Former Dewey mayor joins complaints against embattled town manager
Additional complaints have surfaced against embattled Dewey Beach Town Manager Marc Appelbaum that corroborate previous grievances and allege fresh ones.
The two letters are from Richard Solloway, former mayor and former commissioner of the town, and Robert Belmonte, a vacation homeowner in the town. Both letters are dated July 5 and addressed to Dewey Beach Mayor Dale Cooke and the town commissioners.
This brings the total of complainants against Appelbaum to 17. Among the noteworthy complainants are career employees including several members of the Dewey Police Department (Police Chief Sam Mackert among them), as well as Beach Patrol Capt. Todd Frichtman. Complaints run the gamut from unprofessionalism to sexual harassment to racism.
Calls made to Appelbaum’s office requesting his comments on the matter were not returned Friday.
BACKGROUND: Complaints of sexual misconduct filed against Dewey town manager
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The town attorney was given the go-ahead to hire a separate law firm to perform an outside investigation, according to Dewey Beach Mayor Dale Cooke. The move was authorized by the town commission.
Max Walton with Connolly Gallagher LLP in Newark, Delaware, will conduct the investigation, Cooke said, while Appelbaum continues to work as town manager. Cooke said the Dewey Beach commission, as an appellate body for town employees, has been advised to "not get too involved in the process."
"We’ve been told by the town attorney to be careful about how involved we get, to avoid the impression of taking sides," he said.
In his letter, Solloway alleges that Appelbaum exhibited a pattern of behavior that created a toxic environment.
During Appelbaum’s time on the Town Council, “he would routinely discuss rape and sodomy by analogy in formal town meetings,” and would use foul language, Solloway wrote.
He also alleges that Appelbaum would put pressure on employees to quit or be terminated.
In the case of Gordon Ellion, the former town manager, Appelbaum would routinely take “meetings with the town solicitor to parse language in the town manager’s contract and in the Dewey Beach Charter to find ways to have him removed,” Solloway alleges.
Solloway also said Appelbaum commented to him on several occasions about town building inspector, William Mears. Solloway says Appelbaum said: “I know we don’t have anything on him, but let’s get him out,” and “let’s find something negative to put in his personnel file to start and build the case to get him out.”
Mears is among the 12 original complaintants in the June 14 letter addressed to the mayor and commissioners. The letter alleged that Appelbaum would improperly interfere with the Office of the Building Inspector.
In the second July 5 letter, Robert Belmonte writes that his experience is consistent with previous reports about Appelbaum. Belmonte wrote that he has owned a vacation home in the town’s Sea Strand community for 13 years.
He alleges that Appelbaum would treat town hall employees “as if they were at his beck and call,” frequently yelling and keeping a club next to his desk which “seemed to give off the impression that his management style was one of being a bully.”
As with all previous complainants, Belmonte and Solloway affirmed that they were prepared to testify under oath concerning the issues raised in their letters.