ST. PETE BEACH, Fla. — St. Pete Beach mayor-elect Scott Tate will be sworn into office on Tuesday and said one of his top priorities will be uniting the city.

What You Need To Know

St. Pete Beach mayor-elect Scott Tate will be sworn into office on Tuesday

Tate said one of his top priorities will be uniting the city

Tate won a decisive victory against incumbent Mayor Adrian Petrila with 66 percent of the vote

He will serve a three-year term as mayor

“That’s one of the things that I was very adamant about making sure that we bring our community back together,” he said. “Not just dividing residents versus businesses.” 

Earlier this month, Tate won a decisive victory against incumbent Mayor Adrian Petrila with 66 percent of the vote. Petrila governed on a residents-first platform.

“I campaigned on returning to a vibrant St. Pete Beach,” said Tate. “Not just to our homes and business, but to that that soul and that character that we’ve been missing for the last year and a half since the storms.”

Tate was a member of the Police Pension Board, serves on the Belle Vista Civic Association Board and works as a project management consultant. Chill Restaurant and Bar owner Ken Hautmann said his business supported the Tata campaign because of his community-first stance.

“We liked what his message was and that was bring community back to St. Pete Beach,” he said. “It shouldn’t be about the residents, it shouldn’t be about the businesses, it should be about community.”

Tate said one of his priorities as mayor will be maximizing revenue to upgrade the city’s sewer and stormwater system over the next five years. The project is expected to cost $200 million. He also wants to speed up the permitting process but freely admits he does not have all the answers walking into the job.

“What I want to do is walk in and at least understand what we’re doing, what our rationale is for why we’re doing each of these things,” he said. “As I start to learn and really dig in to the nuances of why we have each of these policies in place, then these questions will start coming into my head that say, ‘Can we do this better?’”

Tate also said he supports responsible growth the city’s beachfront hotel district.

“As long as they’re growing within that comprehensive plan, not exceeding our height and density limits, then I’m in favor of a resilient, responsible growth and particularly focused on the resiliency of our city,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do. So if they can help offset some of those costs while they’re building into the height and variances of that comprehensive plan, then I think that’s where we should be growing.”

Tate will be sworn in at the Tuesday city commission meeting along with newly elected District 3 Commissioner Al Causey. Tate will serve a three-year term as mayor.