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Charlotte Amalie
Friday, March 29, 2024
HomeNewsLocal newsBill Would Put Tourism in Charge of Carnival Operations

Bill Would Put Tourism in Charge of Carnival Operations

Janelle Sarauw (File photo by Barry Leerdam for the V.I. Legislature)
Janelle Sarauw (File photo by Barry Leerdam for the V.I. Legislature)

The Department of Tourism would create a new festival division with a director and three island-based assistant directors to organize carnivals and festivals in the territory if legislation approved in committee Friday becomes law.

The bill, proposed by Sens. Myron Jackson (D-STT) and Janelle Sarauw (I-STT) would also move the defunct V.I. Cultural Heritage Institute into the Department of Tourism. It would have a broad mandate to preserve and promote V.I. culture, establish and maintain a cultural archive, put on festivals, give out scholarships, prepare educational materials and perform other similar activities.

Sarauw proposed creating a carnival division this summer after having repeated difficulty getting V.I. Carnival Committee and Crucian Christmas Festival organization personnel to appear at hearings and supply detailed financial information. (See Related Links below.) The territory’s three carnival and festival committees were invited to appear Friday too but only the Festival & Cultural Organization of St. John appeared.

Sen. Nereida Rivera-O’Relly said the V.I. Carnival Committee had submitted more detailed information, but they were messy, with voided checks, transactions that were later voided and other details making them “not impossible but difficult” to decipher.

“Those things show not necessarily that there was wrongdoing but that the person in charge of accounting does not know what they are doing,” she said.

O’Reilly suggested putting the accounting and management functions under full-time professional management at Tourism might take that pressure off the volunteers of the committee, freeing them up to take care of the festival itself.

“It will free the members from all the procurement, payment and financial reporting to do what you are really mandated to do. That is the angle I take as we consider this legislation,” O’Reilly said.

Also, there may be economies of scale since all three festivals have very similar needs, she said.

“All three events require a stage. They require the same infrastructure,” she said. It may save money if you procure those services from the same entity and they know they will need them for three events every year, she said.

St. John Committee Chair Leona Smith said her organization does not necessarily oppose the change outright but said it should be phased in gradually to make sure there is no disruption of the festivals.

She had a problem with a single director though.

“I think I would have a problem with that director being in charge of all three assistant directors,” she said. Smith said she was concerned a director may be biased toward the festival on their home island.

Tourism Commissioner Beverly Nicholson-Doty also said the changes should be phased in. She said funding would need to be identified and the department would need time to prepare.

“It is important that we recognize a few critical issues on the subject (such as) the sources of personnel and fringe costs,” Nicholson-Doty said, adding that the Crucian Christmas Festival begins in 90 days.

“In essence, the Department of Tourism is supportive of this move. However we just wanted to put on record the concerns we have regarding the funding,” she said.

Nicholson-Doty also suggested the Cultural Heritage Institute mandate could be separated and phased in over a longer scale.

She said the institute has “a very deep and wide cultural mandate.”

“This institute needs a place to be housed. And if I understand correctly the artifacts may not be readily available to the public. So there may be many elements as I understand it that we may not be currently implementing,” she said. “If it is to be the responsibility of the Department of Tourism we want to make sure we are able to do it,” she said.

“I believe we need some more time to process the breadth and scope of this added responsibility,” she said. It would be “extremely difficult to effect both of these changes at the same time,” she said.

Sarauw said she would get more detailed suggestions from the carnival committees and Tourism and there would be amendments addressing those concerns when the bill is heard in the Rules and Judiciary Committee.

Voting to send the bill on to Rules and Judiciary were: Sarauw, Jackson, O’Reilly, Sens. Marvin Blender (D-STT) and Brian Smith (D-At Large). Sens. Janette Millie Young (D-STT) and Positive Nelson (ICM-STX) were absent.

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