Tyler Payne

06/25/2025

Ready for another Lealman CRA Advisory Committee meeting!

04/10/2025

Glad to see they are keeping the historic sign!

The iconic Thunderbird Beach Resort , a Treasure Island landmark for the past 68 years, is set to be completely demolished and rebuilt after sustaining catastrophic damage caused by last year’s back-to-back hurricanes. The courtyard-style resort, located at 10700 Gulf Boulevard , was among many p

03/26/2025

Lots of great memories in this building! Sad to see it go, but excited for the future opportunities on this property!

03/25/2025

⚠️ Treasure Island Residents: BEWARE OF COMMISSIONER CHRIS CLARK and CVTI ⚠️

It’s time that we all open our eyes to what the group calling themselves Citizens' Voice of Treasure Island is really about. They will stop at nothing in their quest to destroy our city under the guise of “informing the residents”. In reality, they want to control things themselves and they will lie straight to your face to get the results they want.

While they claim to have 600 members (which by the way is only 10% of our population even if it were true), thats really just the number of people they have on their email distribution list, which they add people to without consent. In reality, if is a small group of disgruntled residents causing big waves at Commission Meetings. As multiple Commissioners attested to at the last meeting, CVTI has intimidated normal residents from speaking up because they don’t want you to know just how small they are. People are scared of what people from CVTI are going to say about them on social media attacking them. And the attacks don’t have to be true because CVTI leaders don’t have any regard for the truth.

‼️ Here’s a prime example of their tactics that happened this morning.

Newly elected City Commissioner Chris Clark (who was heavily backed by CVTI) made some pretty strong accusations about me and my family in a TI Residents Facebook group. When I responded to defend myself and correct the lies he was telling, he promptly deleted his comment.

Instead of owning up to the lies and misinformation he was spreading, he took the coward’s way out and just deleted it. (Which by the way is a violation of the Florida Public Records law, now that he is an elected official and could be considered a 3rd Degree Felony… and I will be reporting this to the Florida Commission on Ethics to investigate)

This is the type of person aligned with CVTI. And the person who now represents about 25% of TI Residents. He has been attacking me and my character repeatedly since the hurricanes. And until now, I’ve been brushing it off trying to ignore it. But then I realized… that sort of behavior is exactly what our residents are experiencing. It’s easier for them to “avoid the drama” and “just not respond” for fear of making the situation worse or getting attacked even further.

When I watched the first Commission meeting Commissioner Clark was in office for, I witnessed him trying to delay a vote because he didn’t have enough time to do his homework. So this is already becoming a trend just one week into Commissioner Clark’s term! Can’t be bothered to do some simple research to validate his claims about me on social media and can’t be bothered to do his homework on important matters that come before the Commission.

Someone with this sort of character should not be sitting behind the dais representing TI residents. TI deserves better.

02/11/2025

Excited for my next step into public service. Today, I was appointed to the Lealman Community Redevelopment Area (CRA) Advisory Board by the Pinellas County Commission!

Our family businesses have been headquartered in Lealman since 1970 and I have worked in this community for the past 10 years. I'm looking forward to learning more about the plans for the community and providing insight from a business owner's perspective.

The purpose of the Citizen Advisory Committee is to advise the Community Redevelopment Agency for the Lealman CRA on the community redevelopment plan and any amendments thereto, and on issues and policies with the Lealman CRA. The committee was created to set up the framework for establishing and administering the Lealman Community Redevelopment Area.

02/10/2025

So excited to see this project finally getting started! This will become a great example of coastal resilience once completed.

10/28/2024

With a very heavy heart, I’m announcing my resignation as the Mayor of The City of Treasure Island, Florida.

The last three and a half years have been the greatest honor of my life representing the residents of Treasure Island. While it pains my heart to make this decision in the midst of our recovery from Hurricanes Helene and Milton, this is the best decision for me and my family.

As we recover from these storms, it is going to be critical for the Mayor to dedicate a significant amount of time to lead our community through the process. At this point in my professional and personal life, I unfortunately do not have the necessary bandwidth to fulfill that need. In addition to my role with the City, I have a full time job with my family business. We are in a critical growth phase right now and it is going to require my full effort and attention.

