Senate Sessions Set For Mid-May, Gittens Says

The 33rd Legislature will hold consecutive sessions around mid-May to, among other business, vote on a myriad of Bryan administration nominees, Senate President Kenneth Gittens has told The Consortium. A decision on the exact date will come Tuesday, he said.

The current legislature has not had a session to vote on Governor Albert Bryan’s picks to lead government departments and agencies since taking office in January, and many of the nominees, already favorably voted out of the Committee on Rules and Judiciary, await final confirmation so they could fully take up their respective roles.

Some Bryan-Roach campaign members have criticized the Senate for the length of time it has taken to hold a session to confirm nominees. In response, Mr. Gittens said a number of factors determine the scheduling of sessions. “We’ve had scheduling conflicts that caused the previous tentative scheduled sessions to be postponed. It would be counterproductive as well to call the Legislature into session and not have a full agenda,” he said.

So far, the Rules and Judiciary Committee has approved Racquel Berry, commissioner nominee for the Dept. of Education; Nelson Petty, commissioner nominee for the Dept. of Public Works, Barbara McIntosh, director nominee for the Bureau of Motor Vehicles; Joel Lee, director nominee for the Bureau of Internal Revenue; Anthony Thomas, commissioner nominee for Property and Procurement; Positive Nelson, commissioner nominee for the Dept. of Agriculture; Jean-Pierre Oriol, commissioner nominee for the Dept. of Planning and Natural Resources; Justa Encarnacion, commissioner nominee of the Dept. of Health; Gary Molloy, commissioner nominee for the Dept. of Labor; Joseph Boschulte, commissioner nominee for the Dept. of Tourism; Kirk Callwood, commissioner nominee for the Dept. of Finance; Judges Douglas Brady and  Kathleen Mackay to serve in the Superior Court of the Virgin Islands; Wynnie Testamark, director nominee for the Bureau of Corrections, Joss N. Springette, chief negotiator nominee for the Office of Collective Bargaining; and Jenifer C. O’Neal, director nominee for the Office of Management and Budget.

Mr. Bryan has yet to name leaders to some key positions, including a V.I.P.D. commissioner and Bureau of Information Technology director. B.I.T. is an important government arm responsible for the government’s online systems, including the handling of data storage. Last week, an issue at the bureau — which a person with intimate knowledge of the matter said brew out of a conflict with Angelo Riddick, a Mapp administration holdover serving as director of the bureau, and its former chief technology officer, who recently resigned — caused all government websites to go offline, a problem that could have potentially affected payroll.

Mr. Bryan had promised to name his cabinet in full within the first 90 days upon taking office, but the governor is now well past 100 days. Even so, administration officials have said an announcement, at least for the commissioner position at the police department, would come shortly.