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 13, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
No, for reasons stated.
Play from 2:23:15Oct 12, 2026, Regular City Council Meeting
Yeah.
Play from 01:09Oct 12, 2026, Regular City Council Meeting
I did... not just another question. Make a motion.
Play from 17:38Oct 12, 2026, Regular City Council Meeting
Yes, and I I move uh for the adoption of the committee amendment which would protect um people who are making renovations to existing houses from having to uh retrofit the entire old structure, which particularly with our older buildings, could could be impossible. Um so I I move that we adopt the committee amendment.
Play from 17:45Oct 12, 2026, Regular City Council Meeting
Mr. Chairman, can I respond?
Play from 18:48Oct 12, 2026, Regular City Council Meeting
Uh yes. Uh basically, what the if we did discuss in committee what the idea is if the if the if it's triggered with the new construction, but trying to retrofit, um like instance, a home like mine, 125 years old, uh plaster walls and the like, you you just aren't going to be able to retrofit it. It's just off the wall. You would have to tear down the other three walls and just rebuild the whole thing. I mean, it would make make it impossible.
Play from 18:50Oct 12, 2026, Regular City Council Meeting
the amendment into false.
Play from 19:39Oct 12, 2026, Regular City Council Meeting
Uh, thank you, um, Mr. President. Thank you Council for asking that. The answer is no. You would still be required to, if you build something new, it has to be to the new code. However, it just would not trigger changing your existing your your existing residential structure. Um, you know, what you're building new, if it only and by the way this only triggers if it's above the 50% threshold. Okay. But if it's a, but if, if it, once you cross that 50% threshold, you have to have the new code. But the problem, but, but the problem with the way it's currently written, uh, it, it would trigger for the whole building, which would mean, um, like if, so you're doing the basements, and you have a one-story house with a basement, when that finished basement increases it by 50% it would trigger for the whole house. Um, and that's what with this amendment prevents. It's, it's a protection for, it's a protection for the people, um, who are, who are trying to actually improve and update their properties.
Play from 20:07Oct 12, 2026, Regular City Council Meeting
Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, I wanted to congratulate the staff on this. Uh, some of the previous codes, not because of the staff, because of the way they were written, um, were not very friendly to the average flaws in them. And I think the life safety is a huge job, improvement of 2024, and, uh, I, I think that it's a good change, that it will help our city against many issues, including, uh, CBD facilities, which were not protected in the other, and it's protected in this, and that will prevent, will protect affordable housing, and make it continue to remain cheaper. The, the sprinkler issue, like, uh, it's a huge issue, and it's a huge cost. I know people, I've had constituents, call and say they had a, they have an older, they have an older home, but we also have, they don't get the, they can't, they're not required to fight this. And taking two, uh, and uh, and that, and, I think, um, you have, they have, and they have made documents of what they have required, and this, in time, might, might be I don't like it. And, what um, be the problem with this thing, with the amendment, I will, I will support this. Um, but I've heard concerns. I happen to agree with the, uh, why the people have expressed their concerns. And, um, without the amendment, because I did not, oh, I would not be able to support this ordinance without this amendment. Thank you.
Play from 23:54Oct 12, 2026, Regular City Council Meeting
Yes.
Play from 26:51Oct 12, 2026, Regular City Council Meeting
Thank you, and I would love for the councilwoman who reached to make the motion. I yield to Councilwoman Hall.
Play from 31:17Oct 12, 2026, Regular City Council Meeting
Second.
Play from 31:41Oct 12, 2026, Regular City Council Meeting
Yes.
Play from 31:55Oct 12, 2026, Regular City Council Meeting
Thank you, Mr. President. We have, um, I want to thank, uh, members of the Fourth District for coming to, uh, the town hall conversation, uh, that Dr. Sudler and I hosted. We had a very good discussion, and and I want to thank, uh, the Dover Police for sending, uh, two officers and having a good presence and also taking, you know, some questions. And that was, so, so much appreciated. We had great for, thanks for, concerned for safe for, safe behavior that's, false, that's here and concerns about, residents and, easily, uh, in the, like the, Walker, build, uh, cancel some stuff like that. So, uh, I'm glad, that, uh, they sent another full, uh, to the, uh, picture, shown, uh, about that reach, which would be, uh, you know, we hope that the construction, and, and the other big thing, is that, uh, we look forward, some people are looking at the possibility of a petition, uh, for, a traffic, um, announcement, uh, on the, on the work that's going to be done on the new garage is going to be discussing the contract in the near future. Uh, the DDP has sent out an announcement.
