MADEIRA BEACH, Fla. — The barrier island cities in Pinellas County are working to draft a letter to send to President Donald Trump urging him to clear what they call “federal bureaucracy.”

What You Need To Know

  • Officials for the barrier islands are considering drafting a letter to send to President Trump pleading to "clear federal red tape" for people to rebuild their damaged homes from the recent hurricanes

  • This discussion came after St. Pete Beach and Treasure Island's mayors both sent letters to the president asking for the same thing

  • The idea, according to officials, is to create a unified message that will hopefully make a difference at the federal level to move the permitting process forward for locals in the area

This comes after Treasure Island’s mayor and St. Pete Beach’s mayor sent their own letters to the president asking for the same thing, since many residents still aren’t able to rebuild homes that were damaged during Hurricane Helene.

“This is the opportune time to come together as a large group of communities and formulate a game plan to present to the president,” said Belleair Beach Mayor Dave Gattis.

During a meeting with all the barrier island leaders on Wednesday, called the Big C, they discussed creating a unified letter to send to Trump with this same request, which many officials believe will make more of a difference than if a letter is sent from just one municipality.

“The more people and residents we can pull together to request the same thing, the more legislators we can involve in supporting our request," said Clearwater Mayor Bruce Rector. "That makes a difference in Washington."

At the end of the meeting, officials said they planned on going back to their own cities to formulate what they think would be the most effective letter to send to the president to get this help.

According to Gattis, they plan on reconvening over Zoom within the week to collaborate on those ideas and craft the official letter.