The Most Profitable Contractor in Biloxi History Has Never Built a Thing

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Dear reader, I would like to ask you a question.

How many people do you know in your circle who bill over $50,000 per month? Yes, dear reader—per MONTH. How many lawyers do you know who bill for over 80 hours a week while simultaneously representing public utility companies that do business with the City of Biloxi—companies that have been involved in recent disputes against citizens? And on top of that, how many of those lawyers are real estate moguls with a single building worth over $3.7 million, co-owned with a hidden business partner whose engineering firm holds extensive city contracts—contracts that same lawyer refuses to produce public records about?

The median Biloxi household earns $55,958 per year. Peter Abide bills the City more than ten times that amount—over $566,000 annually—for services that include telling you "no" when you ask for public records. The average Mississippi attorney earns approximately $80,540 per year, making them the lowest-paid lawyers in America. Abide earns seven times that figure. His documented annual compensation exceeds the combined income of ten average Biloxi families—and that's not counting his contracts as board attorney for multiple utility companies, the real estate deals he steers to his wife, or the city contracts funneled to his hidden partner Mark Seymour.

And he's not even a city employee.

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Peter Abide is not a city employee. He has never paved a road, built a school, or installed a water main. Yet since 2016, he has extracted more money from Biloxi taxpayers than any contractor in the city's history.

His products? Obstruction. Usurpation. Traffic of influence. Racketeering.

Resolution No. 327-17 appointed Abide as "primary contact for all City matters" with "authority to engage, supervise, and direct" special counsel. The resolution explicitly states he "shall not be considered an employee of the City." He is an outside contractor—and business is booming.

On July 1, 2025, Mayor Andrew "FoFo" Gilich renewed Abide's appointment for another term, rubber-stamping nearly a decade of extraction. The resolution praises Abide for providing "good and valuable services" since October 1, 2016. It confirms his rate: $150.00 per hour—but don't be fooled by this seemingly humble number. At $566,000 annually, Abide bills the equivalent of 3,773 hours per year. That's over 72 hours every single week, 52 weeks a year, no vacations, no holidays. Either Abide never sleeps, or Biloxi taxpayers are paying for hours that don't exist.

The Scheme

Mississippi law caps public records research fees at $5.00 per hour. Abide charges $150.

When one citizen requested records concerning Mark Seymour—an engineer with extensive city contracts who is also Abide's undisclosed business partner—Abide demanded $1,300. That represents a 26,000% markup over statutory rates. For public records. That belong to you.

Abide refuses to provide invoices for his own services, claiming they are "exempt" from disclosure. The man billing you half a million dollars annually won't let you see the receipts.

The Failed Cover-Up

In February 2025, after citizens exposed these statutory violations, Abide attempted to legalize his theft retroactively.

He introduced Agenda Item 4A proposing amendments to Chapter 2, Article IX of the City Code. Where state law required mandatory compliance, Abide's amendments changed "shall" to "may." Where statute capped fees at $5.00 per hour, Abide inserted "hourly rate of the lowest level employee or contractor competent to respond"—meaning himself, at $150.

The proposal triggered severe media scrutiny and public outcry. Biloxians flooded City Council with calls and emails. Local news covered the attempted scheme.

The City Council rejected Item 4A by a 4-2 vote.

Abide got caught. He tried to change the law to cover his tracks. The public found out. The Council said no.

He kept doing it anyway.

The Network

Abide doesn't bill alone. He controls who else gets paid.

Resolution 635-19 requires that the Municipal Judge's $140/hour compensation be approved by Abide. Resolution Item 5L establishes that the City Prosecutor "shall report to and be supervised by" Abide. Resolution Item 4H makes Abide "Director of Legal Department controlling all personnel."

The City Attorney controls the judge's pay. The City Attorney supervises the prosecutor. The City Attorney decides who gets hired, who gets paid, and how much.

An outside contractor with this much control over municipal court personnel, with financial incentives to generate billable disputes, and with conflicts of interest spanning utilities, real estate, and engineering contracts, is not oversight. It's a capture operation.

When Abide's network manufactures code violations through Building Official Jerry Creel, Abide's supervised prosecutor files the charges, Abide's controlled judge hears the case, and Abide's law firm bills $150/hour to defend the City against any citizen who fights back.

Every hour of conflict generates revenue. The more disputes, the more billables. The more billables, the more taxpayer money flows to Abide and his network.

The Hidden Partners

Abide's conflicts would disqualify him from representing a lemonade stand:

• He represents Coast Electric Power Association, a public utility requiring City permits.
• He organized CoastConnect LLC, which operates utility subsidiaries requiring City permits.
• He serves as board attorney for multiple utility entities requiring municipal franchise agreements.
• He co-owns Bird Dog LLC, a private real estate investment company, with his law partner.
• His wife operates as a realtor in Biloxi.

And then there's Mark Seymour.

Seymour is Abide's hidden business partner. Together they own millions of dollars in real estate—including a single building valued at over $3.7 million. Seymour's engineering firm holds extensive city contracts. Seymour also serves as City Manager for D'Iberville, Mississippi—where Building Department employees have protested permits issued without proper license, insurance, and payment requirements.

When citizens request public records about Seymour, Abide blocks them and demands $1,300. No conflict of interest disclaimer has ever been provided.

The Bottom Line

Since 2016, Peter Abide and his network have extracted millions from Biloxi taxpayers through a simple formula: manufacture disputes, obstruct resolution, bill for every hour of chaos.

On August 19, 2025, Mayor FoFo Gilich told the City Council that Biloxi faces a $2 million budget shortfall and proposed raising property taxes for the first time since 2001. A three mill increase would add $60 per year to the tax bill for a family with a home valued at $200,000.

The City claims it needs $2 million.

The City pays Peter Abide over $566,000 a year—more than a quarter of that shortfall—just to tell you "no." Add the billings from all the law firms he passes work to, the engineers he steers contracts to, the prosecutors he supervises, the judges whose pay he controls, and the other outside contractors under his authority—the total easily covers that $2 million gap.

The City doesn't have a revenue problem. The City has a Peter Abide problem.

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