LEWES, Del. — Lewes city manager Ellen Lorraine McCabe said she ordered staff to remove a controversial public meeting video that included comments critical of city leadership and a councilmember from the city’s website just one day before the recent Lewes City Council election.
McCabe responded to CoastTV's request for comment late Wednesday afternoon. In her response, she said that she directed that the Zoom recording of the May 7 Historic Preservation Architectural Review Commission meeting be temporarily removed from the published agenda the following day. She said this was after she received an email from legal counsel that recognized an employee’s concerns about the video and a pending complaint, and consulted with human resources.
Sources tell CoastTV that the city clerk objected to the video being taken down.
McCabe said, before the video was taken down, she had reached out to city legal counsel after the video had been uploaded. According to McCabe, the human resources manager also consulted with the city's legal counsel about the concerns raised by the meeting video.
Regarding the video's upload and removal timing being near an election, McCabe said the focus was on employee support during the complaint process.
"This decision was not intended to influence public processes, limit transparency, or restrict public discussion," said McCabe. "Rather, the intent was to ensure that employees with pending complaints feel safe, supported, and protected throughout the complaint process and to preserve the integrity of that process moving forward."
BACKGROUND
The controversy centers on comments made during the May 7 HPARC meeting, including criticism of city leadership and councilmember Joe Elder from former HPARC chair Kevin Mallinson during the public comment period.
Lewes building official Jon Ward told CoastTV he requested the video be removed because he feared comments made about him could interfere with an ongoing personnel complaint. Ward said previously that he does not know who removed the video. Elder has repeatedly denied having any involvement in the removal of the video.
Sources previously told CoastTV that a portion of an open letter sent to the Lewes mayor and city council referred to McCabe allegedly directing the video’s removal.
“I’ve witnessed a co-worker being coerced into performing a task that she blatantly was not comfortable with at the hands of an administrator and city council member,” the staffer wrote in the open letter.
New sources say that line directly refers to McCabe twice telling Lewes' city clerk to take down the video.
McCabe's response sharing more information about the video's removal comes as the City of Lewes prepares to launch two separate independent investigations tied to controversy inside City Hall, including questions surrounding the deleted video from the HPARC meeting held May 7 and a complaint filed against deputy mayor Khalil Saliba by McCabe and her deputy, Janet Reeves.
It also came the same day sources tell CoastTV that multiple complaints have been filed against McCabe from the Lewes Police Department.
