City of Dover search committee found in violation of Freedom of Information Act

By Mike Finney

DOVER — The Delaware attorney general recently ruled that the city of Dover violated the state’s Freedom of Information Act while in the process of selling the old Dover post office building at 445 Bank Lane as surplus property.

Dan Shortridge, a concerned citizen and former journalist, brought the FOIA concerns to the attorney general’s office concerning the actions of a new committee that was formed to review proposals from prospective buyers of the old post office and make a recommendation to City Council.

Dover city manager Dave Hugg formed the search committee, consisting of himself, Mayor Robin Christiansen, assistant city manager Sharon Duca, planning director Mary Ellen Gray and Central Delaware Chamber of Commerce president Dr. Dina Vendetti.

The newly formed review committee met Aug. 29 to evaluate the submitted proposals.

Mr. Shortridge contacted Dover city officials seeking the agendas and minutes of all the meetings of the new committee. A few weeks later, the city denied his request, stating that the requested agenda and minutes were exempt from FOIA under 29 Del. C. § 10002(o)(2).

In a letter addressed to Mr. Shortridge, Deputy Attorney General Dorey L. Cole wrote, “In this case, the City acknowledged that the committee held a meeting on Aug. 29, 2023, and the committee committed a FOIA violation by failing to post an agenda and maintain minutes for the meeting.

“If the City had followed FOIA’s requirements, the City would have had records to produce in response to your request. Thus, we affirm that the City violated FOIA by failing to prepare an agenda and minutes as required.”

The letter continued, “To remediate this violation, we recommend that the City’s committee prepare minutes for its Aug. 29, 2023, meeting in accordance with the FOIA statute, without disclosing nonpublic information and make these minutes available to you no later than fifteen business days from the date of this Opinion (Dec. 13).”

Nicholas H. Rodriguez, city solicitor for Dover, wrote a response to Tammy L. LeCates, FOIA coordinator for the Department of Justice, on Dec. 5, explaining the city’s actions.

“There were 14 proposals to the City of Dover for the old post office. These proposals included business plans, engineering diagrams, rate schedules, and other information,

“These proposals and the information contained therein would have been invaluable for someone seeking to undercut the competition, and if disclosed, would impair the City’s ability to obtain necessary information from the proposing entities, and from other organizations in the future on other projects.”

In response to Mr. Shortridge’s first petition, the city’s counsel noted that it sent some agendas and minutes of the July to October 2023 meetings of the City Council and its Council Committee of the Whole.

The city also enclosed an affidavit from Mr. Hugg, who attested that the committee met once on Aug. 29, 2023, but because of the confidential nature of the topic discussed, no agenda or minutes were kept for the meeting.

Mr. Shortridge also filed a second petition, alleging that the city also committed a violation of the open meeting requirements of FOIA, as this committee was a public body and was required to prepare an agenda and minutes for its Aug. 29 meeting.

In its response to the second petition, the city replied through its counsel, acknowledging that “a FOIA violation did in fact occur when the small committee failed to keep an agenda and or minutes.”

New tenant chosen for old post office

At the recommendation of the review committee, Dover City Council approved the sale of the former Dover post office on Oct. 9 to LGPI VA, LLC, and approved Mr. Hugg to move forward on negotiating with the company, which was one of the three short listed for the purchase of the city-owned property for a development project.

A total of 14 proposals were received and the review committee was designated to review the proposals and evaluate the predetermined criteria which had been provided to all applicants.

Each applicant was given the opportunity to submit a brief narrative expressing their interest and what their vision was for the property.

The committee met and narrowed it down to three submissions for follow-up talks. After meeting in person with the three groups on Sept. 3, the committee selected one proposal for council action.

“I have now received approval from the City Council to move forward with negotiations with LGPI VA, LLC,” Mr. Hugg said, following the decision. “This is an exciting project that will bring people to live, shop and work downtown. When we looked at the 14 proposals and compared them against the criteria, this project checked a majority of the boxes.

“This project not only puts more people living downtown, it brings more businesses and it will be added to our tax roll. With almost 50% of our properties having tax exempt status this is another bonus.”

The project instantly became one of the first major parts of Dover’s downtown revitalization plan.

“Our locally owned development group is excited that the city of Dover has chosen us as the preferred developer for the old post office site,” said Thomas Kramedas, president of Axia Management. “The opportunity to be one of the first projects in the city of Dover’s Mosaic plan is an honor.

“Our submitted plan calls for an adaptive reuse of the old post office that satisfies aspects of the Mosaic plan while integrating best-in-class urban planning principles.”

Mr. Kramedas continued, “The plan includes 30-plus apartments, along with workspace environments and eateries that will offer social gathering spaces and serve to energize downtown with outdoor seating.”