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Dewey Elects New Mayor

DEWEY BEACH – In a unanimous decision Saturday, the Town Council elected newcomer Rick Solloway as the next mayor of the resort town.

The previous mayor, Dell Tush, was ousted from the position after receiving the least number of votes among sitting council members during last week’s public elections.

Commissioner Mary Seitz, who chaired the meeting in the absence of Tush, said he was optimistic that the town would solve its legal and financial woes.

“I’m comfortable working with Rick,” he said. “Anything
we vote on will be the direction of the town collectively.”

~ Mary Seitz

Solloway said the council should not compromise with developers who have filed several lawsuits over a recent zoning code that placed a 35-foot height limit on new construction.

“But we should be communicating,” he said.

Commissioner Marc Appelbaum said the council will meet with its attorneys on Oct. 10 to work out new legal strategies.

“We settled one lawsuit last month,” he said. “We would like (developer) Dewey Beach Enterprises to recognize that everyone is getting along and ask them to drop the baseless suits.”

Solloway said his primary goal is to promote good stewardship on the council.

“We’re supposed to be the voice for town property owners,” he said. “We need to be professional and display common courtesy. I don’t know that’s existed in the past.”

Appelbaum said Solloway would have a unifying presence on the council.

“There’s been tension and in-fighting on the council the last few years,” he said. “This gives us a fresh start.”

Commissioner Diane Hanson, who was approved by the council as town secretary for a second term, said having a new face in Dewey Beach politics would benefit the town.

For her, the coming year means pushing for the approval of House Bill 50, which enforces the town’s height limit, as well as improving town hall efficiency, finding a new town manager and reviewing election procedures.

“There were situations where people weren’t allowed to vote initially,” she said, because of misplaced paperwork.

Resident David King said the 10-minute meeting was upbeat.

“It’s a new beginning,” he said. “I hope it will be good for the town.”

The primary concern for resident Rick Judge is the passage of House Bill 50.

“They have their work cut out for them,” he said.

by Wallace McKelvey | Daily Times (Salisbury, Maryland)

Dewey Beach Elects New Faces To Town Council

Current Mayor Dell Tush Ousted

DEWEY BEACH – Change is coming to Dewey Beach. The town’s residents voted, and their voices were heard loud and clear.

Newcomers James “Zeke” Przygocki and Rick Solloway will join incumbent Diane Hanson on the Town Council for the next two years following the results of Saturday’s election.

Solloway received the most votes of all candidates, with 479. There was a tight race for the final two spots on council. Hanson and Przygocki earned seats with 399 and 395 votes, respectively, while incumbent Rich Hanewinckel missed out by six votes, with 389 total

The town will also have a new mayor in coming weeks, as current Mayor Dell Tush was ousted from the council. She received the least amount of votes of all candidates, with 290.

“Everyone keeps saying, ‘I should’ve done this, I should’ve tried that, I’m too old …,’ ” Przygocki said. “I do have the time and the effort to give back (to the town). That’s what I hope to do.”

Among his chief concerns upon taking his seat on council will be to ensure the budget stays under control and to improve communication at town meetings.

“(I want) civility among people,” he said. “Let’s talk to each other like humans and not talk to each other like adversaries every time.”

Longtime Dewey Beach resident Rick Judge was a supporter of Hanson and Hanewinckel. In his nearly six decades of living in the town, he said the last few have been exactly what the town needed.

He will, however, have to deal with the fact that he will only see one of his two candidates on council.

He had hoped that both commissioners would be able to stick around to see out the important issues facing the town.

“They’ve done such a great job,” he said. “They’ve accomplished more in the last two years than any commissioners I’ve ever seen in my 59 years here.”

But new faces will assume the commissioners’ chairs, and Przygocki’s wife, Stephanie, believes her husband will do a good job.

“He’s got open-mindedness and integrity,” she said. “He’s a good listener. He will use the facts to make honest decisions.”

BY NICK ROTH • STAFF WRITER • SEPTEMBER 21, 2009

Dewey Beach Mayor Voted Out Of Office

DEWEY BEACH, Del. (AP) ― Two incumbent Dewey Beach commissioners, including Mayor Dell Tush, have lost their seats.

Newcomer Richard Solloway won a two-year term on the five-member council Saturday, leading all candidates with 479 votes out of 816 cast. Incumbent Diane Hanson received 399 votes and another newcomer, Zeke Przygocki, won a seat on the council with 395 votes.

Incumbent Richard Hanewinckel was defeated by six votes. The remaining two seats were not up for re-election.

Tush, who served four years on the unpaid commission, three as mayor, says she’s delighted to be voted out of office. She says she was pushed to run, but she didn’t campaign because she is tired of the direction the council has taken.

The commission will choose the next mayor at an upcoming reorganization meeting.

Mayor Loses Dewey Beach Commissioner Seat

BY CRIS BARRISH • THE NEWS JOURNAL

Two incumbent Dewey Beach commissioners, including Mayor Dell Tush, lost their seats Saturday night in town elections.

The other losing incumbent, Richard Hanewinckel, was defeated by six votes.

Winning two-year terms on the five-member council are newcomers Richard Solloway, who led the candidates with 479 votes out of 816 cast, and Zeke Przygocki, who had 395 votes. Incumbent Diane Hanson also won, with 399 votes. The remaining two seats — held by Commissioners Marc Appelbaum and Marty Seitz — were not up for re-election.

Among the losing candidates, Hanewinckel had 389 votes, former commissioner Dale Cook had 296 and Tush finished last, with 290.

Tush, who served four years on the unpaid commission, three as mayor, said she was delighted to be voted out of office.

“I couldn’t be happier,” she said after the votes were tabulated. “I was pushed into [running again] by a lot of citizens who just felt I needed to do it. But I told them all two or three weeks ago, ‘I hope I don’t win.’ I didn’t go out and campaign, didn’t go door to door.

“I’m just tired of the direction the council has taken, and I’m tired of the attacks on the employees and the businesses. I just think the town is very fractured, and it will be a relief not to have to deal with all of that.”

Though all the candidates agreed they would defend the town’s 35-foot height limit for buildings against attempts to raise it, town meetings have grown rancorous in recent months.

Earlier this week, Joy Howell, a member of Citizens to Preserve Dewey, said Tush had lost the group’s support because “she fought us” on balancing the budget and on hiring what Howell called a first-rate legal team for the town. The group criticized Tush’s leadership style as uncooperative.

The commission will choose the next mayor at an upcoming reorganization meeting.