Statements by David L. Anderson
833 statements from meeting recordings, newest meeting first.
Machine transcript. Statements are matched to this official by machine and can be wrong. Check the recording.
Oct 26, 2026, Regular Council Meeting
Yes.
Play from 10:10Oct 26, 2026, Regular Council Meeting
Yes.
Play from 22:01Oct 26, 2026, Regular Council Meeting
Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, through the president to Mr. Kopp, please, uh thank you. Is is this um based upon what already exists in Kent County?
Play from 35:17Oct 26, 2026, Regular Council Meeting
Thank you. I yield.
Play from 35:58Oct 26, 2026, Regular Council Meeting
Thank you, Mr. President. And uh, we uh had Trunk or Treat so that the children will have somewhere safe. We want to thank them and hands on the community, all the community partners who participated in the city, both Dover Police and uh, you know, Dover and that whole school district. And uh, that that is looking, you know, forward all the officers and uh we hope to see uh doctor published it.
Play from 38:22Oct 26, 2026, Regular Council Meeting
And uh, I'd just like to uh, give a big shout-out, a big hand. I'm so grateful for that, um, that uh, Silver Lake uh, cleanup uh, that did its job. Didn't get out there in the water, but um, that that uh, it saved, or at least, um, all the way through the woods, thankful that I can swim, and see all the way across the other side. That wasn't possible. And and this kind of thing, it's regarding the late things, trash all up, and particularly, um, thank uh, the uh, City Police Department, the uh, also uh, Sanitation men, for the tough job that they have, uh, and and uh, people that have been, uh, all the time, uh, they throw their trash out whatever's been there, and uh, everything's blocked off, and to get out, and solve the problem. Also, uh, responsible and very very positive, and careful with the neighbors. Uh, they want to clean it up, and uh, we'll see. Look forward to, of course thank you, to the enforcement, decisions that have been made to hopefully, uh, we can get a hold of the owner, and tell them that this impacts our neighborhood, and hopefully that that will be taken care of. Um, and tomorrow, uh, meeting, in regard to, uh, the winter shelter, the, the emergency shelter, uh, is tomorrow at 16 E. Loockerman, and, um, to see, we're here for those who need uh, assistance, for the, uh, warming center, at the, at 16 E. Loockerman. Thank you, I yield the floor.
Play from 39:19Oct 13, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, we have had a busy month. Went to the town hall meeting, the airport wall has been accomplished, and things for the constituent, thank you, Mr. President.
Play from 04:14Oct 13, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Thank you, Mr. President. The Legislative, Finance, and Administration Committee is now called to order. First, we have the adoption of the agenda. Councilman Boggerty, you're recognized.
Play from 10:29Oct 13, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Moved and seconded. Yes, ma'am.
Play from 10:40Oct 13, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Yeah.
Play from 11:09Oct 13, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Yeah. We can we can be our, uh, our own best wish, you know, adopt these. And, uh, is there any discussion? Further discussion? All in favor?
Play from 11:14Oct 13, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Hearing none, the agenda is adopted. Councilman Boggerty, you have a...
Play from 11:25Oct 13, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
No problem. Okay, then, let's, uh, do a quick verification. Uh, Mr. Chabalko, are you there?
Play from 11:37Oct 13, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Yeah, we can hear you. Uh, Mr. Gargagliano, are you there?
Play from 11:43Oct 13, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
We can hear you. Thank you.
Play from 11:47Oct 13, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
That brings us to the first item, which is proposed Ordinance 2026-15, uh, amending Chapter 42, Environment, by adding, uh, Section 42-3, Lighting. Mr. Eddie Kopp, Chief Code Enforcement Officer, you are recognized.
Play from 12:13Oct 13, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Thank you. Councilman Boggerty.
Play from 13:32Oct 13, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Councilman Rocha, you're recognized.
Play from 13:44Oct 13, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Councilwoman Arndt.
Play from 15:17Oct 13, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Thank you. Uh, coming right back to you. Councilman Lewis.
