Dewey Beach council votes to issue investment RFP after policy cleanup; in-person presentations downgraded to preference

Dewey Beach's town council on June 26 approved targeted edits to the town's investment-policy implementation document and authorized a revised request for proposals to hire an investment manager.

The council moved to replace references to a defunct "investment committee" with "finance committee" throughout the document while keeping the term "general fund" rather than switching to "operating accounts," following debate about appropriate terminology and risk exposure for different town funds. Commissioner Gibbings said the edits are largely to "clean up some language and not propose any major changes" to existing policy.

The finance committee also presented a draft RFP for a professional investment manager. David Mosquitz, a Dewey Beach resident, urged the council to remove a proposed requirement that the selected manager attend quarterly finance-committee meetings in person. "The proposed RFP requires the investment manager to appear in person at quarterly finance committee meetings. I don't understand why it's necessary," Mosquitz said, arguing the requirement would limit qualified applicants and noting the existing manager, Brown Advisory, had net performance that outpaced its benchmark.

In response, commissioners agreed to revise the RFP to make in-person attendance preferred rather than mandatory and to add two new elements: a disclosure of potential conflicts of interest and a requirement that bidders supply municipal references (other public-sector clients). Commissioner Jazinski and Commissioner Pinger both supported seeking competitive bids to confirm whether the current manager remains the best option. The council approved moving forward with the RFP as amended by voice vote.

The council did not identify a mover or seconder in the public record for the RFP motion but the vote carried and the finance committee will finalize the document and handle outreach. Council members said they expect the RFP process will return multiple proposals and provide a basis for later recommendations on allocations between short- and long-term buckets such as beach-replenishment and rainy-day funds.

What happens next: the finance committee will post the revised RFP, receive proposals and bring recommendations back to council for selection or further discussion. The council asked staff to work with the finance committee on clear benchmarks and scoring criteria for comparing firms.