Candidate Forum
A huge THANK YOU to the League of Women’s Voters in Brevard County for hosting the Town of Melbourne Beach Candidate Forum on Tuesday, October 21st. If you missed it, you can watch it on YouTube. CLICK HERE
It was a great opportunity to see the points that each candidate made. Let’s take a look at each one in general then we will get into the details. To stay with the format of going in alphabetical order, we will start with Dr. Terry Cronin.
Dr. Cronin was very comfortable and confident. He answered the questions plainly, showing a genuine interest in serving the community as neighbors working together. It was clearly evident that he has spent a lot of time researching the issues affecting our town, even going into the history of our Town Charter and Comprehensive Plan. He talked about walking around town, talking to neighbors and listening to their concerns.
Bruce Larson, on the other hand, was rigid in his demeanor. He read every response from a script and never even cracked a smile. His focus was uncomfortably based on his negative personal views of our town governance. He appeared to be more concerned about processes than he is about the townspeople. He made claims of, “lack of transparency, lack of long-term planning, lack of trust, no measurable outcomes, no goals, and fragility of the Town that invests blindly.”
Sherri Quarrie had a calming presence as she connected with the audience on a personal level. She made it clear that she was running to serve YOU and is committed to continue looking for alternatives to add revenue to the Town budget in ways other than taxing the residents. Her answers to the questions were based on reality and facts, particularly concerning storm water and enforcing Town ordinances. Safety for residents is big on her list!
Steve Walters tried pulling the wool over everyone’s eyes by claiming peace and harmony, but ultimately couldn’t stop himself from spewing lies and his distorted memory of the past. Almost every question was answered with some weird reply that went off about things like heroin addicts, a $5 million bond that the Town mismanaged, taxing residents out of their homes with a 60% tax increase and his desire for a super-majority on the Commission.
One Town resident shared her comments of the Candidate Forum on Nextdoor. Luckily we saved it because the biased moderators, Gail Gowdy and Kristi Larson (Bruce Larson’s wife), already reported it and removed it. Read it here:
Nextdoor post removed by “moderators” claiming it was “SPAM”
Without addressing all eleven questions here in this article, we do want to cover the key take-aways.
Question #2 was about Short Term Rentals
Cronin recognizes the need to keep our code enforcement staff from quitting so the Town can concentrate on “enforcing the short term rental regulations better.”
Larson bragged about co-authoring updates to the short term ordinance and agreed with Dr. Cronin on enforcement.
Quarrie said STRs are a “plague throughout the country.” She is vested in what’s best for the community. She pointed out that she is the one who initiated the first Vacation Rental Ordinance.
Walters talked about “heroin addicts and taxing residents out of their homes”… very hard to follow his thought process.
Question #4 asked the candidates how they would Balance the services we need with rising costs of living
Cronin pointed out that the Town’s services are funded through our budget all while having the “3rd lowest millage rate in the county.” He shared a chart showing how our millage rate is lower today than it was five years ago.
Larson missed the point that our Town’s services are being met, while claiming that our “budget is just guesswork and has no measurable outcomes.” He claimed that millage is “not the story.” Larson doesn’t seem to understand that millage rate is what drives our budget.
Quarrie was quick to state facts… “The biggest part of our $5 million budget is approx. $1 million for fire and $1.6 million for police,” which addresses the biggest needs of our town. She supports grants to bring in more money to the Town.
Walters dismissed any importance to the millage rate, stating, “You can talk all you want about millage rate,” emphasizing, “We need to stop spending money on employees. We used to have 26... now we have 35.” (Fact: we have 24) He also claimed, “Town taxes have gone up 60%” (Fact: For example, Walters’ TMB taxes were $695.33 in 2019 and $857.61 in 2025… that is a 23.1% increase in 6 years). Two lies in one minute… great job Steve Walters!
FYI: A millage rate is the number the town uses to turn your house’s taxable value into the amount of property tax you must pay. One mill = $1 of tax for every $1,000 of taxable value.
How it works, step by step:
1. The town figures out how much money it needs for services (fire, police, roads, stormwater, recreation, parks, payroll).
