Delaware State Capitol Building in Dover, Delaware
By Bradley Vasoli
A government-reform nonprofit is urging Delaware lawmakers to reverse course on their plans for Legislative Hall expansion, renovations, and garage construction.
The Delaware Coalition for Open Government (DelCOG), an organization of activists, politicians, and journalists founded in 2006 to advocate state-government accountability and transparency, sees the Dover project as too pricey for too little public benefit.
Delaware’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is requesting authorization of $120 million for the additions.
Legislators’ vision entails roughly doubling the size of Legislative Hall and building a garage atop the parking lot, which sits south of the hall. An underground tunnel would connect the legislative offices to the garage.
OMB said the entire project is still projected to cost $122 million. Completion of the garage portion, for which over $20 million has been allocated, is all but certain, according to Chief House Clerk Rich Puffer. Ground will likely be broken next spring, he said.
DelCOG board member John Flaherty, formerly a lobbyist with Common Cause Delaware, testified before the OMB against the plans at Haslet Armory on Nov.13. He told Delaware Live the cost could not be justified for a 62-member legislature that is scheduled to convene for only 42 days next year — less than 12 percent of the year. More confounding, he says, is that lawmakers are seeking the new garage space despite already having designated parking for themselves and what he considers ample parking for legislative staff and visitors.
Would funding be better spent elsewhere?
“To me, it’s just overkill,” he said. “They’re just spending $120 million when there’re many other worthy and needy projects that should take that kind of money. And these legislators were built to serve the public; the public is not here to serve them and that’s what I think this project is: very self-serving.”
DelCOG, an all-volunteer group, works on a range of issues, including open records, court fees, and local zoning commission concerns. For the last six years, the nonprofit has focused on urging the creation of a Delaware Inspector General office to ensure enforcement of new statutes. DelCOG cites laws seeking to mitigate lead pollution and to facilitate table-games revenue collection as needing stronger enforcement mechanisms.
Whether the pushback prevails against any planned construction depends on what happens over the next few months. Now that OMB’s hearing series has concluded, incoming Governor Matt Meyer (D) will determine his draft budget and present it to the General Assembly in January 2025. Later in the winter, the Joint Finance Committee will hold hearings and eventually produce budget legislation, some version of which must be adopted by June 30.
Flaherty said Legislative Hall last expanded 25 years ago, adding new hall wings and larger hearing facilities, a move he described as “much needed.”
But he characterized the new planned construction and renovations as an extravagant “Taj Mahal project” and noted state legislators already have offices in the Carvel State Office Building in Wilmington as well as Dover’s Legislative Hall. He added that Delaware has plenty of vacant office space that the General Assembly could rent from private entities if necessary.
While he acknowledged that legislators also sometimes hold committee meetings that don’t fall on session days, he pointed out parking and meeting spaces are abundant when the legislature isn’t in session. He also contended that teleconferencing capabilities have advanced so greatly as to lessen the need for vast in-person meeting space.
Puffer explained that the Legislative Hall augmentation will largely consist of new staff offices rather than those for lawmakers, the former of which he argued are now insufficient in number. He also said more conference areas are needed because only two House committee meetings can realistically transpire at the same time.
On the garage, the chief clerk argued that it is often very difficult for members of the public to find nearby parking, particularly given the other government and court buildings located in that section of the state Capitol.
Legislative Hall expansion will start with parking
The current design envisions 240 spaces for visitors, 93 for legislators and staff, and four for people with disabilities. Officials don’t yet anticipate charging the public to use the garage.
Puffer added that the Legislative Hall expansion will cover some pre-existing parking spaces on the building’s east side as well, necessitating an alternative.
“The point is to get the parking garage built first, then start on the addition,” he said. “That way, everybody has enough parking while the addition’s going on and we lose a number of public spots.”
The next Legislative Building Committee meeting will be open to the public. It will be held on December 10 at the Legislative Hall’s House Majority Hearing Room (H217) at 12:30 p.m. It will be video-streamed, and information can be found on the General Assembly website.
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