Play from 34:53Oct 1, 2026, Alderman's Court Ad Hoc Meeting
Okay. Uh, so let's uh, we are, we got notification from our, that our, uh, early this, this morning that our, we will not have a guest because uh, that, something's came up, which is fine, but that allows us to um, so we to uh, talk about our goals and community engagement. So let's uh, so because of that, I would ask
Play from 00:00Oct 1, 2026, Alderman's Court Ad Hoc Meeting
The moved and seconded to adopt the agenda deleting guest presentation. All right. All those in favor? Aye.
Play from 00:39Oct 1, 2026, Alderman's Court Ad Hoc Meeting
Any opposed? Motion is uh, adopted. Uh we got too much of that uh winter cold stuff going around right now, but thank you all for attending. The, the meeting is now call, the meeting's been called to order. Uh do we have the uh, the minutes from the last meeting on that clerk that we can put on screen? What we'll do is we'll we'll get to uh, without objection, while these are being printed, we'll come back to the approval of the minutes. That that way you can actually see the minutes that you're approving.
Play from 00:51Oct 1, 2026, Alderman's Court Ad Hoc Meeting
And then um we'll go to recap of the last meeting and questions. Um and I think everyone pretty well remembers the last meeting, we had uh extensive discussions with the uh Clerk of the Court in Newark. And we talked about uh different directions and started with the ideas for what we would like to see if we go that way. And there were some questions that we also want to talk with some other jurisdictions as well. which will be happening, but because uh we want to get a a better idea of how things work to make sure it's uh not only if, but how if we can, if we get, you know. So that was the idea behind things. Um we had um there were some questions that were raised, and I had those sent out to the members of the committee, the answers from the Newark uh court. Did anyone have any questions based upon that?
Play from 02:13Oct 1, 2026, Alderman's Court Ad Hoc Meeting
So that is um so so that is the uh essentially the the recap. Um does anyone else have anything that they wanted to add? Good. Now we will in a moment have the minutes, and then we'll go ahead and take the minutes. And what we'll be talking about next while so you can start thinking about that, because we do have limited time today. Uh because uh, thank you all for coming during the work day. It's appreciated. We just don't have staff support for evening meetings. Uh we we may have one later on where we actually have a product to bring the public in and get public comments for it. Like for that meeting, but that will probably be the only evening meeting we have when we need that public comment. Uh but, but uh, and But anyway, and we have we have the great staff, uh uh, all of them. And we appreciate all of them. And so what we'll be talking about is uh today, we have a white board even, uh with our goals, and what what goals we that that we would believe that an Alderman's Court should achieve. Okay? Because once we set the goals, then we can build a structure that achieves those goals. Trying to uh uh decide on a structure without knowing the goals is completely backwards. But first we had to understand how it worked, how it functioned, that was step one. Step two would be, if we do this, how what goals would we like to see and how should it function in Dover? And then uh, step three we'll we then we can get more information about how that can be achieved. So, uh why let's uh pause for a moment, and uh allow you to uh look at the minutes. Because one of the things we want with our goals is we wanted to be uh diverse and collaborative goals that reflect a broad consensus of the community. Uh not just one section of the community or another. Uh that way, if we go this way, it will have real community buy-in, which I think if you're going to achieve a charter change, a charter, you know, a charter change isn't just another ordinance. I I think a charter change should um you know, should reflect uh certainly the majority, but hopefully um a reasonable consensus of the community, though not everybody's going to agree on everything, and you're never going to get unanimity, but uh yeah, I think uh a sound majority is a good thing.
Play from 04:03Oct 1, 2026, Alderman's Court Ad Hoc Meeting
Uh let's uh let's test to make sure Councilman Lewis is on. Could you uh put the minutes up for him, please, so he can see them? I want to make sure he sees the minutes. Thank you. Now, without him, we don't have a quorum. Uh, we need uh to be apprised of everything.
