Who is minding the store at the Buffalo Economic Renaissance Corp., the city’s embattled economic development agency?

Not the agency’s chairman, Mayor Byron W. Brown, according to a check of attendance records of the agency’s governing board.

When Brown attended an emergency board meeting last week — called in apparent violation of the state’s Open Meetings Law — it was the first one the mayor had showed up for since December. He skipped meetings held in January, April, May and June.

The May and June meetings followed publication of a Buffalo News investigation about the agency’s central role in the failed One Sunset restaurant deal. During those meetings the agency board took steps to address problems reported by The News.

Still, the mayor is doing better than his political ally, Brian C. Davis, who represents the Common Council on the agency board. The Ellicott District Council member hasn’t attended a board meeting since last November.

A News review of board minutes dating to January 2007 that are posted on the agency’s Web site shows one more chronic no-show — Deputy Mayor Steve Casey. He failed to attend any of the eight board meetings last year while he served on the board, before stepping down late last year, according to board minutes.

Here’s the attendance records for Brown, Davis and Casey over the past 2z years, according to board minutes:

Brown: Attended eight of 20 meetings.

Davis: Attended six of 13.

Casey: Attended four of 14.

“I guess this makes it easier to believe them when they’re always claiming they don’t know anything,” said Michael LoCurto, who represents the Delaware District on the Common Council and serves as chairman of its committee on community development.

“If they’re not going to go to the meetings, they shouldn’t be on the board. You don’t expect 100 percent attendance, especially with someone as busy as the mayor, but that many absences shows a real pattern,” he said.

Davis, who is under criminal investigation by the State Police and Erie County district attorney, did not return a telephone call seeking comment. Neither Brown nor Casey responded to an interview request placed with mayoral spokesman Peter Cutler.

Cutler said he wasn’t in a position to know whether Brown or Casey had scheduling conflicts that could have precluded their attendance but said that was a possibility.

He also said their absence did not prevent the board from having sufficient members present for a quorum. The board has 11 members.

“The business of the board was never affected whether the mayor was there or not,” Cutler said.

In addition to city officials, the agency’s governing board consists largely of banking and other business professionals. The board oversees an operation with an annual operating budget of about $2.5 million and 35 to 40 employees. Most of its funding is derived, directly or indirectly, from community development block grant funds, provided by the federal government to combat poverty and blight.

The agency makes loans and grants to promote economic development downtown and in the neighborhoods, and it owns or manages commercial properties, including the Broadway Market, the Market Arcade, and two business incubators. The agency also administers the city’s Empire Zone program.

The agency has been rocked by several controversies in recent months.

In May, The News reported that the agency provided One Sunset, a new restaurant operated by a former college basketball star with no restaurant management experience, $110,000 in loans and grants. In addition, agency Vice President Michelle Barron helped owner Leonard Stokes manage the restaurant, which closed in December and owes creditors more than $230,000.

Earlier this month, The News reported that the agency’s staff, without informing the board, broadened its health insurance options to extend coverage to domestic partners. Agency President Brian Reilly then added the woman he lives with to his policy.

Brown reacted to that story by demanding, and receiving, Reilly’s resignation as agency president July 8, while allowing him to stay on as the city’s commissioner of economic development, permits and inspections.

Later that day, the agency called an emergency board meeting to discuss the resignation. Officials, however, failed to notify the media and public of the meeting, as required by the state’s Open Meetings Law.

Divitta Alexander, the agency’s attorney, said the meeting was called on short notice and there wasn’t sufficient time to call the media or post a public notice, aside from one posted inside agency offices.

“This was an urgent meeting,” she said.

But Robert Freeman, executive director of the State Committee on Open Government, said the law requires notification even under rushed conditions.

“There is always time. Compliance with the notice requirements of the Open Meetings Law is easy,” he said.

“The law requires that notice of the time and location be given to the news media ‘to the extent practicable’ at a reasonable time prior to the meeting. It is always practicable, in my opinion, to provide notice by phone or via e-mail,” Freeman said.

By not notifying the media of the meeting, Brown was able to announce Reilly’s resignation the following day in a news release. In the release, Brown portrayed himself as a reformer, while also saying he was not aware of the changes made to employee health insurance options.