Dewey Beach Town Manager Gordon Elliott has been notified that the town will seek candidates for a new town manager. Elliott said Mayor Dell Tush told him Aug. 31. He received a letter from the mayor the next day.
“Town Council has not elected to renew or further extend your employment agreement,” the letter read. “Consequently, your last day of employment with the town will be Dec. 10, 2009.”
Tush said Dewey is obligated to find the best town manager it can afford.
“While I think Gordon has done a very, very good job,” Tush said, “the town should bid the job out and see who else is available.”
She said Elliott was invited to reapply.
“I certainly hope he will bid the job,” she said. Elliott has served as town manager for five years.
Commissioner Marc Appelbaum worked with Elliott on the 2009 budget, and said the town manager deserves much credit for the town’s financial recovery.
“I have worked very closely with Gordon on a number of issues,” Appelbaum said. “On the budget, Gordon has done an absolutely fantastic job. He’s one of the reasons the town is doing so well with staying on target. I absolutely encourage him to reapply.”
Dewey officials say Elliott signed a contract for five years, set to expire Thursday, Sept. 10. Commissioners voted to extend his employment until December in order to conduct a search, which Tush said could take as long as three months.
At a Jan. 17 town council meeting, Elliott said the town charter provides him an indefinite term of employment – had it not, Elliott said, he never would have left his job as Dewey police chief.
Elliott became town manager. She said she isn’t sure his job is secured by charter.
“I just don’t know if he is protected by the ‘indefinite’ clause,” she said.
“Even though I signed his contract, I don’t remember what’s in it and would have to review the document.”
Tush said she hopes Elliott isn’t deterred from reapplying.
“I would hope he would be confident enough in the job he’s done to put in a bid to continue,” she said.
Two commissioners say they were copied on Tush’s letter to Elliott, but they didn’t receive a draft or a copy.
Commissioner Marc Appelbaum said he heard about the letter via rumor.
em>“I would have only assumed that we had all seen a copy of the letter. That’s what any reasonable person would do,” he said.
Commissioner Diane Hanson said she didn’t know a letter had been drafted before it went out.
“It said cc: commissioners, but none of us saw it,” she said. “I would think that if you send a letter out and copy someone, you’d be obligated to let them know.”
Tush was unavailable to comment regarding the letter’s distribution. Elliott declined to comment on his contract.
“My attorney has to get back with me,” he said, adding he wouldn’t announce anything until after the election Saturday, Sept. 19.
By Rob Kunzig