Controversial Angler's Club lease to be discussed by NSB commission tonight

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Bouchelle Island resident William Kolesczar said he will ask the New Smyrna Beach City Commission tonight to take legal action to invalidate the Angler's Club lease on the basis "it does not serve a public purpose."

"They have grounds to file a suit right now," Kolesczar said an hour before the scheduled 6:30 p.m. meeting in the DeBerry room on the third floor of the Utilities Commission Building, 200 Canal St.

Koleszcar, an outspoken critic of the Angler's Club, believes its $25 annual lease for 99 years of city-owner waterfront property off the North Causeway, is not paying its fair share of taxes. He said he will point to a March 17 letter given to City Attorney Frank Gummey by Volusia County Appraiser Morgan Gilreath that asserts the Angler's Club is not serving a public purpose, a prerequisite for the lease.

For several months now, the city commissioners and the mayor have held back citizen requests for a lawsuit to sue the Angler's Club to invalidate the lease while Gummey and Interim City Manager Khalid Resheidat have met with members to try and negoitiate some kind of settlement.

There have also been claims raised by residents at public meeting that the Angler's Club has no women or minorities and that at one point, decades ago, restricted membership to white men at least 21 years of age.