Executive Summary New Castle City Charter Proposed Changes

Proposed New Charter of New Castle

More information on proposed City Charter Changes in a Special Edition of the New Castle Crier Newsletter

Charter Change Executive Summary

Proposed New Charter of New Castle Revised 2-17-12

Resolution 2012-3 Charter Changes

Below is a previous article with links at the end detailing the process up until February 10.

The New Castle City Council is considering comprehensive changes to the City Charter. This process started about nine months ago when the City Council appointed a committee of citizens to review the Charter and make recommendations to the Council for revisions. Charter Change Committee members are Committee Chair Dr. Genevieve Miller (former City Council President), John Houben (former Mayor), Josephine Moore, James Vincent and City Solicitor Daniel R. Losco.

Since mid-2011, the Committee met eight times in meetings open to the public which were publicized in advance in accordance with the Freedom Of Information Act. The Committee performed a comprehensive review of the entire Charter.

The City Council met on January 24 with the Charter Change Committee to discuss the proposed revisions. Two additional special City Council Workshop Meetings have been scheduled to continue review of the proposed Charter changes. Those meetings are scheduled for January 31 and February 7. Both meetings are at 6 p.m. at the Town Hall (second floor) in the City Council chambers.

Additionally, a public hearing on the proposed changes is scheduled for Tuesday, February 14 at 6 p.m. at the Town Hall. Further, this item will be on the City Council agenda for their next regular meeting which begins at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, February 14. The public is welcome and encouraged to attend all meetings where the proposed Charter changes will be discussed.

The Council’s goal is to have all the changes agreed upon and approved by Resolution of the City Council no later than the end of February. This will allow the Delaware General Assembly time to consider its adoption in its current session.

In general, a number of changes eliminated items which were in conflict with Federal and/or State laws and also modernized some of the language. The following highlights some specific items proposed to be revised in the Charter:

• Change the current two-year terms of City elected officials, with various alternatives being considered. One alternative would be to change the terms to four years, which would also allow for staggered terms of Council members, providing continuity on the Council after each election. City elections would continue to occur every two years, however only two Council seats would be open each election along with either the seat for the Mayor or Council President (alternating every two years). Another alternative would be to change the terms to three years and have staggered terms, however this would then require a City election to occur every year. Another option would be to change to three year non-staggered terms, with City elections then occurring every three years. Finally, the option remains to not have a change in this section of the Charter, leaving intact the current system of two-year non-staggered terms for all elected officials.
• Change the requirement that for any borrowing proposed by the City, a referendum vote is required. The proposed change recommended by the Charter Change Committee is to have a three-tiered system. Limited short-term borrowing (13 months maximum) could occur, approved by at least a two-thirds vote of the City Council. The second tier would allow long-term borrowing with a limit which is tied to a percentage of the total assessed value of City real property, also requiring approval by at least a two-thirds vote of City Council. The third tier covers borrowing over the limit of the second tier, which would require a referendum vote of New Castle citizens.
• It is recommended that the official name of the City be changed from, “The Mayor and Council of New Castle” to the “City of New Castle”.

Added special thanks to Lt. McLellan, Cpl. Stokes, Cpl. Ewasko and of course all the hard working crew members. It is estimated as many as 75 dump truck loads of material were removed off the beach — much of it wood washed ashore with the tide, and some of it in huge pieces of whole trees and trunks.

And a final thank you on this project goes to Rep. J.J. Johnson, who helped arrange for the City to dispose of all the wood collected free of charge, in cooperation with the Peninsula Compost Group. Plans are to have the crews back in the spring and then periodically in the future.

The committee will begin its work by reviewing a parking plan prepared 10 years ago for the City, and also look at examples of more recent parking plans prepared for other communities, such as Chesapeake City, MD.

A more in-depth plan for New Castle could include looking at an inventory of current parking, the impact and possible locations for additional parking, policy recommendations and the installation of parking meters. Along with the various options to be explored, the committee will be looking at associated costs.

The anticipated time frame for the committee to conduct and complete its work is nine months to one year. All committee meetings will be open to the public and will be publicized in accordance with the State Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA).

The Company, chartered in 1812, had housed its collection of classics and law books in the Academy (built in 1799) across the street. Originally, the Company was private: borrowing privileges were limited to members and, it is believed, students at the Academy. By the late 1860s, the schoolroom was no longer large enough to house the growing number of books.  Still, it was more than 20 years before a new library was constructed.

The subscription-based library was open only intermittently following World War I.  In 1942, the Company rented the building to the recently formed New Castle Library Commission.  State aid was granted, and for the first time the community enjoyed a free library that was open to everyone of school age or older.

The “new” library, at Fifth & Delaware Streets and designed by Albert Kruse, opened in 1965.  The Old Library was used by the sculptor Maurine Ligon as her home and studio from 1965 until her death in 1979.

