Taylour Tedder, whose appointment as the new Rehoboth Beach, Del. city manager has come under fire over his salary and benefits package, is described as a strong and committed LGBTQ community ally by the leader of an LGBTQ rights organization in Boulder City, Nev., where Tedder served as city manager for three years before being hired for that same position in Rehoboth.

He is scheduled to begin his new job in Rehoboth on May 15.

Brynn DeLorimier, president of Dam Pride, the LGBTQ organization of Boulder City, told the Washington Blade Tedder played a lead role in helping the group successfully lobby the mayor and City Council in what she calls a conservative, Republican-dominated city to approve earlier this year a first-ever proclamation naming June 2024 as Pride Month in Boulder City.

“I feel he’s very supportive,” DeLorimier said. “We’re really, really sad to see him go. I have a feeling we won’t find a city manager as progressive and diplomatic as he is,” she said. “So, Rehoboth Beach is really lucky to have him.”

Since it voted unanimously on April 8 to hire Tedder as city manager, the seven-member Rehoboth City Commission, which acts as a city council, has come under criticism from some Rehoboth residents for providing Tedder with a contract that includes an annual salary of $250,000, coverage of $50,000 for his moving expenses, and a $750,000 house loan that will be forgiven in full if he remains in his job for seven years.

Rehoboth’s two gay commissioners, Patrick Gossett, and Edward Chrzanowski, are among the commissioners who have been criticized for voting to hire Tedder on grounds, among other things, that his salary and benefits package are out of line with that given to Rehoboth’s previous city managers,

Rehoboth Mayor Stan Mills, who also serves on the commission, called Tedder “fiscally savvy, experienced in the day-day-day operations of a destination community, enthusiastic and energetic, and a fantastic communicator,” according to the Cape Gazette newspaper. Mills and others supportive of Tedder’s hiring have noted that in recent years city manager positions have become highly competitive among cities large and small across the country.

They point out that Rehoboth’s previous city manager, Laurence Christian, resigned and left the city in November of last year after serving only about 10 months. A salary and benefits package like what Tedder has received is needed to find and retain a talented and qualified city manager, his supporters have said.

Nearly all the public discussion about Tedder has centered on his salary and benefits as well as claims by some critics that he may not have certain job requirements specified in the Rehoboth City Charter. The Washington Blade could not find reports of any public discussion on whether the Rehoboth City Commission, including the two gay Commission members, sought to find out Tedder’s record and position on LGBTQ issues in a beach city with a large number of LGBTQ residents and visitors.

Kim Leisey, executive director of CAMP Rehoboth, the LGBTQ community Center, said she too had not heard of any discussion on Tedder’s record or positions on LGBTQ issues.

The Blade couldn’t immediately reach Tedder for comment. DeLorimier of Dam Pride, which she said is named for the Hoover Dam located in Boulder City that makes the city a national tourist destination, said Tedder told her his contract with Rehoboth prevents him from speaking with the press until he begins his new job on May 15.

Mills, the Rehoboth mayor, in response to a request for comment by the Blade, said he and the other commissioners could not publicly disclose the questions asked and responses they received, including any related to LGBTQ issues, in their interviews with candidates applying for the Rehoboth City Manager position under a confidentiality policy, according to Lynne Cohen, the Rehoboth City communications director.

“He did mention to me that the job posting for the city manager position mentioned or includes language that the City of Rehoboth Beach has a vibrant LGBTQ+ community,” Cohen said. “And that they had asked every candidate if they had read the job posting, and they indicated they had,” Cohen told the Blade in recounting her conversation with Mills.

Rehoboth officials have said Tedder was selected after a six-month nationwide search.

Prior to his tenure as city manager of Boulder City, Tedder served for a little over five years as assistant city manager for the city of Leavenworth, Kan., a suburb of Kansas City.

DeLorimier said she initially approached Boulder City officials last year to request that a Pride proclamation be issued in time for the June 2023 Pride celebration, but the mayor, a conservative Republican, turned down the request during a meeting that Tedder attended. She said the meeting became tense, noting that the mayor’s abrupt decision to say no came after she argued that LGBTQ residents in Boulder City deserved recognition during Pride month.

“At that point Taylour Tedder spoke up,” DeLorimier recalled. “He said, well, maybe start a group and gather support from the community and come back and ask again next year.” And that is exactly what she and others did, according to DeLorimier, who told of her and her fellow LGBTQ activists’ effort to create Dam Pride.

She also pointed out that Tedder mentioned that the city’s longstanding tradition of changing the color of a string of lights hanging over the city’s main street to celebrate special occasions like Christmas and Valentine’s Day, referred to as the “Bistro Lights,” could also be adopted to reflect Pride month.

“Taylour said, by the way, we can change them to rainbow colors with the flip of a switch,” DeLorimier recalls. “He offered that up himself. So, that indicates to me he’s very supportive of the cause.”  

Added DeLorimier, “I really feel like Taylour helped us. He gave us all the help we needed. And we will be celebrating Pride month, our very first one, this June.”

Salvator “Sal” Seeley, who served as an official with the Rehoboth Beach, Del., CAMP Rehoboth LGBTQ community center for 20 years, was sentenced on April 5 by a Sussex County Superior Court judge to nine months in prison and to pay $176,000 in restitution to the organization.

