TREASURE ISLAND, Fla. — If you walk or drive around Treasure Island, you’ll still see mounds of debris in people’s front yards.
FEMA held a Town Hall meeting at the Treasure Island City Hall Wednesday night where residents had the opportunity to present their questions to FEMA representatives.
“This is a new experience for everybody, the city and all the people. You know, this hasn’t happened in 100 years. So, we’re all trying to figure it out together,” said Phill Reda, a resident of Treasure Island. Phill and his wife, Sandy, received feet of water in their home and lost everything during Hurricane Milton.
“We feel as though we are going to fix it. We’re not going to rebuild. We’re going to stay within the 50%. We’re going to be getting another private appraisal next week,” said Sandy.
Though they plan on staying on the island, they say they feel for those who can’t. “There’s people that are just walking away from their homes, which is really sad. You know, maybe they didn’t have any insurance, but they are literally putting their house on the market as is and just going back up north or staying with their children,” said Sandy.
Meanwhile, as the road to recovery inches along, residents here were shocked to hear about Treasure Island mayor, Tyler Payne, resigning.
He released a statement on Monday saying it was a hard decision, but after losing his house and still having a full-time job, he just doesn’t have the necessary bandwidth to fulfill his obligations as mayor during this crucial time.
“Former Mayor Payne said in his resignation letter that he resigned because his home was beyond repair. So was everyone else’s! That’s complete malarkey!” said one resident.
Another said, “That’s what we need is strong leadership from the mayor, vice mayor and commission. We need a hero.”
In his place will be John Doctor, who was vice mayor.
“I’m trying to get up to speed on that right now. And, so, less than 24 hours in the position, you know, I’m doing well and I’ve had plenty of calls from the county folks, the state folks and I’m feeling very comfortable in my position right now,” said Mayor Doctor.
Many residents here are frustrated with how slow the rebuilding process is going due to the inspection and permit process. However, Mayor Doctor told me the process should be speeding up soon.
“We now have the inspectors here. They’re doing those substantial assessments right now and the permits are beginning to flow,” explained Mayor Doctor.