Only 19 Days to Dewey Beach Election Day!

More than 60 people attended Saturday’s candidate forum in Dewey Beach at the Lions Club. Current Dewey Beach Commissioner Gary S. Persinger, on the far right, will be facing newcomers David Moskowitz, center, and William J. Stevens (click on the candidate names for their latest bios). James Petruccelli announced last week that he has decided not to run.

Last year at this time, much of the attention was focused on the embattled town manager. This year the conversation has evolved into the latest hot issue, centering around the audit committee, and the need for better controls that surfaced after the police department’s procurements of surplus military equipment.

Moskowitz said the most important issue arising from the discussion was that Dewey Beach needs to “do a better job of having internal control and the way to do it is to have a strong audit committee. Have them pass a package of rules. But the commissioners approve and the town manager implements and the commissioners can judge the town manager based on how he implemented those rules.”

“By holding our leaders accountable and providing a platform of transparency, a successful commission can continue to move Dewey forward,” says William Stevens. “There were many great topics,” he added, “but at the heart of all of the questions is the need for effective communication, respect, and trust.”

After the forum, Comm. Persinger said “People need to realize that we have had some problems. We are dealing with the problems in Dewey, but we need to move forward and we need to move forward in a positive way. There are some lessons from the past, but we cannot just focus on what has taken place and what the past is. There are some real positive steps I think we can make and we need to make it through the new town manager. We are going to invest him with the authority to do that and we are going to have to rely on him to move us forward.”

Absentee ballots will be accepted starting today, August 27. For election/voting info, see the town’s website.