Dover is on its way to oust its City Manager Dave Hugg. In our partnership with Spotlight Delaware Delmarva Public Media's Don Rush talks with reporter Maggie Reynolds about the issues involved in his expected departure. The full interview can be heard on this Friday's Delmarva Today at noon on WSDL and WESM.
RUSH: The City of Dover is embroiled in another controversy this time over the fate of the city manager Dave Hugg. This is Don Rush. He has been put on paid leave and a key issue has arisen over the People's Church homeless shelter. In our partnership with Spotlight Delaware, we talked with reporter Maggie Reynolds about the latest developments in this excerpt from this week's Delmarva Today.
REYNOLDS: I got a tip that Hugg had been placed on administrative leave and I had seen at a couple of city council meetings and council committee of the whole meetings that Hugg wasn't present and that the assistant city manager had taken his place as the acting city manager. And so that was kind of all that was public at the time that I knew about this. But I've spoken with a number of members of counsel who told me anonymously or on background that he was placed on administrative leave and that they're looking to get his employment terminated because of some disagreements between counsel and Hugg's approach.
RUSH: So what's been the issue then?
REYNOLDS: So the main thing that people pointed to was a really recent example, and that was over this homeless shelter in Dover called the People's Church. And so there's been some friction over the People's Church and the City Council voted not to fund the People's Church for about $50,000 because they feel like the church is attracting homelessness and other illicit activities to that area of downtown. And so the disagreement between council and Hugg over this came up because apparently Hugg got a number of letters complaining about the church and even a threat of a lawsuit a couple of months previously. And he did not tell members of council about these things that he had received. So they felt like they were in the dark about this situation and weren't properly being communicated with. And the people I talked to said that this was kind of an example of a broader pattern where they feel blindsided by things going on in the city that Hugg doesn't loop them in on.
RUSH: So when do we expect this issue to be resolved and are we expecting to hear some of the specifics as to what problem they had with Hugg that will then come out in the public?
REYNOLDS: So the city charter states that if the city manager is to be removed from their position, a public hearing needs to take place. And after that public hearing, counsel needs to vote whether or not to remove the person, and they need to state their reasons why they're voting to remove them. So all of those steps need to happen for Hugg. That's my impression of why they put him on administrative leave to start because that public hearing hasn't taken place. And so sources told me that it looks right now like they are going to have a public hearing because it doesn't seem like a settlement is going to be reached between Hugg's attorney and the city, but nobody's super sure what the logistics are of the public hearing or even if it would be scheduled during a regular counsel meeting or if it would be its own separate hearing. So I think that's something we can expect to see in the next couple of weeks.
RUSH: Some of the other councils that I've watched, these personnel issues have generally been not stated out because they are personnel issues.
REYNOLDS: I think that's what some people on council really would like to avoid because it would get quite messy airing out some of the different dynamics between people in the city government. But if it goes to a public hearing, that would be aired out. And I mean, that was a little bit of the debate as well over the executive session where council voted to put him on administrative leave after they came out of executive session. They were very vague in what they were voting on. They said, we're voting to move forward with the city solicitor's recommendation on personnel issues. So I didn't tell the public at all who they were voting on or what the subject was at all. I guess you can see there that the city doesn't want people to know that much about the personnel issue with Hugg... and it would become very public with a public hearing.
RUSH: Spotlight Delaware reporter Maggie Reynolds on the efforts to remove Dover City Manager Dave Hugg. The full interview can be heard on this Friday's Delmarva Today at noon on WSDL and WESM, this is Don Rush for Delmarva Public Media.