Play from 09:20Oct 1, 2026, Alderman's Court Ad Hoc Meeting
Just for informational purposes, uh the the process, once this committee comes up with a uh a recommendation, uh that recommendation, this is basically a a subcommittee of Legislative, Finance, and Administration. So, it will report back to to Legislative, Finance, and Administration, which will then make whatever the final decision is, and whatever the structure, and then that will go to the council, which then makes is uh their decision, and then it will go to the legislature, which will make its decision. So, uh that that just gives you the process, so you know um you know, what the line that it that it goes to. So, obviously, what work done by this committee is probably the most important, because everything else will be based upon it. So, thank you for your time. It's time well spent. Let's see here. Yeah. We'll keep on reading. Once you're once you're ready, uh we'll take we'll take a motion to approve, and then we'll uh we'll have any discussion upon that.
Play from 10:12Oct 1, 2026, Alderman's Court Ad Hoc Meeting
Is there a second? Second. All right, any discussion? Pretty calm. All right, all all in favor? Aye.
Play from 13:07Oct 1, 2026, Alderman's Court Ad Hoc Meeting
Any opposed? Great. And thank you all. And um Rep and um Representative Harris, uh thank you for joining, and uh by the way, congratulations.
Play from 13:33Oct 1, 2026, Alderman's Court Ad Hoc Meeting
Thank you. We're we're very happy, because we're all because you made give us a little bit of cushion. We we're one over quorum, and so a lot of people are under the weather today. Yeah. Cold stuff going around.
Play from 13:51Oct 1, 2026, Alderman's Court Ad Hoc Meeting
So, now next um we and next, I am going to walk over to the board, because uh next we are going to deal with goals. And we'll take it from members of the committee, and members of the public who are here, who may want to comment after members of the committee do. The We Last time, the members of the public was Mr. Faust, this time members of the public is Mr. Anderson, so Oh, you know, anybody else will show up. And, but we also have uh with us uh Mrs. Marty. Welcome. Hi.
Play from 14:10Oct 1, 2026, Alderman's Court Ad Hoc Meeting
Thank you. So, first step Uh, whoever wants to go first, what do you think the um the first goal of um that we should be looking for to achieve? Dr. Hoffer?
Play from 15:04Oct 1, 2026, Alderman's Court Ad Hoc Meeting
Okay. For all. Okay. All right. Who who's next?
Play from 15:37Oct 1, 2026, Alderman's Court Ad Hoc Meeting
Rehoboth.
Play from 17:25Oct 1, 2026, Alderman's Court Ad Hoc Meeting
finance committee, right? I think
Play from 18:19Oct 1, 2026, Alderman's Court Ad Hoc Meeting
And and I added specialty courts there, like veterans court. There's other ones as well which we and I think we should be able to access all of them because they exist for the very reason of early intervention.
Play from 19:49Oct 1, 2026, Alderman's Court Ad Hoc Meeting
Community service.
Play from 20:46Oct 1, 2026, Alderman's Court Ad Hoc Meeting
Around here. Yeah. Littering, lots of community service, you know.
Play from 20:58Oct 1, 2026, Alderman's Court Ad Hoc Meeting
Hear that. Yeah, I like that part.
Play from 21:09Oct 1, 2026, Alderman's Court Ad Hoc Meeting
Think that.
Play from 21:28Oct 1, 2026, Alderman's Court Ad Hoc Meeting
Uh now now now is the Any others from members of the committee?
Play from 21:34Oct 1, 2026, Alderman's Court Ad Hoc Meeting
Okay. Now members of the public. We have we have to keep procedures. That's why I wanted to ask.
Play from 21:42Oct 1, 2026, Alderman's Court Ad Hoc Meeting
Oh, yeah. I mean, the guy that thinks he's That thinks someone's cyber slapping him. And the city of Dover is uh trying to assassinate him and that his that his daughter was being killed was killed and his daughter is perfectly fine?
Play from 22:07Oct 1, 2026, Alderman's Court Ad Hoc Meeting
And he comes and testifies to council. Yeah.
Play from 22:21Oct 1, 2026, Alderman's Court Ad Hoc Meeting
MKUltra's listening to him? Yeah.
Play from 22:27Oct 1, 2026, Alderman's Court Ad Hoc Meeting
Oh no. Not not not for that, but like Oh. Just like. Yeah. But the problem that but that but she raises the problem, and that is and that is, until, unfortunately, until he either is shown to be a danger to himself or others or commits some sort of violation. Now Now, that violation could be trespassing, and then you could use that as an excuse to refer him for mental health evaluation and get help. Or others. Yeah.
Play from 22:36