Cases of homophobic hate crimes have been reported in Rehoboth Beach

After a six-month nationwide search, Rehoboth Beach has a new city manager who is ready to make a “direct, positive impact on the city’s residents, businesses and visitors every day.”

Taylour Tedder, 35, began his term as Rehoboth's city manager on May 15 and sat down with the Washington Blade to talk about his goals in office, some of his concerns and what excites him most about Rehoboth.

“I've been here for a few weeks and they've been great,” Tedder said. “I've met a lot of friendly people.”

Before becoming city manager in Rehoboth, Tedder served as city manager in Boulder City, Nevada, where he implemented strategic planning initiatives, promoted citizen engagement, and was awarded the Government Finance Officers Association's Triple Crown Award.

His first few days have been mostly spent getting acquainted with Rehoboth and figuring out what to do first. “I've spent the first few weeks meeting with key staff and touring the various departments and facilities,” he said. “I'm looking for initial opportunities to improve processes and procedures to ensure we provide the highest possible standard of service to the residents and visitors of Rehoboth Beach.”

Beyond his professional goals, Tedder, who has been married to his wife since 2017 and identifies as heterosexual, sees himself as an ally of the LGBTQ community.

“I definitely consider myself an ally. And I am very, very happy to help wherever I can.”

One way he plans to support Rehoboth's LGBTQ community is by supporting CAMP Rehoboth, whose mission is to “create a more positive environment that is inclusive of all sexual orientations and gender identities in Southern Delaware and beyond.”

“I truly believe that Rehoboth Beach is a very inclusive community and I'm excited to continue to drive that forward,” he said. “I'm really impressed. I didn't know much about CAMP Rehoboth before I came here and it seems like a wonderful organization. I'm really looking forward to meeting all these people and learning about their priorities and vision.”

In addition to supporting the community, Tedder has identified several areas where he would like to change city government to make Rehoboth more efficient and citizen-friendly. Proposed changes include adopting new technology to make doing business with the city easier, diversifying revenue, completing capital improvement projects, and his biggest focus – implementing strategic planning initiatives.

“The city does not have a concrete strategic plan or mission or vision,” Tedder said when discussing his goals. “I want to lead the city through a strategic planning process and create concrete, tangible results that we as staff can implement and achieve so that we achieve the policy goals of the City Commission.”

One of the goals of the city commission is to keep the Clear Space Theater in Rehoboth, although speculation continues about a possible move to neighboring Lewes.

“Keeping it in the city is a top priority,” he said. “I'm sure I'll work on it in the future.”

He also discussed improving infrastructure projects in Rehoboth.

“There are a lot of improvements being made to the wastewater plant. But you know, road maintenance and equipment replacement are definitely top priorities.”

When asked if there were plans to build restrooms at Poodle Beach, the historic gay section of Rehoboth Beach near the southern end of the boardwalk, he said no.

“I don't know of any plans at the south end. We have restrooms, the lifeguard facility is being completely renovated,” Tedder said. “We have portable restroom trailers there, but I'm not sure how close they are.”

In addition to political goals, he also spoke about his salary, which had attracted a lot of attention and criticism in recent weeks.

Some Rehoboth residents were surprised to learn that Tedder would earn more than the governor of Delaware. Tedder receives an annual salary of $250,000, $50,000 for moving expenses and a $750,000 forgiven home loan.

Tedder said his salary was determined by carefully reviewing the city's budget and his qualification level. He also pointed out that there is no deficit in the city's finances and the city “does not run a loss.”

“I really tried not to get distracted by the public reaction online. It was really important to focus on the work and use my skills and experience to effectively serve the community,” Tedder said. “It's a high cost of living area and I really believe I was just the right person in the right place at the right time. What the board was looking for was a perfect fit with my experience and the city matched my professional interests. I'm really, really excited.”

He went on to say that this type of criticism could be faced by any government official, but his experience in budgeting proves that he will “pay off.”

“I really like to look at all of our expenses,” he said. “Sometimes you pay for software you don't need. Sometimes there are ways to negotiate standardized contracts for goods and services that can save us significant money. I've done that in every city I've worked for and have been able to save hundreds of thousands of dollars on contracts alone.”

Tedder told the Blade that he became involved in urban planning after graduating from college.

“I started out as an assistant to a city manager,” he said. “I thought I wanted to go to law school. I talked to different people and was told to look at the Master of Public Administration. I had never really understood anything about city administration, so I looked at this and thought, 'Wow! This is something I would really be interested in.'”

Because of his passion for municipal government, he is excited to begin serving the community of Rehoboth.

“My core philosophy in city government is that we are here to serve everyone equally. I will truly serve the city by fulfilling all of the duties as city manager, and I look forward to improving communication with residents, business owners and visitors.”