Good evening.

I'm Marcelina Ventura Douglas, radio news reporter for the news feed on FM 93.1.

Welcome to our live coverage of Governor Albert Bryan Junior as eight state of the Terri address.

We're coming to you from our Saint Thomas studio.

As the governor prepares to address the 36th legislature of the Virgin Islands.

At the URL will be the Legislative Hall.

This marks the final state of the territory address of the Governor Bryan's time in office.

He's expected to account for his administration's record and to address issues ranging from health care, modernization and whopper reliability to the execution phase of the territory's recovery and rebuild.

Stay with us after the speech for reaction from members of the 36th legislature and from you, our viewing audience.

Joining me in the studio tonight is a diverse panel ready to break down what the governor says and what it all means for our community.

Lucy Richards is a former senator from Saint Croix District who served five terms in the legislature, including time as Senate president.

Curt Marsh junior is an architectural engineer, woodworker and community activist from Saint John.

He co-founded and serves as vice president of Saint Janko, the Saint John Heritage Collection collective, and currently chairs the Virgin Islands Historic Preservation Commission.

Conn Davis, the second, is a local business owner on Saint Thomas, investment banker and investor.

He is actively involved with a number of non-profits and public boards in the territory and key.

Walker is a Cruisin attorney and the founder and managing partner of Walker Legal.

She has served in leadership and advisory roles on several boards and community organizations across the territory.

And she's joining us tonight as the governor's representative on the panel.

Welcome, everyone, and thank you for being here.

Welcome.

Thank you.

Thank you for having me.

All right.

And to keep things comfortable, everyone, and a bit conversational.

I'll be addressing everyone by their first names.

Okay.

All right.

So let's start with getting a sense of what everyone will be listening to for the governor's speech.

Lucy, I want to ask, what's one main issue that you're hoping to hear from the governor this evening?

Well, not just from the governor, Brian, but I think the state of the territory addressed should really address the state of our finances.

I think there's a lot of concern in regards to, existing revenues, this disbursement and the ability to ensure that they, being utilized for the infrastructure and the services required by the people of the Virgin Islands.

I want to say on this side of the table, con, what is something that you're hoping to hear from the governor?

I agree in terms of, the overall economy, initiatives, economic developments, always kind of front of mind for the whole public, and everybody's involved.

As well as infrastructure.

Both ongoing projects and projects that are in the pipeline.

Okay.

Now moving over, Kurt, I want to hear what you want to, hear from the governor this evening.

I think the territory at large, gets some pretty consistent coverage and, assistance.

And so I'm going to focus on Saint John.

I think, Saint John's are experiencing rapid displacement unlike any of the other two larger islands.

And currently there are 3000 housing units slated to be built across the territory, but zero are on Saint John.

So I'm curious as to whether he'll address that tonight or not.

Okay.

Now, key, I know you might be the governor's representative, but it's also important for you.

What is something that you're hoping to hear the governor address?

You know, he this is his last state of the territory address, but he's got a little under a year left.

Marcelina.

So what I want to hear about tonight is what he has planned for the remainder of his term.

What do we have to look forward to from the governor?

Okay.

All right.

Now, the biggest headline of the past year were the criminal convictions of three former members of governor O'Brien's cabinet.

Former police commissioner Sherry Martinez and former management and budget director Jennifer O'Neill were found guilty last month on all counts in a federal corruption case tied to a convicted conman turned state witness David Whitaker.

And just last week, former sports Park and Recreation mayor Calvert White was sentenced to five years in prison after being convicted by a jury last summer in a separate bribery scheme that also involved Whitaker.

Since taking off in 2019, governor O'Brien has repeatedly spoken out against corruption in public office and has advocated for more funding for a white collar crime unit.

Here's a look back at what the governor has said, including his comments following White's conviction.

Many in our community are quick to raise the specter of overwhelming public corruption within the government.

And while there have been many prominent cases of public corruption, it has been our experience thus far that is more speculation than truth.

We must continue prosecuting these cases and win back the public's trust, which is why we included in the fiscal year 2020 budget funding to reinstate the white collar Crime unit.

It is also why, even after the legislature's rejection of it, we have requested a supplement to the budget to reconstitute this unit within the Department of Justice under the Brian Roach administration.

All crime, especially public corruption, is put on notice.

That is why I lobbied so strong for the legislature to fund the white collar crime unit.

The White collar Crime and Public Corruption Unit is staffed by its chief.

