Camden Town Council to appoint New Mayor, Vice Mayor, as NAACP calls for more diverse leadership

CAMDEN, Del. – Camden’s Town Council says they plan to fill two positions in leadership, as Vice Mayor Micheal Shock announced he would be stepping down.

The move comes after the town’s former Mayor Justin King was ordered to resign as part of a plea deal with the Delaware Department of Justice stemming from a violent incident at a car wash owned by King in February.

With two members of the council expected to move up to fill the positions, two vacancies will be left on the town council.

Fleru McKendell of the Central Delaware NAACP tells 47ABC the situation is a unique opportunity to address what she calls long-standing diversity issues in the town’s government.

“The town of Camden displays an all-white staff as well as an all-white council, there’s no diversity at all,” she said adding “<I would like to see a very fair and transparent interviewer selection process to ensure that they are doing their due diligence to appoint someone, so that seat will really advance and promote the diversity that this growing town needs.”

She tells us she is also demanding an ethics panel be convened over what she believes to be mismanagement of the issues of the former mayor on the town level.

McKendell says she has also submitted FOIA requests to ensure the police body camera footage of the incident and the police report be made public.