By J.L. MILLER
The News Journal

10/14/2005

CHESWOLD -- In a stormy public meeting that featured the angry resignation of a council member, Cheswold Town Council voted late Thursday to fire Town Manager Edward J. Ryan Jr.

The council decided that the contract under which Ryan was hired to the $51,000-a-year job was illegal. Members voted to dismiss Ryan immediately.

Councilwoman Conchetta "Connie" Edel refused to cast her vote and berated Mayor Peter Diakos for taping an earlier closed-door meeting between the council and its attorney, Nicholas Rodriguez.

Diakos refused to destroy the tape despite the requests of other council members, Edel said.

"We're all on the verge of being sued," Edel said angrily. "I've had it. I quit this council. I want nothing to do with this decision. You're not getting me involved in any lawsuit. My reputation is too clean."

Councilman James O. Plummer III said after the meeting that the decision was a difficult one, and that a town manager still is needed to help guide the town through growth.

Plummer said he expects the council to advertise the post and hire a qualified candidate -- and that Ryan would be free to apply.

Ryan, a former councilman who left his seat to take the job, did not attend the meeting.

The firing could mark the beginning of the end of a series of controversies that have roiled the politics of this Kent County town of roughly 700 people.

However, resident Chuck Harrigan said he wondered if the firing would prompt a lawsuit from Ryan.

"He signed a five-year contract. Are we going to eat that cost for the next four years?" Harrigan asked.

The council placed Ryan on paid administrative leave Monday after a closed-door session.

That action came after state Sen. Nancy Cook, D-Kenton, and Rep. Pamela J. Thornburg, R-Dover West, presented the council with an opinion from the Legislature's legal advisers that Ryan's contract was "unenforceable."

Ryan stepped down from his Town Council seat and was hired Jan. 27, before legislation took effect removing a requirement from the town charter that council members wait a year after leaving office before taking a paid town position.

That bill, co-sponsored by Cook and Thornburg at the town's request, did not take effect until Feb. 9, meaning that Ryan's hiring violated the charter at the time.

Ryan's hiring took place shortly before several would-be council candidates claimed they were shut out of the election by a last-minute change in the filing deadline.

Tempers flared when the election was canceled, and the tension escalated in May when the council fired Police Chief Robbin Vann on what Vann contends were trumped-up charges.

The outrage grew in June after The News Journal reported on the terms of Ryan's contract: a $51,000 starting salary that rises to $71,333 after five years, six weeks of paid vacation, 17 paid holidays and $60 a month for a family health club membership.

That was followed by a business license ordinance that angered local merchants, but the council scaled back the fees in September.

Contact J.L. Miller at 678-4271 or jlmiller@delawareonline.com.

The hiring on Jan. 27 of Edward J. Ryan Jr., a former Cheswold councilman, has been one of several controversies plaguing the town of about 700 in Kent County.