In 1982, the Trustees of the Common renovated the Old Library, and leased it to the New Castle Historical Society as a meeting place, library, and museum.

Research on the building itself continues.  It is very likely that the building was designed by Philadelphia architect, Frank Furness.  Its style – with its fine proportions, rich and varied brickwork, leaded glass, and woodwork  – is typical of his work. Furness was an architect of many excellent buildings in the Philadelphia / Wilmington area, among them Recitation Hall at the University of Delaware (1891) and the Wilmington Train Station (1905).  The building cost about $5,500 to erect, including plans supplied by Furness, Evans, & Co.

In the early 1980s, a paint analysis was completed on the exterior of the building.  The current exterior colors – brick red, toffee, and apple green – are close to the building’s original colors.  The Victorians were fond of using rich earth colors in surprising combinations that were a backlash against the whites and creams used in the first half of the 19th century.

Last January, the New Castle City Council reviewed a range of proposals for updating the site. These included the possibility of contracting with a private vendor for the work and paying for a prototype City site which had already been developed. Costs for those options were wide-ranging and as much as $20,000.

City Council members selected the Delaware Government Information Center (GIC) to revamp the City’s site. Since this is a department of the State of Delaware, no City tax dollars were expended in development of the updated site.

The GIC has helped a number of Delaware municipalities develop Web sites — either from scratch or with updated designs. The City of New Castle is the largest community (population-wise) to which the GIC has provided these services.

There are a number of advantages the City enjoys having their site with the GIC. For example, Web hosting is provided by the State, so this is a cost savings to the City. The GIC also provides training to City employees, who now have the ability to directly edit the site and upload information. Not only does this add to the cost savings, but may greatly increase the speed at which items of importance can be placed online.

The City wishes to especially thank the GIC team for all their efforts. Kudos also to City staff in Finance and Administration for their efforts, and of course to the Mayor and Council members who supported City personnel working along with GIC to develop a new and improved City Web site.

Note, the updated site has a new address: newcastlecity.delaware.gov. Persons accessing the former address will be automatically redirected. Frequent visitors may want to update their bookmarks or favorites.

• appropriate infrastructure installed to allow vessels like the Kalmar Nyckel to dock, and which could also allow docking for small (non-car carrying) ferries;
• a limited amount of daytime docking to enable boaters to patronize City shops and restaurants and engage in tourist activities;
• development of a permanent place for the Good Will Fire Co. to access their rescue boat.

It was noted that much of New Castle’s long-history, spanning more than three centuries, includes the importance of the Delaware River to the community with varying levels of utilizing the River and shoreline for commerce and other activities.
It was also reported that this proposal originated as part of the City’s updated Comprehensive Plan from 2009. The Plan was created by the City Planning Commission and recommended by that body to the City Council for adoption, which subsequently occurred. Included in that Plan is the following:
“The City should…conduct a more detailed waterfront plan to identify market needs and strengthen the downtown’s ties to the waterfront. Specific issues to address include:

• Appropriate business mix;
• Residential needs;
• Parking needs and potential supply solutions;
• Enhanced waterfront connections;
• Enhanced recreational opportunities.”

Information was provided at the meeting on a number of items related to the Riverfront concerning City projects completed or in the works, such as:

• The City’s recent purchase of 60 acres of Riverfront property from the Immanuel Episcopal Church – the Broad Dyke Natural Area – which is permanently preserved as open space and available for passive recreation purposes such as hiking and nature watching. This land purchase was funded through multiple grants from a number of partnering entities.
• A recent assessment performed on the condition of the City-owned Banks Building on the wharf, with plans to seek funding sources to rehabilitate the building.
• A current project in the vicinity of the New Castle Sailing Club at the southwest end of Battery Park, to develop a “living shoreline” – that is using shoreline stabilization techniques to create natural habitat to protect the shoreline from erosion, while also providing critical wildlife habitat. This project was funded through a DNREC grant.
• Rehabilitation of the four dikes along New Castle’s shoreline and riverfront: Buttonwood, Broad, Gambacorta and Army Creek. The City lobbied to have the State provide funding and $3 million is included in the current State budget to go towards this work.

At the meeting, proposed sketch plans were displayed and citizens were asked to review these and provide comments and ask questions. Further, a survey was distributed for participants to complete and return. See the sketch plans:

Existing Conditions

Concept Master Plan

In the survey, eight questions were asked about various components of the riverfront and possible redevelopment. A significant majority of the respondents for all questions favored the proposed ideas.

The City Council has this item on their agenda for their meeting scheduled for 7 p.m. on Tuesday, November 8 (meeting at the Town Hall).

Even though President Obama issued a disaster declaration for Delaware, due to the low total dollar amount of damage throughout all of New Castle County, the City was limited in what we could claim for reimbursement through FEMA. We recently completed the submittal process, with our claims totaling a little more than $15,000, of which we are eligible to receive 75 percent reimbursement.