Rebuilding in 2 Pinellas beach towns delayed after permit official injured on job

Chely Hernandez-Miller and her husband Dick packed only enough clothes for three days when they evacuated their Redington Beach home to her daughter's place in Pinellas Park.

"That's how long we thought we'd be there," she said.

Now, one month after Hurricane Helene's surge climbed four feet inside their home, the couple still hasn't been able to start repairs. Like dozens of other neighbors, they're waiting on substantial damage letters sent through the town's building department staff.

"They're moving slow," Hernandez-Miller said. "They're coming through, but I don't know when they're coming. They won't tell us when."

A town decision made at the start of the year, long before hurricane season began, is partly behind the delay residents now feel.

Redington Beach officials were enthusiastic in January to join forces with the town's neighbor, Redington Shores, to direct building permits to one joint office.

Redington Beach's mayor said the agreement, passed in February, would "create better turnaround time, service and accountability" for town residents, Tampa Bay Newspapers reported earlier this year.

But when the towns' building official was injured on the job after Milton, forcing him on medical leave, the permitting process for residents of both towns stalled.

Mike McGlothlin, Redington Shores town administrator, called it a "perfect storm" of setbacks. He said rumors about the building official's departure have swirled around town.

"He had just started up the next phase of significant damage assessments after Milton ... and then he had the injury," McGlothlin said. "It happened during the course of duty — just unexpectedly."

Though McGlothlin declined to provide the building official's name, Mark Vasquez is listed as the Redington Shores building official, according to the town's website . Vasquez's LinkedIn profile shows he started the job in January. Calls from a Tampa Bay Times reporter to multiple phone numbers listed for Vasquez went unanswered.

"We've had some other challenges, aside from just the injury, but that would be the key reason for our delay for our community and getting things up and running," McGlothlin said. "It's going to be a multi-phase, months-long project for sure."

The town has hired Bill Hudson as interim building official in the meantime. Hudson is also the regional manager of permitting contractor SafeBuilt, which handled building department services for Redington Shores before the town established its own department in June .

In a town hall meeting Wednesday evening in Redington Beach, Hudson tried to assuage neighbors' concerns.

The biggest question on their minds: When will substantial damage reports be available?

"I don't know," Hudson said.

Until those assessments are finished, homeowners won't know where they land on the Federal Emergency Management Agency's 50% rule. If damage costs exceed 50% of a home's value, residents will have to tear down the house and rebuild.

Hudson said the town's building office is only allowing repairs that keep people "safe, secure and sanitary" in their homes. Residents should apply for emergency permits as soon as possible and can begin work immediately.

"My first push is getting everybody to a point where they can be safe," he said.

While the permitting grace period applies to emergency work like demolition, electrical and air conditioning, it might take longer before the town will approve rebuild permits like those for cabinets and drywall.

Hudson said he's enforcing permitting so strictly because he's worried FEMA could raise the town's federal flood insurance rates.

"If we don't follow their rules, they will revoke the participation," he said.

Many residents, including Hernandez-Miller, said they just want to be back in their homes soon.

"We come just about every other day, and we just look and sit in the garage," Hernandez-Miller said. "What can we do? Nothing."

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