Jan. 21, 2008 — After observing Tuesday's presidential inauguration, the V.I. Port Authority Board voted Wednesday to officially administer an oath of office to VIPA's executive director, Kenn Hobson.
The oath was administered by board member and Attorney General Vincent Fraser, and the Bible was held by Gordon A. Finch, the board member who moved that the executive director be sworn in.
"Public officials must be committed publicly to serve the Virgin Islands," Finch said. "It is a high public office and I think we ought to take the position that it be sworn in a public forum."
The board also took care of a number of housekeeping items, including electing officers. Cassan Pancham will remain as chairman of the board, with Tourism Commissioner Beverly Nicholson-Doty retaining her vice chairmanship. Department of Public Works Commissioner Darryl A. Smalls will serve another term as board secretary.
The board also reestablished its committee memberships, with the most notable change Finch declining to continue chairing the Projects and Operations Committee.
The authority's financial figures ending Nov. 30 included operating revenues of $6.1 million, a decrease of 15.38 percent over the same period in the previous year. Operating expenditures also decreased, albeit by a paltry-sounding 0.15 percent, but notable in light of the summer and autumn's skyrocketing fuel costs.
The instability of revenue and expenditures resulted in a request from Pancham for a regular analysis of actual expenditures and revenues versus the budgeted projections. Pancham requested the analysis for the March board meeting, but said he hoped it might get generated earlier.
Board member Robert O'Connor concurred with Pancham's request.
"We didn't have analysis of performance versus budget," O'Connor said. "We need to understand what is happening with payments, what is happening with what flows into actual numbers."
Collection of outstanding receivables by the staff of the Property Department brought in a good deal of money long overdue to the Port Authority, according to Property Division Manager Denise Mills.
"The staff and I vowed 50 percent collections," she said.
The target number the staff set for itself was half of almost $5.7 million of outstanding receivables. It collected 43 percent of that total. Finch lauded Mills and her staff.
"It's a doggone good performance," Finch said. "They were close to 50 percent on their target. I give credit where credit is due."
The total amount of accounts receivables, however, did not include an adjustment of approximately $2.2 million made for cruise lines whose payments to the authority are in question.
In December the Source reported a problem with cruise lines' port fees and docking fees owed to the authority. The fees were collected, but not passed on to the authority by ships agent Deliver It. (See "VIPA Waiting On Millions In Fees From Ships Agent.")
Deliver It also owes the authority some $83,000 in outstanding usage fees, according to legal counsel Don C. Mills, who acknowledged that Deliver It disputes the figure. The authority will send out a letter prohibiting Deliver It's use of authority facilities if the uncontested amount is not received in 30 days, Don Mills said.
At least some of the cruise ships have been making their payments directly to the authority since November, he said.
In other action, the board reviewed a proposal that would require amendments to two of its leases, one held by Ackley Media and the other by Michael Ball of Miami Cars. The amendments are a small component of a proposed development that would allow an 8.5-acre waterfront area near Frenchtown to become the V.I. Heritage Center. John Amerling presented the plan on behalf of clients Gordon Coffelt and Soraya Diase-Coffelt.
The proposed lease amendments include improvements to create a parking area as well as changes to a breakwater and a docking area. Finch, who currently heads the board's Projects and Operations Committee, invited the developers to make their pitch to the board for the amendments to the leases.
The project is still in the very early planning stages and will require review by permitting agencies, including the Coastal Zone Management Commission and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Amerling said.
Finch called the culturally themed development — which would include an amphitheater, a museum and a West Indian Craft village, as well as a restaurant and shops — a worthwhile project.
"The board itself needs to understand and gave its stamp of approval" for this project, Finch said.
The board recommended that the developers create a letter of intent and submit it to the authority.
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