DOWNTOWN DOVER PARTNERSHIP
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
SPECIAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING
Thursday, January 7, 2010 – 8:00 AM
Greater Dover Foundation Community Building
MINUTES
ATTENDANCE: Ann Marie Townshend, Mayor Carleton Carey, Cindy Small, Gary Patterson, Gerri
Street, Joe McDaniel, Stanford Smith, Tom Smith, Tony DePrima
STAFF:
William Neaton, Ed Perez, Capt. Steve Getek, Lt. Dan McKeown, Beverly Jackson
GUESTS:
David Bonar, Susie Staley, Eric Wikes
PRESS:
Doug Denison, James Merriweather
The meeting was called to order by President Patterson. He extended the Partnership’s congratulations
to Captain Steve Getek on his promotion. He then stated that the Agenda would focus on safety and
security issues in the downtown as a follow-up to the discussions at the December Board Meeting and
the letter presented to the Board by Mr. Wikes.
Mr. Patterson then asked Mayor Carey to explain why the Board was being asked to approve the use of
sole source purchasing for the downtown security cameras. Mayor Carey stated that the City has been
working with Advantech on the camera project and they are the vendor who provides the cameras used
by the police department and in City Hall and other city-owned properties. He noted that Polytech had
recently awarded a bid to Advantech and the City was able to piggy-back on that bid. While the board
approved the use of DDP funds to purchase cameras at its meeting in May of 2009, in compliance with
City and State purchasing guidelines, it was necessary to get the board’s approval to spend the funds on
a sole source contract. Mr. DePrima noted that City Council approves expenditures over $25,000 on
sole source contracts and because the camera project is $68,519 it is appropriate to have the board
approve the expense.
Mr. Patterson asked Ms. Simmons to make the motion for approval of the contract.
Ms. Simmons moved and Mr. McDaniel seconded the motion to:
Waive the normal purchasing procedure of the Downtown Dover Partnership and approve the
use of a sole source contract for the purchase of security cameras from Advantech for installation in
the downtown business district.
Ms. Townshend asked if it was appropriate to vote on the contract since it was not a full board meeting.
It was noted that the number of members present constituted a quorum.
The motion passed unanimously.
Mr. Patterson asked Ms. Townshend to share her suggestions for addressing the concerns expressed by
business owners at the December board meeting regarding late night incidents. Ms. Townshend stated
that she’d met with Captains Bernat and Getek and Sgt Rachko to discuss several ideas. One concept
discussed which might be controversial is to set business hours in the C-2 zone so that businesses that
service walk-in customers would not operate between 1 AM and 5 AM. This could be done as a zoning
ordinance and the idea is being floated to get a sense of how people feel. Ms. Simmons asked if this has
been done in other areas and Ms. Townshend responded that she had not yet checked with any other
communities about how they handle this issue. Mr. Patterson stated that the City of Wilmington has
passed a selective closing ordinance to address issues with some neighborhood groceries.
A second option is to require an additional license for any business operating as a nightclub. Currently
Dover charges $121/year for a license to operate an eating establishment. The fee for a nightclub
license could be set at $300 in addition to the license required for the restaurant. Once something is
licensed, you can revoke the business license for certain violations.
Mr. Tom Smith noted that there are other tools, specifically the ABC regulations. Captain Getek
responded that the ABC has enforcement issues. However, a third option that has been considered is to
take the ABC regulations and write them into the Dover Code. This would allow the police to go after
the business as well as the customer for certain violations. He noted that Dewey Beach has made some
of these changes.
Mr. Patterson asked Captain Getek to introduce his colleague. Captain Getek introduced Lt. Dan
McKeown to the board. He stated that Lt. McKeown is now in charge of the Special Enforcement Unit
while Capt. Getek has assumed the responsibilities of Capt. Sammons.
Mr. DePrima noted that an ordinance that addresses the hours of operation may have to grandfather in
the existing businesses and that would limit its effectiveness in addressing the current issues. It was
noted that when extra duty officers are in place when the bars and taverns close, there are very few
incidents or incidents can quickly be brought under control. Most often the extra duty officers are not in
place when the incidents happen that escalate and require additional resources to control.
Capt. Getek addressed the staffing issue and stated that they currently operate two 11 officer shifts and
two 10 officer shifts. If on a Friday night they have ten officers and one is on desk duty, one on vacation,
one out sick and one on furlough, they have a six person shift. If they need to send all six officers to
control an incident downtown, the rest of the city is left without coverage. They have had situations
where additional police resources were called in from Smyrna, Camden, Wyoming, Milford, and the
Capital Police. Lt. McKeown noted that these late-night incidents occur at what is already the busiest
time for police.
Ms. Townshend stated that licensing and codifying the ABC regulations is probably the best solution for
addressing the issues.
Mr. DePrima asked if four officers are still assigned to the Quality of Life unit. Lt. McKeown stated that
they are extremely short-handed and are used as needed to back-up the shift. If they are available and
working they will patrol known problem areas. He added that if officers are not available to deal with an
incident quickly it snowballs. However, both Lt. McKeown and Capt. Getek noted that when extra-duty
officers are in place, they are usually able to stop things from getting out of hand just by being in
uniform and visible to the crowd.
Mr. Bonar stated that one of the primary issues appears to be that police don’t have the ability to
enforce ABC regulations against the business. Mrs. Small added that codification of the ABC regulations
and enforcement of “nuisance” regulations should be addressed. Mr. Street stated that multiple issues
require multiple solutions and the “cost of doing business” could be a significantly higher license fee for
businesses that sell alcohol. He noted that as a business man, he could support the cost-sharing
required by such a fee.
Mr. Stanford Smith stated that more police presence is needed whether funded by the individual
establishments or through the city budget. Mrs. Townshend stated that the BID Tax funds the
Partnership staff. Mr. Stanford Smith added that when you talk about increasing security in the
downtown the Partnership should be involved in some way.
Mr. Tom Smith reported that he discussed security issues with some of the merchants. He
acknowledged that the issue is enforcement and how to pay for it. He added that if it doesn’t improve,
there are several businesses that may leave the downtown.
Mr. McDaniel stated that the discussion had skirted around the alcohol issue. The incidents are
triggered by alcohol, the litter is primarily from alcoholic beverage containers, and there should be an
alcohol tax on the restaurants, bars, and liquor stores. Mrs. Townshend stated this might be addressed
through a business license surcharge on establishments that sell alcohol.
Mr. Street proposed that the Partnership create a $25,000 matching fund to cover ten (10) weeks of
extra duty patrols in the downtown area. This figure was based on the assumption of two officers for a
three hour shift, four nights a week for ten weeks. He also stated that the business owners should be
asked to put up $100 each per night to match the Partnership funds. Ms. Townshend asked Mr. Neaton
if the Partnership had those funds available. Due to the lack of a quorum at that point in the meeting,
there was no vote taken on the proposal.
Mrs. Townshend will work with the Police Department to draft an ordinance that codifies the ABC
regulations. She stated that if the Board approves her draft in February, it would go to the appropriate
City Council Committee in late February with a first read in early March and the second read in late
March.
Ms. Small stated that a combination of the ordinance changes and the temporary coverage of extra-duty
costs might provide the needed solution.
Mr. Patterson stated that after further research on the availability of funds, he would, if necessary, call a
special meeting of the board to discuss this proposed use of Partnership funds.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:10 AM.
Respectfully submitted,
Beverly Latimer Jackson
Secretary