Play from 16:34Oct 13, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Um, so, yeah, I heard everything about cameras. I don't know well, but they they do go on and off and they're not beaming into the bedroom, illuminating the bedroom so one can't sleep. That's really the nuisance. Um, and and then if folks are not, I mean, if you had a motion sensor, it it might beam for a second, and that might be a good thing, because when that comes on, that means somebody's protruding into the area on either property. But in this case, it's a fixed light from somebody else's property beaming into the bedroom window of somebody else and disturbing sleep is where this arose from. Um, and then I want to go back to what Councilwoman Arndt pointed out about the lumens, which I technically agree, but then how would you be able to determine what the lumen lumens are? Because you're not really allowed to go on the property, so when it's spectral light, so I think that's why it looks like it's written the way it is. And uh you know, just rethinking it, um that might be okay the way it's written. Um, I think it will become, you know, a constituent complaint-driven most likely, you know, in that instance. Um, and at at that point, they would look into what the lumen lumens are and how bright it is or point it down to get it out of somebody's bedroom window. That that would be my thoughts on, uh, the purpose of this ordinance, I mean, if I may.
Play from 25:03Oct 13, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
I know there will be, uh, while we're getting that, I I have a couple questions. And first of all, thank you for the update and bringing that to us. Seems like right now we will sort of put it on hold till after this meeting, and uh, and and then uh, what happens, um, one of the things that I had interest in was, of course, uh, bringing the funds uh, back up to the uh, the round the 2 million range, which which we had identified the need for, and the, and maybe using uh, some as a uh, uh, to possibly fund a a rebate to uh, uh, like a in a like in the EPA-type credit to uh, our uh, customers that that we had to uh, raise and raise. And that's part of the discussion that that I was interested in having, and and what that would look like. Uh, right now it's uh it's discussion to be here, we need to uh keep it on hold. That's for something for for us to think about, and and there's other possibilities uh, which which are also valid. But that was uh a discussion that I thought was interesting. I know Councilman Lewis has some input on that, but I can't seem to it seems to be offline right now. Um, anyone anyone else have any thoughts? Priorities?
Play from 46:26Oct 13, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Okay. Councilman Rocha? Saying you're good, okay.
Play from 47:56Oct 13, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
All right, if no one else does, uh, thank you.
Play from 47:59Oct 13, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Uh, but I wanted to um, thank you just bringing an an update uh uh back to the Legislative, Finance, and Administration Committee. I believe you seen the minutes that have been that were in the packet, and the draft minutes. And so you've had a chance to uh follow along with the meetings the committee has had so far. Uh, we've had good robust uh participation, and including uh, I was very grateful for um our state representative Kerry Anderson Taylor's uh participation, so uh which which is very positive. We've had uh uh the clerk of the court from uh Newark, um get some excellent information. And we have our our own um we have our own uh who's experts uh uh on that, when it comes to uh um Mr. Garth Binkle as a uh state magistrate, and of course uh Judge Witham, as a Superior, is a retired Superior Court uh judge, and and they've been very valuable.
Play from 48:39Oct 13, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
We also have uh Dr. Hoffman, who was the uh chair of the uh Government and History department at Delaware State University, and who's their uh their expertise has been um I think it's been a very positive addition. And, of course, we have uh the community, and and people from various uh walks of life uh uh, and and a very uh diverse uh group of people. And and so as you go through,
Play from 49:50Oct 13, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
now we we first we looked at the feasibility. Uh, it's obviously feasible. It's uh working already in uh six municipalities. Uh, Judge Whittington advised he advised Dover it had one, uh, 70 70 years ago. Um, but a lot but a lot changed in the uh 70 years uh plus. In 1954, uh, a lot changed in that time, and it's uh caused us to reconsider. Uh, we we've looking at uh various uh ways that the court would be able to operate uh fairly, justly, um but also uh not lose money. And there's been some great input from our experts on that setup and how that would work, how that would operate.
