While St. Pete Beach residents were locked out after Hurricane Helene, the Mayor was already having repairs done

One day after Hurricane Helene skirted past the Tampa Bay area on Sept. 26, 2024, leaving devastating flooding, St. Pete Beach residents were still blocked from returning to their homes to survey damage, as crews worked to ensure it was safe to return.

Yet even as residents grew anxious to see what remained of their homes and communities, St. Pete Beach Mayor Adrian Petrila was already on the island and, it appears, already taking steps to repair his flooded home.

On Sept. 27, 2024, the city of St. Pete Beach posted a warning on Facebook informing residents that access points to the local barrier islands “remain closed today” as “crews from the county and impacted municipalities continue to work on clearing impassable roadways, removing dangerous debris, restoring power, and addressing other infrastructure issues including returning power to our sanitary sewer system.”

The post went on to caution residents that they “should plan to spend multiple days away from their houses.”

That same day, a local resident who had remained on the island to weather the storm captured video at Petrila’s home of what appears to be crews bringing in fans to dry flood areas.

Donna Miller had stayed on the island with a neighbor — a decision she said many residents made after weathering numerous storms without much damage and with no risks to safety. This time was different, as flooding impacted much of the island, leaving homes badly damaged.

She told Florida Politics that she and others who had stayed behind were unable to obtain water, food or other supplies as the barrier islands remained closed because they were told they could leave the island, but would not be able to return until access was restored. Not wanting to miss out on time to address flood damage, many continued to stay.

Instead, Miller and a friend hopped in her car to check on other neighbors. In doing so, they came across Petrila’s home, where video Miller took shows a crew carrying several large fans into the home. The video is just 10 seconds long, but Petrila’s address is visible in the footage and metadata on the video confirms it was taken the day after the hurricane. Petrila is also visible in the garage.

Miller said she stopped filming to confront the homeowner. Said she didn’t realize it was the Mayor until after the confrontation.

Miller told Florida Politics that during the interaction, she asked Petrila, “How is it that you have workers cleaning out your house when people need food and supplies?”

He responded, according to Miller, that the men had already been on the island, a claim Miller said she doubts.

“It seemed like he played the Mayor card to get them in,” she said.

Florida Politics reached out to Petrila on Monday via his city email asking about the video. The email included questions about how workers were able to bring supplies to his house. As of Wednesday, he had still not responded.

Miller, meanwhile, has sent letters to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office and to U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna complaining about what she perceived as Petrila misusing his authority as Mayor for personal benefit.

“A Mayor who puts himself before the people needs to find another career,” Miller told Florida Politics. “What he did was horrible. Instead of getting trucks on the island with emergency supplies, he got blowers and workers on the island.”

Petrila, a Republican, is up for re-election this year. He faces fellow Republican Scott Tate in what is expected to be a tight race. Petrila is the top fundraiser in the race, but only barely. Tate has nearly matched Petrila’s fundraising, with new fourth-quarter totals showing he has brought in just over $14,000, only $1,300 less than Petrila.

The tighter-than-usual fundraising in a beach town election cycle that is more often than not a quiet affair comes as Petrila faces criticism for proposing to impose tolls at the north, central and southern access points to the island to fund ongoing infrastructure repairs and improvements following back-to-back hurricanes in 2024 that devastated the island.

Despite his plan exempting residents, employees and business owners, it has been controversial, with some worrying such tolls would reduce tourism and other revenue-generating traffic on St. Pete Beach.

And Petrila, like neighboring St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch, who is also facing intraparty opposition for his re-election, is also earning resident frustration over a permitting backlog following the hurricanes that is ongoing as residents continue to rebuild. While Tate has not directly weighed in on the tolling issue, he has lamented that the permitting red tape is a failure of leadership.

Petrila is facing his first re-election contest after first being elected in 2023, when he unseated then-incumbent Alan Johnson.

The St. Pete Beach municipal election is March 10.