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Photos by Henry Frederick / The chair assigned to New Smyrna Beach CRA Vice Chairman Steve Dennis is empty Wednesday. To the left (as shown in the photo) is Chairman Charles Belote and to the right is member Chad Shilsky.NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Community Redevelopment Agency Vice Chairman Steve Dennis, who hasn't missed a meeting "in years," was a no-show for Wednesday's meeting at city hall.
Prior to the 2 p.m. meeting, NSBNews.net inquired as to Dennis' standing with the Community Redevelopment Agency since the Observer newspaper vacated its office a week ago. Dennis purportedly is an office holder with the Observer's corporation, Coronado Beach Publishing, but Observer Publisher Michele Lott is the only representative listed on the state's Division of Corporations.
NSBNews.net attended the meeting and asked the CRA for proof of Dennis' membership with the CRA, for which the board attorney, Mark Hall, tersely responded, "We're looking into those questions. We just found out about this yesterday."
According to the New Smyrna Beach city website, the CRA board is composed of seven members who "reside in, work in, or own a business within the CRA District, which means owning a business, practicing a profession, performing a service for compensation, or serving as an officer or director of a corporation or other business entity so engaged. CRA members serve four-year terms."
Dennis, the only original member of the CRA when it was established in 1985, claims to be an officer in the corporation of the Observer newspaper, which was in the CRA district until moving out without notice to the public as to where it was relocating its office.
The Observer made no mention of leaving its office in its print edition Thursday nor has it on its website.
With uncertainty as to where the Observer is actually located, outside of a New Smyrna Beach post office box, Dennis' right to sit on the board is being called into question.
Dennis lives in Edgewater, as does Michele Lott and her husband, Bob Lott.