Cordelia W. Bennett

Ruth Ann Minner didn't provide the response that Delaware City Mayor Cordelia "Dee" Bennett was hoping for.
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"I was somewhat disappointed," Bennett said.
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"We're going to continue to try and get this changed," said Bennett, who sent Minner the letter after more than 100 residents attended a council meeting to discuss the issue.

"It's too close for the number of people that use the park to have a program like this right there," said Delaware City Mayor Cordelia W. Bennett.

A statement given to service providers bidding to run the state-sponsored program described prospective residents of the program as having "a history of sexual offending behavior and presenting some degree of a re-offending risk."

At a public hearing Monday, facility organizers explained plans for the group home.After the meeting, Bennett said she urged about 100 concerned residents at the hearing to write letters to Minner in opposition to the plan.

"I feel like this was something they tried to sneak through on us," said Bennett.

Delaware City Mayor Cordelia "Dee" Bennett thinks of a worst-case scenario if the state opens a five-bed group home for developmentally disabled men with sexually offensive behavior on the grounds of the Governor Bacon Health Center, adjacent to the town.

Cordelia W. Bennett , Mayor , City of Delaware City , Delaware

At the same time, Delaware City Mayor Cordelia "Dee" Bennett expressed concern about the promptness of community alerts Tuesday and called for the development of a better system of notifying neighbors about accidents.Emergency response officials activated a reverse-911 system shortly before 4 p.m. Tuesday, intending to contact 6,000 residents in southern New Castle County.The alert was called off at 5:30 p.m., and fewer than 900 homes had been reached."In this case, they used reverse 911, but it's not complete," Bennett said."It shouldn't happen again."Speaking at the Delaware City Days celebration Saturday, Bennett said she wants the problem of delayed community alerts resolved before another incident occurs.
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Bennett and other town officials said they did not learn of the situation until they called the refinery to find out what was happening.

Typically, a crowd of several thousand gathers in the park for the free fireworks show, said Delaware City Mayor Cordelia Bennett.

The show, she said, is better than New York City's on the Fourth of July.

"You will get your money's worth," Bennett said of the fireworks, which cost about $14,000 this year.The city pays for the festival through a state grant and local fundraisers.

Long before the fireworks, festival-goers were having fun.

Delaware City Mayor Cordelia W. Bennett said she knew the law had taken effect, but was unaware of the recent penalty or plans for investing proceeds near the refinery.

"Potentially, it could be a very good thing," Bennett said.