There is no factual dispute...

  • The Military Surplus Program lists $2.85 Million of equipment as having gone to the Dewey Beach Police Department (DBPD) in the past three years. That $2.85 is the acquisition value established and listed by the federal government, not DCA or any other group.

  • The program participation was first identified by the Walton Report in Sept 2017. "for an unknown period of time, the Dewey Beach Police Department has received, stored and sold federal surplus equipment...These Town assets have not been subject to any town audit, and their location, use or sale of this equipment has not been publicly disclosed to the residents at any time up to and including the present.”

  • The Walton Report when published in September 2017 first brought this program to the attention of residents and some Council members who were not aware of the program since none of it was visible in town for any extended period.

  • Some or all of the equipment is depreciated, some may have been sold, neither residents nor Town Council know why, how much, or where all the proceeds went, and have not received any accounting from the DBPD other than three transactions which do not include full documentation.

  • Dewey Beach is the largest user of the program of any town or city in Delaware based on those same federal sources. There is also no factual dispute that the town which provides Dewey its emergency services, Rehoboth Beach, does not participate at all in the 1033 program, and nearby towns such as Fenwick island and Laurel applied for and received less than 10% of what Dewey has obtained, in Military Surplus equipment.

  • The use by Dewey of the Military Surplus Program is "off the charts" compared to other Delaware towns of similar size, having been #1 in the entire state for 2015 and 2017 (2016 the program was temporarily halted.) There is no known reason for this fact other than it being used for purposes other than those for which it was intended or allowed to be used.

  • No review is ever done by the Federal or State of any bank account or proceeds of the sales of the equipment which Dewey's investigator found was going on to fund unknown uses.”

  • The Dewey Police have not yet accounted for the actual use of the equipment, despite a November 11, 2017 Council Resolution to provide info on all equipment received and its current status and location.

  • The DBPD received 36 vehicles from the Military, and just recently the DBPD moved eight or more of them to a field in Lewes, within the past two months since scrutiny began.

  • Dewey has received five boats and seven outboard engines as listed in federal inventories. National Guard and other agencies provide Dewey assistance in weather and natural disasters, as does Rehoboth (which does not even participate in the Military Surplus Program).

  • According to the Walton Report, and the current Auditor TGM, the police have operated a “off budget” account without oversight (which they call a “slush fund” or “reserve account” used for sales of the property, and which was entirely outside of the town’s accounting system.

  • TGM, the company which audited Dewey Beach last year, did not identify or list the DBPD “slush fund.” That indicates the program was not known widely, if it was not even known to the auditor. And the account has never been audited. Further the Budget committee has found that there are four DBPD “restricted accounts.”

  • On January 13, 2018 Commissioner Paul Bauer made a presentation to town Council defending the Police Participation in the program, and that no alternative presentation or questions were allowed.

  • DCA issued a Report citing facts from the 1033 programs own website, which contradicted Mr. Bauer’s presentation, and on its cover letter DCA invited Mr. Bauer to provide any questions with the facts that we had that were in contrast to his, and he has provided no support for his earlier presentation but it remains as is on the town website.

  • There has been no town audit, just a “Procedures Review” (by accounting firm TGM) of the procedures of the town, but in Phase one did reveal serious improprieties including relating to the lifeguard captain’s (Todd Fritchtman) solicitation for funds falsely claiming a non-profit charity while doing so. TGM recommended that the Council address it immediately, but the Council has ignored the recommendation, and the lifeguard fund continues to solicit monies door to door in Dewey.

  •  The report from the second phase of the “Procedures Review” fails to include 99% of the items received by the Dewey Beach Police Department as listed on Federal Inventories, including funds from their sale.

  • The TGM second phase report fails to account for the rules of the Military Surplus Program, and the State and Federal Laws governing the sale of public property.

  • The TGM second phase report does not meet the objectives of accountability called for by the town, its residents, or the independent Walton report that first identified the need to study the Military Surplus Program.

  • The TGM second phase report was given to the Mayor and Audit Committee Chair to be reviewed before presenting it to the Audit Committee.  There were changes made and no notice was given of what the changes were.

  • Without prior notice or public input, documents appeared on The Town of Dewey Beach website which show signatures of the Police Chief and The Town Manager (but no others) documents dated August 30, 2018. The documents, the 2018 LESO State Plan of Operation amd LESO Compliance Policy and Internal Guidelines  appeared Thursday afternoon Sept 13, (linked here) less than 36 hours in advance of the town council meeting of September 14.

  • AS of September 14, the Dewey Town Commissioners still have not given formal authorization for Dewey to participate in the 1033 Military Surplus program. Since the Applebaum Letter HERE is known by the Mayor and the town Attorney to be false, based on Applebaum’s letter to them and other reasons, then there still needs to be approval for Dewey’s participation in the program.

  • A new LESO Compliance Policy and Internal Guidlines was discussed at the October 21, 2018 Town Commissioners meeting.