Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. has nominated Calford Martin to two government boards: the Coastal Zone Management Commission and the Housing Finance Authority Board. Sen. Milton Potter said the situation of considering a person’s nomination to two boards simultaneously was unique and reflected the governor’s confidence in his candidate.
The confidence was warranted, as the Committee on Rules and Judiciary Thursday voted to move forward with favorable recommendations for Martin’s nominations to the entire Senate.
The nomination of Julian Penn as a board member on the Taxicab Commission did not fair as well Thursday. The motion to forward that nomination with a favorable recommendation failed to get a second.
Sen. Kenneth Gittens said the nominee had insufficient experience to handle the complex issues now facing the Taxicab Commission.
In a March Senate budget hearing, it was said that Taxicab Commission revenue collection was not documented, medallions were missing, and morale at the commission was low.
Sens. Franklin Johnson and Ray Fonseca said during Thursday’s hearing that they knew Martin and had no questions about his qualifications. (Martin served on the Housing Finance Authority Board from 2013 to 2016.) Instead, they had questions about whether he would focus on problems concerning coastal development, climate change, residents’ access to beaches, and the slow progress of some hurricane recovery projects.
Martin said he was a recreational sailor and had been sailing around the Virgin Islands since high school. He said he was appalled by what he had been seeing recently — runoff going directly into the ocean and private property owners cutting off access to some of the territory’s prettiest beaches.
“Since my tenure with VIHFA, the Authority has grown from a small agency with a budget of $4.6 million and a staff of approximately 35 to a growing agency with a budget of $26.5 million and a staff of nearly 100 employees,” Martin said. He said one of his goals was to visit sites to confirm whether CZM laws are being obeyed.
He started his career in the territory as a tax auditor at the Bureau of Internal Revenue. After two years, he joined the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Penn has spent 40 years as a Virgin Islands taxi driver and eight years as the owner of a driving school in Brooklyn, N.Y.
“I hope to share my extensive experience with the Board for the next three years. If appointed, I look forward to working with you to improve our Taxicab services and address related issues such as customer services and hospitality,” he testified.
The committee removed a bill to increase access to behavioral health services from its agenda.
Sens. Diane Capehart, Milton Potter, Ray Fonseca, Kenneth Gittens, and Franklin Johnson attended the meeting.
