Coastal Point — August 1, 2025

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Sports

Fun

Biz

Two decades of preserving lives

Celebrating a message in a bottle

Foreigner welcomes IR choir

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AUGUST 1, 2025

THE LOCAL VOICE OF YOUR COMMUNITY.

Volume 22, Issue 31

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IRSD budget cuts include Adult Ed, admin By Laura Walter Staff Reporter To avoid eating up its entire reserve fund, the Indian River School District continues to cut programs and employee positions. This month, the school board voted to “pause” the

Pfaff retires from Sussex County

Community Education program. Previously known as Adult Education, the personal enrichment classes have served both youth (babysitter training, flag football, basketball, lacrosse and more) and adults (parenting workshops, English language classes, financial planning, aerobics,

volleyball and more). “Our proposal is to pause Adult Ed for a period of time until we can get to more stable footing,” said IRSD Superintendent Jay Owens. “We do not make money off our Adult Ed program. This is a nice program to have. … However, we feel that a full-time position in our

business office would be more advantageous to us at this time.” The program manager position’s funding will fold into the IRSD’s finance team.

See IRSD page 3

Sunshine and good times

Longtime economic development director done on July 31 By Susan Canfora Staff Reporter When the subject turned to his retirement, Bill Pfaff, Sussex County’s longtime director of economic development, was philosophical. “Well, you know, all goods things have to come to an end. My last day will be Thursday, July 31. When I started the week, my wife said to me, ‘This is your last Monday,’” Pfaff, a 71-year-old father of one daughter, said. He was named director in 2017 and prior to that was director of Sussex County’s Small Business Development Center. “I think after working for nearly four decades, it’s time to retire. A few years ago, I had a little bit of a health hiccup. I had open-heart surgery two years ago this past May. I had it at the University of Pennsylvania, and I decided then I would probably come back and in two See PFAFF page 6

Special to the Coastal Point • Joe Maciey

Players from USA West (Honolulu, Hawaii) get themselves ready for tournament action at the Senior League Softball World Series, taking place now at the Lower Sussex Little League facility in Roxana. For more coverage, find Homeplate inside.

Fenwick to look at committee structures after reorganization By Kerin Magill Staff Reporter Following its annual reorganization next month, the Fenwick Island Town Council will also begin “restructuring” its long list of committees. A discussion on the topic began at

the council’s Friday, July 25, meeting, introduced by Council Member Susan Brennan, who also chairs the Town’s Planning Commission. Brennan said much of the data from the Town’s 15 committees passes through the Planning Commission and also must be processed by the town staff — which

one resident said later in the meeting is overtaxed because the town council chose not to replace the town manager last year. “In June of this year, staff attended 23 meetings, each of which takes about three hours to prepare for…” Brennan said. “It was kind of staggering to us

when we realized how much time was being used” in attending and preparing for meetings, she said. Mayor Natalie Magdeburger agreed with Brennan’s assessment, to a point, See COMMITTEES page 5


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