Mapp Appoints New Members To WAPA, EDA Boards

Governor Kenneth Mapp Tuesday announced new board members that will serve on the Water and Power Authority (WAPA) and Economic Development Authority (EDA)  boards.

Marvin Pickering, director-designee of the Bureau of Internal Revenue and Gustav James, commissioner-designee of the Department of Public works will serve on the WAPA board “at the pleasure of the governor,” according to information made available by Government House, citing Virgin Islands Code Title 30, Section 103, Chapter 5.

The segment of VI Code cited above states, the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority “shall be governed by a board consisting of nine persons, six of whom shall not be employees of the Government of the Virgin Islands or the Government of the United States and who shall be appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Legislature, and three of whom shall be appointed by the Governor from among the heads of cabinet-level executive departments or agencies. Of the non-governmental members, three must be residents of the District of St. Thomas-St. John, and three must be residents of the District of St. Croix.”

The Code adds that, “Non-governmental members shall be appointed for terms of three years, provided, however, that the first appointments made pursuant to this subsection shall be for a term of one year for one of the members from the District of St. Thomas-St. John, and for one of the members from the District of St. Croix, and for a term of two years for one of the members from the District of St. Thomas-St. John, and for one of the members from the District of St. Croix.”

Then, citing Title 29, Chapter 21, Section 1102 of local law, the governor appointed cabinet members Simon B. Jones-Hendrickson, Ph.D., policy advisor; Juan Figueroa, Sr., director-designee for the Virgin Islands Lottery; and Catherine Hendry, Esq., commissioner-designee of the Department of Labor, to the EDA board. All the aforementioned appointees will also serve “at the pleasure of the governor.”

According to the segment of VI Code cited by the Governor when appointing the aforementioned board members, “The powers of the Authority shall be exercised by a governing board consisting of the members of the Authority acting as a board. Of the seven members appointed to the Board, three shall not be employees of the Government of the Virgin Islands or the Government of the United States and shall be appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Legislature.”

It continued: “Three shall be appointed by the Governor from among the heads of cabinet-level executive departments or agencies or his executive staff, and one shall be appointed from the Board or executive staff of the Government Employee Retirement System, Virgin Islands Port Authority, or the University of the Virgin Islands.”

The Code also states that “All members of the Board shall be learned in and shall have education, experience or expertise in one or more of the following areas: finance, law, economics, accounting, business, banking, or marketing; provided that at least five separate disciplines are represented on the Board and that no person who is currently employed by a bank doing business in the Territory may be appointed as a member of the Board.”

Haldane Davies, Ph.D., vice president for business development and innovation at the University of the Virgin Islands, was the only person appointed Tuesday by Mapp who is not already a member of his cabinet. Davies will serve on the EDA board beginning April 1.