Acting on recommendations from the 2006-2007 town planning commission, Bethany Beach town council members at their Nov. 16 regular meeting voted to make a series of changes to how the commission operates.
The most significant of those changes was the move from a voting makeup of four citizen members and a town council liaison, plus the town building inspector as a non-voting advisor, to a commission with five citizen members voting and the building inspector and council liaison having only an advisory role.
The shift to that “ex officio,” non-voting council liaison position came on a narrow vote last Friday, with Mayor Carol Olmstead and Council Members Tracy Mulligan, Joseph Healy and Steve Wode in favor and Vice-Mayor Tony McClenny and Council Members Bob Parsons and Jerry Dorfman opposed. The 4-3 vote was enough, though, to make the change.
McClenny, who is the council’s current liaison to the planning commission, said he opposed the change to an ex officio role and proposed that particular aspect of the commission’s recommendations be shelved by the council.
Parsons asked for input from Town Solicitor Terence Jaywork on the issue, questioning whether there were any problems with conflict of interest that would be posed by having a town council member serving on the planning commission in a voting role – particularly should a planning decision be appealed.
“Yes,” Jaywork replied. “For instance, on a subdivision appeal, an appeal from the planning commission would go to the town council. If a town council member sitting on the commission had voted in that case, they would be disqualified from voting in the appeal.”
Jaywork said that could lead to a six-member council stuck with a 3-3 tie vote in the appeal hearing, and a failed appeal. While he said that possible problem was something the council could choose to allow to persist, Jaywork noted that the potential conflict had been exactly the reason that he believed the changes were being proposed.
Commissioners have also cited the possibility of a commission position being undermined by having their council liaison speak in opposition to the planners’ position in later council consideration of planning recommendations in which that council member has already voted. McClenny has said he doesn’t consider that a problem, though.
Separation of the two powers was also referenced by council members on Nov. 16, with Healy citing a benefit if the commission is kept somewhat separate from the council.
Dorfman responded that council members generally sit on the town’s committees, stating that he didn’t see how that was different or why it should be a problem.
“Standing committees are different from the planning commission,” Mulligan replied, pointing out that the commission is required by state law, whereas the committees exist to serve the needs of the council. “I see it as an attempt to have a set of checks and balances,” he added, citing commissions’ special rights under Delaware law, such as the right to investigate. “There’s an independence there,” he emphasized.
Mulligan also referenced the unanimous recommendation of the previous planning commission for the idea, including that of former council member and liaison Lew Killmer, who continues to endorse the idea after having dealt with some of the very issues that sparked it.
Mulligan also noted the fact that Killmer’s research into the matter had revealed the town was the only one of 16 Delaware municipalities with their codes available online that allows for a council member to vote as a member of a planning commission.
The argument was enough for four of the council to vote in favor of the change, which effectively adds a fifth citizen to the commission and shifts McClenny from a voting commissioner to a non-voting role, effective immediately.
Commissioners to have three-year terms
Council member were more of one mind on the other recommendations made by the commission, making a few minor adjustments but otherwise voting unanimously to adopt the changes.
The most significant of the other changes is a change in the term length for the commissioners, from a two-year term to a three-year one. Commissioners had cited a need for greater expertise and continuity on the commission in recommending that change.
McClenny proposed, however, that the change be delayed until October of 2008, when two existing commissioners’ terms will be expiring and when council elections for 2008 will have been completed. Council members could then automatically create a new, staggered system of three-year terms by making three-year appointments for the commissioners named at that time.
The two other commissioner seats would have three-year terms starting in 2009, while the additional citizen commissioner added through the previous vote on Nov. 16 would be appointed in the coming months to a full three-year term, eligible for reappointment in 2010.