MELBOURNE BEACH, Fla. – For the second time, Melbourne Beach’s mayor could be censured when the town commission meets this week.
Mayor Alison Dennington has fallen out of favor in recent months with some residents who say she has cost the town more than $150,000 for defending lawsuits involving her.
Dennington’s opponents said they include the mayor suing the town over a code enforcement dispute with a shed she put on her property.
During a May 21 town commission meeting, former Melbourne Beach Mayor Jim Simmons questioned Mayor Dennington during public comment.
“I have to ask the mayor: why did she move here if this town is so bad?” Simmons asked.
Several other residents asked Dennington to step down.
“I think you need to go away, and we need another mayor,” Amy Rickman said.
“Madame mayor, I think you need to resign,” Stephen Gallagher said.
Now, at Wednesday’s town commission meeting, the commission is expected to have a discussion about censuring Mayor Dennington for the second time.
Posted to the agenda, Commissioner Robert Baldwin wrote that through email Mayor Dennington made unprofessional comments about the town’s attorney and called commissioner Anna Butler an idiot.
Butler addressed the mayor in May.
“You do not publicly embarrass and disparage someone’s character, and it’s also not truthful,” Butler said.
Dennington did have some supporters at the meeting in May, as well.
Kate Wilborn compared her opponents to an angry mob.
“You guys are trying to get up like a lynch mob, like a Jan. 6 thing going, just making the meetings take longer,” she told the audience members, who groaned in response.
Melbourne Beach community correspondent reached out to Mayor Dennington Monday for a response to this story.
Wednesday night’s commission meeting starts at 6 p.m. at the community center on Ocean Avenue.