Rehoboth Mayor questioned over new City Manager’s salary, qualifications
REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. – As Rehoboth Beach’s newest City Manager prepares to take the job some are calling his hiring into question.
WMDT News sat down with Mayor Stan Mills on Thursday for answers on questions coming from the community.
At the heart of controversy surrounding City Manager Taylour Tedder is his salary. A whopping $250,000 as a base salary with another $750,000 in the form of a forgivable loan to help him buy a new home. That pay far surpasses the average salary of city managers in other nearby, much larger cities such as Baltimore, Philadelphia and even Wilmington.
“What do you have to say to the people of Rehoboth Beach, who elected you, who are vehemently opposed to the high salary that this guy’s gonna be making?,” WMDT News Anchor Rob Petree asked Mayor Mills.
“We’re comfortable with it,” Mayor Mills responded. “What we’ve tried to do is explain the process here that over the past 12 months we have had five sessions in looking for a City Manager.”
Over that course of time, Mayor Mills says several candidates were courted away by other towns. He stands by the hiring of Tedder, saying he’s best fit for the position.
“We decided that we wanted to act quick,” Mayor Mills said emphatically. “That Mr. Tedder had extraordinary qualifications and we wanted to likewise court him and see if we could get him on board and make our package so that it was attractive to be employed in Rehoboth Beach.”
But, it appears those qualifications may not meet the town charter requirements, which states no person shall be appointed to the Office unless they previously served as City Manager in another municipality for at least four years or have four years of practical engineering experience.
Tedder lists less than three years of city manager experience and no engineering degree on his resume.
“How do you justify directly violating your own charter to hire this guy?,” Petree asked Mayor Mills.
Mayor Mills responded, saying: “We don’t believe we’ve violated the charter and our City Solicitor is working on a proper response to that.”
When pressed, Mayor Mills would not comment further on any questions regarding Tedder’s qualifications, saying “I’ve already answered that.”
The $750,000 loan would not have to be paid back if Tedder stays with the city for at least seven years in the terms of the forgivable loan, according to Mayor Mills. The City plans to stand by his hiring – his start date is May 15, 2024.
Tedder’s salary is far more than the past two city managers who made $141,000 and $161,000 a year respectively.
