Fenwick Island Police Chief John J. Devlin’s lawyer has emailed a letter to the Town Council demanding they pay his legal fees and reverse their decision not to renew his contract.
The email, authored by Wilmington attorney Thomas Neuberger and dated June 20, claims the decision was made in retaliation after Devlin reported an incident in which he claims Mayor Natalie Madgeburger “illegally” entered the Police Department.
Without explanation, on May 1, Madgeburger handed Devlin a letter notifying him the town would allow his contract to expire Aug. 31, rather than take the option to renew it for two more years. Devlin said he was shocked, having been lauded for his 20 years of service in March.
Madgeburger told Delaware Online/The News Journal in May the decision was the result of an April 28 Town Council executive session, but that it is against town policy to discuss personnel matters. When asked for comment on Neuberger’s letter, she said Thursday it is in neither the chief’s nor the town’s best interest to discuss it.
The town continues to search for a new chief, Madgeburger said.
Two versions of events
Neuberger’s email centers around what Devlin alleges happened April 23, while Devlin was away at a conference.
Around 9:30 p.m., Neuberger wrote, Madgeburger “entered two different security codes on gaining entrance through two doors into the back of the Police Department into the areas where six secure computer stations were located containing highly confidential ‘Criminal Justice Information’ relating to local and national criminal activity data and other sensitive information.”
Background:Longtime Fenwick police chief’s contract not renewed. He says he has ‘no indication’ why
“On duty police officers then engaged the Mayor and escorted her out of the secure area,” he continued.
It’s unknown how many times Madgeburger may have previously entered the Police Department, Neuberger said.
Devlin, when reached by phone, said there is video proof of his claims, but declined to provide it.
Madgeburger’s version of events April 23 is markedly different.
“For years, members of Town Council and Town staff have had access to the Town’s police building through the use of a security door code. Chief Devlin had personally provided the Mayor with the security door code to gain access to the building and had shown her how to use it,” she said in a statement.
Madgeburger went on to say she used the code on the first door but not the second, and that one of the officers inside opened the second door. She said she went to the department to obtain a schedule, while Devlin said she had already been emailed the schedule.
Madgeburger did not seek or gain access to any information contained within the Delaware Criminal Justice Information System, housed on certain Police Department computers, she said.
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“The Mayor and the Town Council take security very seriously. The Town Council will request, and will fully cooperate with, a thorough, professional and independent investigation and review of procedures and actual events regarding security at the Town‘s police building,” Madgeburger said in a May statement.
Devlin reported the incident “to the appropriate State officials” the next day, according to Neuberger’s email, and ordered the two security codes be changed. That day and the next, Madgeburger “or her agent demanded the new security codes from Chief Devlin’s subordinate who was the security officer,” Neuberger wrote.
Neuberger claims the close proximity of Devlin’s report on April 24 and the notification of his nonrenewal on May 1 indicates the two are related. Madgeburger said the timing was due to the terms of Devlin’s employment agreement, which required he be notified by May 1.
Was there a DELJIS violation?
According to its website, the Delaware Criminal Justice Information System is “the central state agency responsible for providing efficient and reliable development and operation of the hardware, software, network and database which comprise the criminal justice information system.”
While Devlin claims Madgeburger accessed the area in which DELJIS computers are housed, he has not claimed she accessed the system, and Madgeburger has said outright she did not.
Whether the mayor’s unauthorized entry into the police station is a punishable crime is unclear. Neuberger’s letter implies it is.
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Whether DELJIS is investigating the incident, or has declined to, is also unclear.
Executive Director Spencer Price said in an email he could not comment on “specific situations.” Delaware Online/The News Journal submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for information on recent security breaches, which has not yet been fulfilled.
What the letter threatens
“Apparently, the Town and its Mayor wish to undermine the law enforcement function and have a police department subservient to the wishes of its Mayor and other elected officials,” Neuberger wrote. “This is a slippery slope which can only lead to corruption.”
If the nonrenewal of Devlin’s contract is indeed an act of retaliation, it’s a violation of his First Amendment rights, according to Neuberger.
“Each of you shall have to explain to a federal court and jury how you justified your vote to get rid of Chief Devlin,” Neuberger wrote to the Town Council.
He went on to point out Sussex County’s last First Amendment retaliation case (in which a jury found a Sussex Technical School district employee was not promoted because she cooperated in an investigation against a superintendent) resulted in the plaintiff being awarded over $1 million in damages.
“My client will be able to recover not just his lost wages and benefits but also additional damages to compensate him for emotional distress, injury to reputation and the humiliation he suffered,” Neuberger said.
That’s in addition to punitive damages against each separate council member and attorney’s fees, according to Neuberger, which are often over $1 million.
No suit has been filed, to date.
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Politics in a tiny beach town
Fenwick Island, with its population of about 500, begins in the north with Fenwick Island State Park. It exists on a narrow strip of land between the Atlantic Ocean and Little Assawoman Bay, with the residents and businesses building up along Coastal Highway until it reaches the state line and turns into Ocean City, Maryland.
It’s considered one of Delaware’s “quiet resorts,” and there’s much debate about how to keep it that way. The town has faced several lawsuits in recent years as it wrestles with change and growth.
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In August 2021, there was a shakeup in town politics. Fenwick’s town manager, town solicitor, two council members and 15 committee members resigned, just as four incumbent Town Council members lost their elections to newcomers.
Former council members Gardner Bunting and Bernie Merritt were not up for election in 2021 and had years left in their terms, yet resigned due to the “misleading” and “distorted” information spread in the new council members’ campaigns, they told Delaware Online/The News Journal.
Madgeburger, an attorney herself, was one of the newcomers. The only incumbent left was her mother, Vicki Carmean. Carmean was then named mayor, and last year, her daughter succeeded her in the position.
Meanwhile, Devlin has spent over 20 years with the Fenwick Island Police Department, becoming chief in 2020. He replaced William Boyden, who was indicted on and eventually pleaded guilty to charges of falsifying reports to the Delaware Council on Police Training related to firearm “certifications and qualifications.”
Up until he received the letter from Madgeburger, Devlin said there was no indication his contract would not be renewed.
He had been lauded by the Town Council in March for his 20 years of service and given his own parking sign. According to Neuberger, Devlin received a 48 out of 50 in his last employee evaluation.
“Just seems strange,” he said in May. “Praising me one month and then, the next month, saying you don’t want my services anymore.”
Shannon Marvel McNaught reports on Sussex County and beyond. Reach her at smcaught@gannett.com or on Twitter @MarvelMcNaught
