ST. PETE BEACH, Fla. — St. Pete Beach resident Donna Miller captured video of workers carrying fans into Mayor Adrian Petrila’s house less than 24 hours after Hurricane Helene had passed and access to the island was still restricted.
“He was cleaning out his own house. Drying it out,” she said. “While people were on the island suffering. Leaders need to lead by example, and that’s not a leader for me.”
Miller said she did not evacuate for the storm because of her pets. She had to flee to her neighbor’s home when Helene’s record-breaking storm surge flooded her home. The next day Miller said she and her friend began driving around the city to see if anyone needed help.
“We went through the neighborhood to see if they were stuck in their vehicles, if they were stuck in their houses,” she said. “If they needed pet food, whatever we had, we could give.”
It was during that time when Miller said they came across the unusual sight of three workers walking into Petrila’s house. Miller recorded 10 seconds of video of the scene from her car and can be heard saying “interesting” on the clip. The resident said at the time she had no idea who owned the house and confronted Petrila.
“I got out of my car and I wanted to know, ‘how did you get these people on the island?’ There are people with nothing. They have no food, no water, their perishables are washed away,” she said. “And he said, ‘Well, I got them on when it was open.’ I go, ‘It was never open. Never.’ We already knew because we tried to get supplies on. So he went back in the house.”
Hurricane Helene’s storm surge hit Pinellas County on the evening of Sept. 26, 2024. The time stamp on Miller’s video at the mayor’s house shows it was taken at 4:57 p.m. on Sept. 27. Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office deputies reopened access for residents, business owners or employees with a Barrier Islands Re-Entry Permit on Sept. 28 at 4 p.m.
“Nobody should have preferential treatment. Nobody should think that they’re above others, especially in this storm,” said Miller. “The only way this community got through it is that we worked together.”
Spectrum News requested an interview with Petrila, but he declined. Instead, Petrila released the following statement:
“As Mayor, I had no authority to allow anyone access across the bridge. That authority rested solely with the Sheriff. Like many residents, my home, which includes a basement, had three feet of water in it and catastrophic damage days after the storm. That damage included a gas leak. I called emergency response, and they responded, thankfully. It was suggested that equipment was needed to expel the gas from the house and it is my understanding the Sheriff allowed supplies to mitigate the gas build up to come across the bridge as to prevent an explosion or damage to other property.”
Miller said Petrila never mentioned a gas leak to her when she confronted him that day. A TECO spokesperson stated Peoples Gas does not have any natural gas pipelines or equipment in that area. There’s a possibility that it could have been a propane gas leak call.
Pinellas Sheriff’s spokesperson Sgt. Jessica Mackesy said the agency has no records of an emergency gas leak call from Petrila’s house, including no dispatch notes, radio traffic or emails. When asked if Petrila received preferential treatment, Sgt. Mackesy released the following statement:
“Reentry after the hurricanes in 2024 was chaotic, to say the least. Many people were given access to the beach communities under different circumstances. We tried to remain consistent, but that was an impossibility given the magnitude of the event. There is only an allegation but no evidence of any preferential treatment. Photos of the Mayor at his home does not mean there was preferential treatment. This allegation is being made during the current political campaign. The Mayor answers to his constituents, and they will decide whether there is an issue. We have no further comment and will not entertain any additional questions on this issue.”
Miller said she sent Sheriff Bob Gualtieri an email outlining her concerns last month and never received a call. Miller’s email stated in part:
“My concern is whether access restrictions, law-enforcement coordination, or emergency response protocols were applied equitably during this period, and whether any special access or priority was granted that may have conflicted with emergency management or public safety policies.”
Miller has since called for the Pinellas Sheriff’s Office to conduct an internal investigation into the matter.
“They let somebody on the island because they were the mayor or preferential treatment. Shame on them,” she said. “I’m sure that he played his card to get in. But if he was going to play his card to get in to save his house, he could have brought a few cases of water to help the neighbors in the process.”
Miller also responded to the allegation she has recently come forward due to an upcoming election in St. Pete Beach.
“Why am I coming out now? Because nobody did anything about it. I wrote the Sheriff. I wrote the Congresswoman (Anna Paulina Luna),” she said. “There’s no answers and nobody’s answering me.”
Miller said she voted for Petrila in his first election but won’t do it again. She has been actively supporting Scott Tate, the fellow Republican challenger, on social media.
“I think we deserve answers,” she said. “We put him in office. So answer the people.”
Petrila is up for re-election and is facing challenger Scott Tate. Petrila said on a social media post that he has been endorsed by Gualtieri. The election is scheduled for March 10.
Josh Rojas
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