June 11, 2003 – Taking advantage of the presence on St. Thomas of an expert in getting a mismanaged local government out of debt, Sen. Shawn-Michael Malone is hosting a free public forum Saturday on "Leadership and Management Requirements for Effective Government."
The guest speaker and lead panelist will be Herbert R. Tillery, deputy mayor for operations of the District of Columbia.
Before being appointed to his present position in April of last year, Tillery was involved in government from an outside perspective — as a consultant/adviser to the appointed federal control board that temporarily took control of the Washington, D.C., local government in the 1995 and oversaw the reform of its financial operations.
Tillery "has experienced government as its best and at its worst," Malone said in a release. Because the federal district and Virgin Islands are similar in many respects, the senator said, he considers Tillery "the ideal person who can provide our leaders, managers and rank-and-file members of our government with keen insight" into the best practices to "ensure greater fiscal accountability, management and efficiency."
As executive director of the George Washington University Center for Excellence in Municipal Management, Tillery was instrumental in the design, development, implementation and oversight of the center's program. The center, a public-private partnership, was founded to assist the D.C. government with financial reform and serves today as the city's principal resource for providing graduate-level training to its senior officials.
The creation of a V.I. Fiscal Management Board has been proposed by Sen. Ronald Russell. He envisions the board as a "receivership" that would be authorized through legislation based on the District of Columbia Financial Responsibility and Management Act, which created a control board to see the federal district out of its crushing debt. (See "Russell wants a fiscal management board".)
The board as proposed by Russell would consist of seven members — a lawyer, a banker, an engineer, an accountant in private practice from each district, the territory's inspector general and the 25th Legislature's post auditor.
In his current post, Tillery has oversight for the management of the D.C. government's Departments of Public Works, Transportation and Motor Vehicles, and its Offices of Contracting and Procurement, Personnel, Property Management, and Chief Technology Officer.
He formerly was chief of staff for the District of Columbia Public Schools with responsibility for infrastructure stabilization and for directing the integration of management reforms. His background also includes stints as chief of staff to the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, deputy commander of the Army's Criminal Investigation Command, commander of the Defense Department's only maximum-security prison, and inspector general for the Army.
Malone indicated that the Senate Government Operations Committee, which he chairs, is sponsoring the forum. It's set for 10 a.m. to noon Saturday at the Holiday Inn Windward Passage Hotel. The public is invited and admission is free. Along with Tillery, other panelists will make presentations on the issues of management, human relations, leadership and V.I. government operations.
Tillery also is the keynote speaker for Saturday night's presentation of the 2nd annual Alexander A. Farrelly Public Service Award to Dr. Alfred O. Heath by the organization Virgin Islanders for Responsive Government. (See "Dr. Heath to receive public service award".)
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