Play from 50:37Oct 13, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Uh, quite frankly, as best we can tell, there's not any alderman's court that's losing money in the state of Delaware. Now, some municipalities tried to get rid of them, the ones that have them. We uh we want that, and so that's one of the things that we care about is making it to make it work for Dover. Uh, we are not trying to come up with a mechanism to bring more revenue in. We're trying to come up with a mechanism that we can control our own destiny and be able to enforce the lower-level offenses so that the uh State Department of Justice can do what it feels like it needs to and focus its resources on the higher-level offenses.
Play from 51:12Oct 13, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Uh, there have to be a connection. Uh, uh Newark uh for their needs has shown uh some ways of doing that, and and we would want to do that with ours in in ways that make sense to us, and that includes uh uh 10 goals that that the committee came up with. Uh, one is to improve the quality of life for all, including residents and offenders. Um, one way you would do that would be to uh make sure the court has jurisdiction to allow referrals, such as to uh to drug courts, to veterans court, to specialty courts for people who who need that.
Play from 51:47Oct 13, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Uh, provide clear distinctions between matters handled by the alderman's court and the state court system. Establish the court's jurisdiction, including exclusive and joint jurisdiction. Uh, four, develop cost and revenue estimates and assess uh if the court could be self-sustained. Five, ensure the court is a community-oriented and not driven solely by fines. Six, include referrals, you mentioned the drug court and other specialty courts.
Play from 52:51Oct 13, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Uh, seven, uh retain a criminal focus and avoid affecting people's properties with the court's jurisdiction. Eight, developing sentencing guidelines that include uh constructive community service. Nine, explore whether the court could serve as an entry point to individuals uh needing mental health assistance. 10, explore probation before judgment as a mechanism for uh workforce development, soft skills, and assisting with individual needs.
Play from 53:39Oct 13, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
And uh with that, that's what um we support. And uh we have um we we also uh took a look at we can consider uh the continuing the work. Um there's a and then survey the public feedback. So, we'll probably take that in uh close uh to get feedback and so, and then come back and share the draft report and recommendations and be able to have uh public comment and feedback on on the drafted recommendations before anything is final. And uh, and that is about it. We should be ready here in the spring. And uh we will definitely be ready by the fall, which is important because if it has to be um the General Assembly has to get involved with that. Uh, thank you, Mr. Chair.
Play from 54:39Oct 13, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Yes, we did consider that, and it's...
Play from 57:50Oct 13, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Chairwoman Hall?
Play from 1:22:22Oct 13, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Question. Is there any new information that's going to be presented that we haven't heard, or is this just a formality because we did not have a quorum the last time?
Play from 1:22:27Oct 13, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Thank you.
Play from 1:22:46Oct 13, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Thank you, Madam Chair. I would urge members to not do all this before we hear from both sides. The members of the People's Community Center are also here to bring information to address the complaint or the incomplete information, and that's why they've brought quite a bit of information. We'd like to present, I wouldn't recommend we withdraw funding from a center, so thank you.
Play from 1:28:01Oct 13, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Thank you, Madam Chair. And I want to thank everyone for the explanation. I definitely support Can you can you stay, please? Because I got a couple questions. I definitely supported Ms. O'Brien's freezing the funds until she got the information that she needed that was appropriate. Now now now we've move beyond that and the decision before us. I do not support reprogramming the money because this organization quite frankly has been one of the better ones in and what it's done for the city and in the city. And if and I have just a couple questions and a lot of them my question my colleague and friend have already asked so I'm not going to repeat her because she did them probably better than I would have. Ms. Harris, my next my third question is to the best of your knowledge are you now currently compliant with city regulations?
Play from 2:03:18Oct 13, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Next question: now this this requirement that you that were met, were they federally compliant even if they inadvertently did not meet the city purchasing, are they federally compliant and eligible under federal guidelines for reimbursement?
Play from 2:04:25Oct 13, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
And that ends my Thank you. I yield.
Play from 2:05:06