{"id":40138,"date":"2016-06-01T10:08:15","date_gmt":"2016-06-01T10:08:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/viconsortium.com\/?p=40138"},"modified":"2016-06-01T10:08:15","modified_gmt":"2016-06-01T10:08:15","slug":"j-f-l-board-votes-keep-meetings-open-public-ban-bonus-pay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=40138","title":{"rendered":"J.F.L. Board Votes To Keep Meetings Open To Public, Ban Bonus Pay"},"content":{"rendered":"

ST. CROIX — As reported by The Consortium here<\/a><\/span> and here<\/a><\/span> in separate interviews with Juan F. Luis Board Chairman\u00a0Troy de Chabert-Schuster, the board moved on Tuesday to reverse a controversial decision that would have kept the public — and the media — out of board meetings, and it passed a myriad of motions aimed at fixing a public image tarnished in recent weeks following news that former CEO Ken Okolo and Tim Lessing, current chief financial officer, had given themselves tens of thousands of dollars in bonuses<\/a><\/span>\u00a0without the board’s consent.<\/p>\n

During the meeting, Mr. Schuster attempted to explain the board’s unpopular public-banning motion, stating that there were no nefarious reasons for moving to hold meetings in private. The Consortium had noted<\/a><\/span> that the motion was authoritarian in nature and, more importantly, against Virgin Islands Code, which says\u00a0all meetings of governmental agencies or their subdivisions authorized to take action on behalf of the agency shall be held in public. The board had decided that public meetings would be held only once every quarter, while decision-making meetings would be held in executive session behind closed doors.<\/p>\n

“We’re not trying to hide anything from the public; it was a way of streamlining,” Mr. Schuster said. “There was never an intent to cover up anything or keep the public out. We were intending to report any actions taken during the executive committee meeting at the subsequent regular board meeting.”<\/p>\n

The motions, all of which were approved on Tuesday, include the following:<\/p>\n