The Mayor’s Deception

On September 10, 2025, the Town of Melbourne Beach held a special commission meeting to discuss the SAFER grant application for our fire department. This grant represents a critical funding opportunity of approximately $1 million that would significantly contribute to the impending need of converting our fire department to one with paid firefighters. However, what transpired during this meeting raised serious concerns about transparency and trust at the center of our Town Commission.

The Town Attorney revealed a communication that he received through Dave Micka and Chief Gavin Brown. On September 4, 2025, Micka and Brown received an email from FEMA indicating that they received a notice from someone in the Town of Melbourne Beach to withdraw the grant application from the MBVFD due to “fraudulent reporting”. This notice came from someone in an authoritative position. It was confirmed that no one within our Fire Department sent the notice and no one within Town staff sent the notice. All eyes turned toward the members of the Town Commission. CLICK HERE to read the email exchange.

Concern and confusion arose among the residents. They began to question WHO had taken it upon themselves, with NO authority directed by the Commission as a whole, to communicate with the federal agency, FEMA, regarding our fire departments’s grant application in an effort to have it withdrawn.

Previous Commission meetings had shown a majority vote in favor of funding the hybrid model of the fire department with a 4 to 1 vote. Mayor Dennington was the only dissenting vote.

Curiously, that leaves Mayor Dennington in the spotlight once again.

When asked directly by Commissioner Robert Baldwin, Mayor Dennington initially denied contacting FEMA. However, when presented with the evidence - an email showing her involvement - she begrudingly admitted to reaching out but failed to acknowledge the overreach of her actions.

Once again, we have more lies from the Mayor… directly from the dias. This lie was undeniable when Town Manager Elizabeth Mascaro indicated she received an email from FEMA that showed Mayor Dennington’s town email address, acting in the capacity of Mayor, as the person who did, in fact, reach out to FEMA. Mayor Dennington angrily, and disrespectfully, admitted making contact with FEMA, an exchange that several of our commissioners and members of the public found disturbing and considered it to be an egregious overreach by the Town Mayor. (See attached copy of the email)

This incident is not an isolated event; it reflects the continued inability and/or unwillingness of the Mayor to understand the Town’s governance structure. Melbourne Beach operates under a “council-manager” form of government. The town charter designates the town manager as the chief administrative officer responsible for day-to-day operations, while the mayor’s role is specifically to preside over commission meetings and serve as a ceremonial leader. Citizens and commissioners alike are frustrated by this mayor’s actions from the dias and are concerned that she does not understand her role.

Residents who stood at the podium voiced more frustration about Mayor Dennington‘s blatant disrespect during the meeting, citing her abusive comments directed towards our Town Manager, her fellow commissioners, town staff, and anyone from the public who do not agree with her. Brawl-like outbursts from the mayor reflect her inability to maintain decorum. Such behavior was declared unbecoming of an elected official TWICE, during this mayor’s term thus far, in two separate Censure Resolutions. This conduct does not foster the environment of leadership that our community deserves.

There were more disturbing moments during commission meetings when Mayor Dennington’s allies, like commission candidate Steve Walters, were allowed to verbally abuse individual commissioners from the podium. During this particular meeting, Mayor Dennington allowed Steve Walters to disrespectfully flip off Commissioner Anna Butler from the back of the room. This abhorrent behavior by commission candidate Walters clearly shows he is not leadership material and is not anyone who should be elected to our Town Commission.

It is essential for us, the residents of the Town of Melbourne Beach, to recognize that allowing these actions sets a dangerous precedent. If we don’t hold our elected officials accountable for their actions and words, we risk normalizing chaos and dishonesty within our town governance. We need to elect commission candidates who stand for stability, respect and civility - qualities exemplified by candidate Dr. Terry Cronin.

During this same meeting, Mayor Dennington rudely made unfounded accusations against Town Manager Elizabeth Mascaro while disregarding the facts presented to her - a clear display of poor leadership fueled by personal vendettas. Additionally, Mayor Dennington belittled one of our neighbors after his public comment by calling him, “creepy” as he walked away from the podium. This should be unacceptable to all of us! It does nothing but show her instability as a leader, further eroding trust between officials and citizens. CLICK HERE to view replay on YouTube.

Chief Gavin Brown assured the Commission and the residents that the grant application was 100% true and accurate information as prepared and submiited to FEMA. At the end of the meeting, the Commission voted 3 to 2 to affirm the Town Commission’s decision to direct the Town Attorney to tell FEMA to proceed with their consideration for the MBVFD’s application for the SAFER Grant. Mayor Dennington and Commissioner Reed held the dissenting votes.

Anyone who attends, or views, a commission meeting can quickly observe Mayor Dennington’s abuse of power. She is argumentative, divisive, and has a complete absence of understanding of her role as directed by our Town Charter.

Mayor Dennington tries to convince the residents of our town, that she is “clawing back” money from the budget to save them taxes. This is nothing short of a desperate and appalling attempt to derail the SAFER grant, the future of our fire department and the safety of town residents. Mayor Dennington is not telling the full truth. While her aim to cut money out out of the town’s budget may appear to be on target to save town residents taxes… It will do the exact opposite!

We are eager to share details prepared by commission candidate Sherri Quarrie presenting her detailed research that will provide each and every household in our town the proof of how much our individual households will be assessed by the county if the MBVFD is dismantled. Sherri’s formula will be shared for the public to utilize and to truly understand that while the taxes we pay directly to the town would go down under Dennington’s plan, the actual out-of-pocket money paid in taxes to the county by each and every household WILL GO UP substantially.

Dennington’s plan is a ruse. Plain and simple.

Dennington’s actions are deceptive. Plain and simple.

To receive more News and Updates from Truth and Accuracy Matter, CLICK HERE.