The sentencing took place about five weeks after Seeley pleaded guilty to a charge of Theft in Excess of $50,000 for allegedly embezzling funds from CAMP Rehoboth, a spokesperson for the Delaware Department of Justice told the Washington Blade.

Seeley’s guilty plea came shortly after a grand jury, at the request of prosecutors, indicted him on the felony theft charge following an investigation that found he had embezzled at least $176,000 from the nonprofit LGBTQ organization.

“Salvatore C. Seeley, between the 27th day of February 2019 and the 7th day of September 2021, in the County of Sussex, State of Delaware, did take property belonging to CAMP Rehoboth, Inc., consisting of United States currency and other miscellaneous property valued at more than $50,000, intending to appropriate the same,” the indictment states.

“The State recommended a sentence of two years of incarceration based on the large-scale theft and the impact to the non-profit organization,” Delaware Department of Justice spokesperson Caroline Harrison told the Blade in a statement.

“The defense cited Seeley’s lack of a record and gambling addiction in arguing for a probationary sentence,” the statement says. “Seeley was sentenced in Superior Court to a nine-month prison term and to pay a total of $176,000 in restitution for the stolen funds,” Harrison says in the statement.

Neither Seeley nor his attorney could immediately be reached for comment.

At the time of Seeley’s indictment in February, CAMP Rehoboth released a statement saying it first discovered “financial irregularities” within the organization on Sept. 7, 2021, “and took immediate action and notified state authorities.” The statement says this resulted in the investigation of Seeley by the state Department of Justice as well as an internal investigation by CAMP Rehoboth to review its “financial control policies” that led to an updating of those policies.

“As we have communicated from day one, CAMP Rehoboth has fully cooperated with law enforcement,” the statement continues. “At its request, we did not speak publicly about the investigation while it was ongoing for fear it would jeopardize its integrity,” according to the statement. “This was extremely difficult given our commitment to transparency with the community about day-to-day operations during the recent leadership transition.”

The statement was referring to Kim Leisey, who began her job as CAMP Rehoboth’s new executive director in July of 2023, while the Seeley investigation had yet to be completed, following the organization’s process of searching for a new director. It says Seeley left his job as Health and Wellness Director of CAMP Rehoboth in September of 2021 after working for the organization for more than 20 years.

“Mr. Seeley’s actions are a deep betrayal to not only CAMP Rehoboth but also the entire community we serve,” the statement says.

Salvatore “Sal” Seeley, who served as an official at the Rehoboth Beach, Del., CAMP Rehoboth LGBTQ community center for 20 years, has pleaded guilty to a felony charge of Theft In Excess of $50,000 for allegedly embezzling  funds from the organization for at least a two-and-a-half-year period, according to a Sussex County, Del., Superior Court indictment and a spokesperson for the Delaware Office of the Attorney General.

The spokesperson, Mat Marshall, sent the Blade a copy of the indictment, which he said was handed down against Seeley on Feb. 27 and which provides the only specific court information that the Washington Blade could immediately obtain.

“Salvatore C. Seeley, between the 27th day of February 2019 and the 7th day of September 2021, in the County of Sussex, State of Delaware, did take property belonging to Camp Rehoboth, Inc., consisting of United States currency and other miscellaneous property valued at more than $50,000, intending to appropriate same,” the indictment states.

“I can further confirm that the Defendant entered a guilty plea to one count of Theft in Excess of $50,000,” spokesperson Marshall told the Blade in an email message. “Mr. Seeley also agrees to make restitution of $176,199.78 to CAMP Rehoboth,” Marshall said. “He will be sentenced on April 5 and does face the possibility of prison time.”

Marshall declined to provide additional information on the findings of the law enforcement investigation into Seeley’s alleged theft. The restitution figure of $176,199.79 suggests investigators believe Seeley embezzled at least that amount from CAMP Rehoboth during the time he worked for the organization.

Seeley couldn’t immediately be reached for comment

CAMP Rehoboth describes itself as a nonprofit LGBTQ community service organization and the largest organization of its type “serving the needs of LGBTQ+ people in Rehoboth, greater Sussex County, and throughout the state of Delaware.” The statement adds that the organization “is dedicated to creating a positive environment inclusive of all sexual orientations and gender identities in Rehoboth and its related communities.”

Kim Leisey, who began her job as executive director of CAMP Rehoboth in July of 2023, said it was her understanding that officials with the organization discovered funds were missing and opened an investigation in September of 2021, a short time before Seeley left the organization. Leisey said that at the time of his departure, Seeley served as CAMP Rehoboth’s director of health and wellness programs. 

At that time, former D.C. Center for the LGBT Community director David Mariner was serving as CAMP Rehoboth’s executive director and reportedly took steps to open an investigation into missing funds. Wesley Combs, CAMP Rehoboth’s current board president, said Seeley resigned from his job around that time in 2021.

“I know that I took this job knowing there was a concern and a problem and an investigation,” Leisey told the Blade. “And I also know that the board of CAMP Rehoboth has done everything it needs to do to ensure that we were compliant, cooperative and that things are going really well here at CAMP Rehoboth.”

Leisey said CAMP Rehoboth currently has a staff of six full-time employees and several contract employees. She said the organization has a current annual budget of $1.4 million.