Why Should Delaware Care?
Dover Mayor Robin Christiansen’s absence from recent city meetings, which some council members say they were not notified about, has resulted in questions about whether he should be removed from office. His absence also comes as city council faces its latest in a string of recent hurdles.
Dover Mayor Robin Christiansen’s absence from city meetings over the past month, amid controversy over a homeless shelter in the city and the ousting of the city manager, has raised eyebrows in the capital city.
Both residents and city council members expressed concerns that Christiansen’s prolonged absence violated the city charter — justifying his removal from office. But Christiansen rebuffed the claims of his wrongdoing, and a Spotlight Delaware review of city code revealed stipulations in the policy that could support the mayor’s claims.
Christiansen last attended a city council meeting on Jan. 12. He was not present for the three subsequent meetings on Feb. 25, March 9 and March 23.
This three-meeting absence is what critics say is cause for Christiansen’s removal. According to the city charter, the mayor forfeits his office if he “fails to attend three consecutive regular meetings of the council without being excused by the council.”
But Christiansen said his absences were, in fact, excused. He contracted the flu in late February, he said, which turned into other illnesses and forced him to spend more than a week in the hospital.
Christiansen said he disclosed this information to City Council President Fred Neil, excusing his three absences. He declined to provide more details, but Neil confirmed he had been in communication with the mayor about reasons for missing recent meetings.
Still, Christiansen said, he continued performing his duties from the hospital, like maintaining regular communication with Police Chief Thomas Johnson, so there was no need for him to temporarily give the mayorship to someone else.
During Christiansen’s absence, Neil took over some public duties for him, like presenting a tribute to the family of the late former City Council member William Hare, and welcoming a group of foreign students to the state capital, Neil said.
While some city council members have raised alarms that they were not informed about the circumstances of the mayor’s absence, Christiansen and Neil said they handled the situation in line with city rules.
Neil wrote in an email to Spotlight Delaware, on which Gov. Matt Meyer was copied, that he communicated with Christiansen’s assistant that he would be available “should an emergency occur,” while the mayor was in the hospital.
A mayor’s scolding
Christiansen has used the attention surrounding his illness as a chance to comment on what he described as city council’s “drama and lack of professionalism” in recent months.
He has taken issue with both members of the public coming to meetings to comment on “speculations and untruths,” and some of the shouting and finger-pointing he has heard among council members.
“I’m from the old school,” Christiansen said. “I got elected to council in 1983. Never have I seen the public’s business put aside and handled so willy nilly.”
Christiansen plans to sit in the audience, instead of on the dais with other city leaders, at the next city council meeting on April 13 — his first in roughly two months.
The mayor does not vote on matters that come before city council, but he is able to veto ordinances after they are passed — a power Christiansen said he “won’t hesitate to use” going forward.
Months of turbulence
Since last fall, Dover city council has faced a slew of controversies.
Beginning with resident and police officer concerns about Police Chief Thomas Johnson’s leadership, city leaders then faced months of internal divisions and community pushback over a proposed anti-panhandling ordinance. More recently, one of the city’s few homeless shelters has been the subject of council scrutiny after nearby residents raised concerns about neighborhood blight.
Christiansen missed the meetings in which council members voted to reject the panhandling ordinance, opted to deny funding for the People’s Church of Dover, and placed City Manager Dave Hugg on administrative leave following concerns about his performance.
When asked by Spotlight Delaware about having missed these discussions, Christiansen said he had been keeping up with the meetings remotely, but he declined to comment on both the homeless shelter and Hugg’s ousting.
Residents have expressed their concern about Christiansen’s unannounced absence during the March 25 city council meeting, in emails with council members, and in op-eds published in the Daily State News.
“Why hasn’t the Mayor been here a couple of times?” Dover resident Bill Faust asked at the March 25 council meeting. “You usually say, ‘This person is sick, this person is on military leave.’ Radio silence.”
Some city council members said they share similar concerns about Christiansen’s absence, and the communication surrounding it.
“I would hope in the future there is better communication between the council and the mayor and vice versa,” Councilman Brian Lewis told Spotlight Delaware.
Council members David Anderson and Julia Pillsbury said they agreed communication about the mayor’s illness was poor, but they do see truth in Christiansen’s argument about establishing better decorum.
Anderson said he believes the city’s open forum section of its council meetings, which has come under fire in the past for being cut short and not being livestreamed, sometimes turns into a “theatrical performance,” instead of residents civilly communicating their concerns.
Maggie Reynolds is a Report for America corps member and Spotlight Delaware reporter who covers rural communities in Delaware. Your donation to match our Report for America grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://spotlightdelaware.org/support/.