2. The county decides how much your house is worth and applies any exemptions (Military, Homestead and Save Our Homes).
3. The town divides the money it needs for services by the total taxable value of all homes to get the millage rate.
4. The Melbourne Beach portion of your tax bill = (Your taxable value ÷ 1,000) × Millage rate.
Question #5 asked the candidates for their Solution to Storm Water Drainage
Cronin referenced an article in Space Coast Living magazine where, “The Town of Melbourne Beach was featured for our swales and ribbon curbing along Orange St.” He noted that it helped mitigate the sub-terrainian pipes and allowed the storm water to perculate through the ground to purify the water rather than send it straight through drainage pipes.
Larson proposed ranking the priority of service to residents, stating that, “Citizens need to understand where they stand.” He made a haircut analogy, saying, “We have to pay attention to it every year” and, “We haven’t invested in it for several years,” going on to say, “We are flying blind.” No solutions were offered by Larson.
Quarrie presented the hard truth, “The stormwater pipes are from the 50s & 60s… Roads cave in, creating an emergency situation. The money needs to be spent,” further emphasizing, “Prices keep going up and up and up.” Her solution is to keep putting money aside while servicing the needs during emergencies.
Walters claimed , “A few years ago, the Town passed a $5 million bond and a $3 million grant from State or Federal, or both to fix some storm drains and fix some roads.” He complained that, ”He doesn’t know what we’re doing with our stormwater money.”
FYI: It was a $3.5 million bond issued in 2009, with a final cost, including financing of $5 million. This bond will actually be paid off this year. Former Town Manager Mascaro saved the taxpayers 3 years of interest by paying it off early. The bond money was used to do stormwater repairs primarily on Avenue A, Avenue B and Sunset Blvd. Currently, our Stormwater Reserve Fund has $1.5 million. These funds can only be spent on stormwater. It requires a Resolution from the Finance Department for the Commission to approve and vote before any monies can be moved between departments. Past and current Commissions have not voted to move stormwater funds into any other fund.
Question #6 asked the candidates their views on the Fire Department
Cronin does not support going to the county for fire services, “It will cost residents more and we will get less.” He pointed out that our Town budget may look better without that expense, but “every person in Melbourne Beach will have to pay more to the County.” He trusts our Fire Chief and wants to keep our Town Fire Department.
Larson read his entire answer from a script using a lot of buzz words like, “regulatory environment and sustainability.” Throwing out comments like, “not just invest blindly,” and “we need to set a goal,” and even added, “we need initiatives to enhance the department’s focus.” He had no comment about his level of support for our Town Fire Department.
Quarrie supports the hybrid model of combining paid firefighters and volunteers to keep our Fire Dept in the Town. She developed a Fire Tax Formula to show each household how much more money they would pay if we revert to the County.
Walters wants to keep the fire department “Just like it is,” and stated that, “It’s up to the residents to vote, not 3 members of the Commission.” He added, “We have a fire every 5 years.”
Question #9 asked about the Three Pending Lawsuits Against the Town
Cronin said, “It seems the Mayor is in conflict with herself,” continuing on to say, “To lead the Town and sue the Town doesn’t make sense to me. We are in conflict with ourselves.”
Larson said, “It’s everyone’s right to sue,” adding, “In this case, we haven’t had a significant financial impact.” He stated, “The parties should sit down and talk through the issues,” finishing with, “I think the settlement process should progress.”
Quarrie said, “It should have to go through the court system,” adding, “I don’t think anyone on Commission is qualified to reach a settlement. It should go through the judicial system.”
Walters said, “The lawsuits are in settlement now,” adding, “And… but… that’s the way you do it!” He went on to justify Mayor Dennington’s actions in support of her lawsuits against the Town.
Truth and Accuracy Matter has followed these lawsuits from the beginning. Mayor Dennington’s personal lawsuits against the Town of Melbourne Beach have cost the Town taxpayers $163,538.50 as of September 17, 2025. The lawsuits are NOT “in settlement now.” Mayor Dennington is demanding $56,350.47 in her settlement offer. CLICK HERE
There are many questions that need to be addressed concerning the settlement offer and the Mayor’s lawsuits. In our next article, we will be sharing local Attorney J. Andrew Weerts’ formal letter requesting clarification of “questionable, ethical behavior that occurred” during the October RTCM when our Town Attorney presented Mayor Dennington’s settlement offer. We will be following up with a copy of his letter in a future article. Please sign up for News and Updates. CLICK HERE.