My husband and I have also made the difficult decision to relocate off the island. Just like the majority of our residents, our home and my parents’ home (my childhood home) both on Paradise Island were completely flooded and damaged beyond repair. While my parents will rebuild and we will fortunately continue to have those roots in Treasure Island, my husband and I cannot afford to do the same. That being said, I completely empathize with the difficult decisions that are facing so many of our residents. We aren’t moving far and I intend to remain an active part of the Treasure Island community that I love so much.

I am confident that our Vice Mayor John Doctor will step into my role and serve the residents with the highest level of passion and dedication.

Send a message to learn more

10/28/2024

Have questions about the FEMA 50% rule or other disaster-related concerns?

FEMA is hosting two town hall meetings for Barrier Island residents:
⏩ Monday, Oct. 28
Tradewinds Hotel (St. Pete Beach)
5500 Gulf Blvd
5:30 p.m.

⏩ Tuesday, Oct. 29
Redington Shores City Hall
17425 Gulf Blvd
6 p.m.

Although the city of Treasure Island requested a local event, FEMA has selected these two locations so far. The city will continue working to try to bring a town hall event here.

For more information, contact FEMA at 800-621-3362.

10/25/2024

POST-HURRICANE PERMITTING UPDATE

I know many residents are extremely frustrated right now because the City is not issuing permits. So I just want to address these frustrations and explain what is happening and why.

Before any permits are issued to repair damage done by the Hurricanes, we must conduct a Substantial Damage Determination to comply with FEMA rules.

We are not alone in this process. Madeira Beach, St. Pete Beach, and the other barrier islands are following the same rules. Pinellas County is coordinating the teams that are coming in to do the Substantial Damage Assessments for all the beaches. Yesterday, I spoke with the Mayor of Sanibel to discuss what they did after Hurricane Ian. They also followed these rules and actually issued a moratorium on permits for over a month after the storm while these assessments were being conducted.

These assessments are already being conducted by our city building officials, but we have limited staff and can only conduct a limited amount each day. That’s why we need the reinforcements from the County. They will be starting VERY soon. Help is on the way.

It is critical that you submit your permits as soon as possible so that we can issue your permit as soon as the Substantial Damage Assessment is completed. Those who have permits already submitted will have their assessments done first.

Many are asking why we have to follow these rules. The answer to that is simple… if we don’t follow these rules, Treasure Island would be excluded from the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and would not receive any sort of FEMA assistance. Your City Commission could certainly decide to opt out of all this and leave FEMA. Or if we don’t follow the rules carefully, we could also be audited by FEMA after the storm and then have it all taken away.

What would that mean for us? After a natural disaster like this, local governments get reimbursed by FEMA for storm recovery efforts. If we didn’t follow these rules, we wouldn’t get reimbursed for the debris removal, the sand removal, the comfort stations, etc. The residents also wouldn’t receive any assistance from FEMA. Everyone would be ineligible for the FEMA Disaster Assistance programs. These are big ramifications that would cost the City and residents millions. It would also mean that our residents wouldn’t be able to get flood insurance through NFIP. As most of you are aware, flood insurance is required by mortgage companies. So if we didn’t have access to NFIP, even more people would be forced out of their homes. That is not what we want.

The attached info from the County outlines a few real life examples of other communities that have and have not complied with the FEMA rules and what happened in those communities.

There is a reason that we are doing this. I know it is painstaking to wait for this process. I sincerely wish that we could make this go faster and help our residents get back in their homes quickly.

Treasure Island is actually in a more flexible position than many of our neighboring cities when it comes to the FEMA 50% rule. While we all have to follow this process for Substantial Damage, each city gets to set their own “look back period”. Treasure Island does not have a look back period. St. Pete Beach has a 5 year look back period and Madeira Beach has a 1 year look back period. That means if any of their residents have completed renovations to their homes in the last 5 years (SPB) or 1 year (MB), the cost of those renovations is deducted from the amount they can now spend to repair their homes. That doesn’t apply to us in Treasure Island because your City Commission has opted to keep the look back period at 0 years.

I’m attaching some guidance and resources here from the City and the County that explain this process.

Pinellas County has some great questions and answers on their website: https://pinellas.gov/substantial-damage-substantial-improvement/

Link to Full Memo from Pinellas County: https://stpetebeach.org/DocumentCenter/View/4647/Memo_Substantial-Damage-Assessment-Process_20241022

10/24/2024

10/24/2024