REHOBOTH BEACH, Del.- Stan Mills defeated incumbent Paul Kuhns to become the next mayor of Rehoboth Beach.
According to the city's communications department, there were a total of 1,471 voters. Only 325 voters cast their votes at the convention center.
Mills received 876 votes. Kuhns received 587 votes.
Resident candidate Jay Lagree and non-resident candidate Patrick Gossett won the two seats for commissioners. Lagree collected 882 votes. Gossett collected 824 votes. Resident candidate Rachel Macha finished third with 582 votes. Non-resident candidate Hugh Fuller received 563 votes.
Residents in Rehoboth Beach took the time to make their vote count in the races for Mayor and Commissioner in the city.
Early this morning, many voters came to the convention center to have their opinion heard through the push of a button. Most voters told WRDE the character of the city has changed and not to their liking, including first-time city election voter Richard Cronan.
"I like the city and I like how it has become the place that it is," Cronan said. "And, I feel like that may be changing in a bad way if we are not careful. I want to get it back on track."
The biggest concerns among in-person voters were zoning and the opportunity for businesses to grow.
"I think there’s too much hysteria," Frank Gainer said. "I think we need to come to a compromise so Rehoboth can continue to be appealing all types of people. And, I’m hopeful that we can keep going forward like we have been doing."
Overall, keeping the character that Rehoboth Beach has built over the years is what voters want to see translated through the next city officials. Some voters like Robert West think that character should be more focused on the residential areas and a little less on tourism.
"Our (Myself and my neighbors) vision is that there should be a residential flavor to the city," West said. "And, as much as we want to see businesses succeed, we thought there was too much emphasis on bringing people in.
Winners of the election will be sworn in on September 18 at the regular city meeting. The term will last three years.