TREASURE ISLAND, Fla. — An anonymous Treasure Island city worker shares a passionate message in a letter sent to ABC Action News on Monday.
The anonymous worker calls out a group of community members who have shown up to recent commission meetings with figurative “pitchforks and throwing stones” to scrutinize the work city employees have been doing since Hurricane Helene.
“In this current state of aggression from an isolated few, these individuals have bullied our community into submission,” the anonymous city worker writes in the letter. “At what point do we say enough is enough?”
Former Mayor Tyler Payne says the city has been under siege by a group of citizens who have crossed the line from healthy debate to bullying.
WATCH: Anonymous Treasure Island worker pens bold letter after dozens of resignations
“The keyboard warriors out there are a real issue,” he said.
It’s part of the reason he stepped down in the weeks after Hurricane Helene.
“The climate and the environment that was being created by some community and certain members of the public was becoming extremely hostile,” Payne said.
In fact, Payne, who was the first openly gay mayor of Treasure Island, said he was hit with vile personal attacks on Facebook from fake accounts.
“And that was just mind-blowing,” he said.
According to a city spokesman, 38 Treasure Island city workers have resigned since Helene, including six department heads. On the list of resignations are the city’s public works co-directors, finance director, and community development director.
“There are many times that staff would be booed and jeered at and made comments about,” Payne said.
The former mayor worries that all the hostility and the upheaval it’s causing will make it hard for the city to hire qualified workers in the future.
Chris Clark has a different take.
“The residents aren’t going to go away,” he said.
Clark is one of the homeowners critical of the city’s leadership, and that tough talk got him elected to the city commission in March.
He’s not sure if members of the public are truly bullying city workers.
“Sometimes, today, you just disagree with someone nicely and you’re bullying them,” the commissioner said. “It’s getting to the point where, if you just come to the meeting and disagree with someone and are nice about it, you’re still, you know, labeled a problem.”
Clark said people have a right to be upset after the city’s response to Helene and other previous decisions.
“I’m on the side of earning the residents’ trust back,” he said.
Though nine months have passed, Helene’s impacts are still very much being felt in Treasure Island. Homes and businesses weren’t the only things damaged.
The hostility driving resignations at City Hall is expected to be discussed on Tuesday at 6 p.m. during a city commission meeting.
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