May 11, 2006 – Senators moved quickly through their agenda during Thursday's Rules and Judiciary Committee meeting, unanimously approving five nominees and one administrative appointment.
Starting off the meeting, Jerris T. Browne – up for confirmation as director of the newly independent Motor Vehicle Bureau – impressed senators with his report on how the organization has been running since it was severed from the V.I. Police Department six months ago.
Browne said since he has been serving as acting director of the bureau, revenues have gone up 11 percent, customer service has improved due to the hiring of new personnel, and plans have been put in place to renovate existing facilities and build new compounds on both St. Thomas and St. Croix.
Browne further gave senators an "ambitious" list of his goals for the bureau, which include cutting down waiting times for registration and drivers licenses by 50 percent and revamping the organization's computer system so that many MVB processes could be done online.
On a less optimistic note, however, Browne also said "there is much more work to be done" within the bureau, which includes developing a cost-sharing agreement with the VIPD to delineate who pays for electric and water costs at the Patrick Sweeney Headquarters on St. Croix – a facility which houses both entities. Additionally, Browne said that the bureau is working to identify another $1.5 million for the building of a new compound on St. Croix, which he hopes will be finished by the end of this year.
"This is a realistic goal once the funds are made available, and we're already in the process of moving things forward," Browne said. "The negotiations for the land on which the compound will be built are in the final stages, and we have enough money in our budget to start the initial process." Browne added that the bureau is also undertaking some new initiatives to raise the rest of the money and is receiving technical assistance from other departments.
New compounds on St. Thomas and St. John should be operational by the end of 2007 and 2008 respectively.
An additional $298, 000 will also be needed to help the bureau develop its own computer network, Browne said. He explained that currently the MVB on St. Croix is still hooked up to VIPD servers, which affects both the bureau and the department if the system shuts down.
Browne was approved unanimously by the committee.
Nominees for St. Croix's Coastal Zone Management Commission, extensively questioned during the meeting, told senators that they would be looking at making "balanced" decisions when it comes to granting CZM permits.
"There are some people who favor development at all costs," Masserae Sprauve-Webster, a CZM nominee, said. "But we also have to look at what's best for our residents and our environment. It is possible to balance environmental factors with economic incentives."
Robert Merwin, another CZM nominee, said he would be particularly focusing on looking at upcoming developments which would adversely affect the territory's marine habitats. "I'm concerned about our reefs and the effect that some of these long-term development projects would be having on them," he said. "Runoff from some of the construction sites, for example, go into the sea and do further damage to our shorelines. It's important that we make sure we don't overdevelop."
Merwin further said that industrial sites on St. Croix should be confined to certain areas of the island – like the south shore, where V.I. Water and Power Authority facilities are set up. "If we have heavy industries all over the island, then the government would really be contributing to the damage that's being done to the environment," he said. "WAPA, for example, is pouring hot brine into the water, which causes desalinization – we don't want that to continue."
Commission nominees also talked at length about making sure the territories beaches remain open to the public.
In addition to approving Sprauve-Webster and Merwin, the committee also approved Charles Peters and Neil Simon to the St. Croix Coastal Zone Management Commission and Carol Buttuello to the Virgin Islands Board of Social Work Licensure.
Present on Thursday were Sens. Roosevelt C. David, Pedro "Pete" Encarnacion, Juan Figueroa-Serville and Ronald E. Russell, along with noncommittee members Sens. Neville James and Usie R. Richards.
Sens. Lorraine L. Berry, Louis P. Hill, and Terrence "Positive" Nelson were absent.
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