A city of St. Petersburg Water Resources vehicle was used to make a DoorDash delivery, video taken by a downtown St. Pete building manager shows.
Satoshi Hideout Living Building Manager James Grove recorded the marked city vehicle outside his building after a food order arrived, then sent the evidence to Pinellas County Commissioners with a pointed question about why a taxpayer-funded vehicle appeared to be moonlighting for DoorDash.
“Can someone tell me why Water Resources employees are driving around in City vehicles, paid for by tax payers, delivering food for DoorDash? They just delivered to my building today. Photos and video attached,” Grove wrote in the email.
The photos show a white SUV bearing the St. Petersburg Water Resources logo parked outside the building. Video accompanying the complaint shows a person seated in the driver’s seat during an apparent handoff of a Jollibee bag.
A separate screenshot shows the customer’s order arriving and identifies the assigned Dasher as “Anna,” a “Top Dasher” with a 4.9 rating and more than 700 deliveries.
The city later confirmed that the employee involved had been identified and placed on administrative leave pending further investigation.
Public Works Administrator Claude Tankersley also contacted Grove to update him and thank him for bringing the incident to the city’s attention, according to city Spokesperson Samantha Bequer. The city declined further comment.
The images and video do not independently establish the identity of the person driving the city vehicle, and the city did not identify the employee by name or say whether the employee was on duty at the time.
What rules apply to the apparent use of the Water Resources vehicle remains less clear.
A general St. Petersburg policy governing take-home or personal use of city vehicles does not appear to be publicly available. Florida Politics has requested the city’s policy but has not received it as of publication.
The St. Petersburg Police Department, however, has a publicly available take-home vehicle policy that allows some off-duty personal use while placing restrictions on what employees can do with city vehicles.
Under that policy, employees who live within city limits may use assigned take-home vehicles while off duty for certain personal activities, including patronizing businesses or visiting relatives and friends within the city. But the policy draws a clear line at commercial activity, indicating the vehicles “will not be used for any commercial or business purpose.”
Still, the apparent use of a marked city vehicle in connection with a commercial DoorDash delivery raises the question of whether St. Petersburg policy was broken.
Grove had already reached his own conclusion.
“Someone needs to be fired,” he wrote.
Content shared in partnership with Florida Politics.