8 inch curb which extends into the majority of the lane. A Commissioner also wrote about this issue in a recent newsletter.
Would the Town Manager and/or Mayor support insisting DelDot modify the bike lane to allow a wider more passable section?
6) Regarding the long awaited police report, a mention was made at the February 2019 Council meeting in a remarks given by one Commissioner, that the Warren contract had been modified to allow for a draft to be provided to some but not all town officials, including the Police Chief himself, and none of the residents. Such edits may be made by the one or both of you and/or the Police chief's direction or by means of a request of the independent Police consultant made by any of you. I am in possession of specific information indicating that Mr. Redefer stated that the Police Chief and the Town Manager would edit the police Report.
Is it a fact that either one of you did say you plan to make changes, and/or allow those changes to be made by the study's author Mr. Warren at your behest? True or False?
Finally, there are no Town Council Minutes posted since March 30. Please provide the reason this has occurred, and when they expect to be posted. Claims of transparency fails with over 60 days of missing or unreported Minutes.
Thank you in advance for your cooperation with this effort of transparency. If such matters are not denied I will move forth with the resident information that I have confirmed by two or more separate information sources.
Should I not receive answers before the Town Council meeting this Friday evening June 13, 2019, most notably on the safety related matters I ask about, I will pursue answers related to either, each or both of your violation of the public trust and your fiduciary duty to the town and its residents to disclose such matters in a timely and honest manner.
Sincerely,
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Jeffrey C. Smith
Dewey Citizens for Accountability