It was also my Saint Croix deputy and who is assisted by a criminal division assistant Attorney general and Saint Thomas, who also handles a general criminal caseload.

As in past budget presentations, we request assistance to fully staffed this division with an additional full time prosecutor and a forensic accountant or financial crime analyst.

This year, our community has been confronted with painful truth as accusations of corruption have shaken both the private and the public sectors.

I've come to a sobering reality.

No policy, no procedure, no code of conduct can entirely guard against human weakness.

I have signed into existence a new, comprehensive code of ethics.

Corruption.

Whether it manifests itself as theft, fraud, or the misappropriation of funds, is a cancer that threatens the very lifeblood of our community.

The conviction of someone who once held a position of public trust is a painful reminder that public service is a sacred responsibility.

Justice has been served.

We will continue to maintain that our administration is the most transparent in the history of the Virgin Islands.

But of course, we cannot be everywhere and watch every body.

Count, I want to go to you first.

In the governor's 2020 state of the territory address.

He talked about reinstating a white collar crime unit and making corruption a priority.

Now.

Today, the Justice Department does have that white collar crime unit and public corruption unit that the attorney general did describe as thinly staffed during that budget hearing.

In practical terms, what do you think the legislature and the executive branch need to do to truly show that this is our priority that they're addressing?

Well, I think you have to properly staff it.

You got to properly fund it.

And you have to be cognizant of where we are today.

We've got billions of dollars of projects that are going to be going ongoing, far more than we would have under a normal 25, 30, 50 year period.

So that's an initiative you have to staff, and you have to deal with the reality that you're going to be looking at an infinite amount of documents, RFP projects, bids that you're not normally staffed for.

So I think the amount of money that's in the territory and will be in the territory, will require a great amount of scrutiny.

Now, you see, being in the legislature, this is something, of course, that has come up, in the past, Senate Vice President Kenneth Gittens introduced bill number 30 5-0027.

That's the Virgin Islands Commission on Ethics and Conflicts of Interest Act.

So creates an independent commission to review ethical complaints that involving public officials.

Now, the bill stalled in committee this past summer after lawmakers raised questions about who would handle the investigations and how it would work with existing agencies and how it would be funding.

What does it signal to you and to the larger public that, you know, we're having this sort of difficulty in kind of moving this forward?

Well, excuse me, long time.

I know that is has in the past been in existence a commission on ethics and conflict of interest.

I do recall it because I had required, individuals in leadership position in government from commissioners.

I completed a form when I was a member of the Virgin Islands Casino Control Commission, and I was, somewhat, perturbed if I could utilize that adjective of the, nonexistence and functioning of an entity that was already established by law.

I had look forward to, to hear and to listen due to the proposals shared by, Senator Giddings, to find out on what type of t there was going to put in the Tigers mouth.

I think what we've had in the past was, it took less Tiger, and I think that this is something that is, necessary outside of the staffing and funding of a white collar unit within Department of Justice.

Yeah.

Okay, Curt, now we see three agency heads.

You know, having been convicted on federal corruption charges.

And that, of course, raises alarms across the board.

But we're seeing this more specifically from the federal side, you know, not the local side, you know, do you think that this indicates that we need to be taking a closer look?

Inspector general audits, contracts, other things, especially when it comes to local funds, you know, outside of these federal dollars, should we start seeing maybe possibly more scrutiny on the local and and possibly even seeing charges on the local side?

I think, I'm glad that you directed that question to me, because that was going to be my response.

It's disappointing that these convictions are coming from the federal level.

I think we need to practice greater accountability amongst ourselves.

And so that involves shoring up the white collar unit, but also taking audits seriously.

We have an inspector general, sometimes whose reports are not, paid attention to and carried with the way that they should be carried with.

And so I think we need to figure out what mechanisms, look at revamping or developing new mechanisms to address these things.

Looks like and I think, there's a certain level of accountability outside of political appointments and those spaces where, persons can otherwise, you know, do what they want without unity locally.

I think we need to figure out how to address that.

And that involves a certain level of public trust as well being rebuilt.

Yeah.

Now he, you and I actually spoke about this back on comes with the territory following the convictions of former Housing Finance Authority CEO Darren Richardson.

And we have those pending federal charges against former education official Davidson Charlamagne that is upcoming.

You know, do these cases suggest a broader problem in how government contracts tied to federal funds are being managed?

Well, not necessarily because there's a ton of federal regulations and compliance that must be met.

And we also have to remember that individuals are innocent until proven guilty.

So Mister Charlemagne has not been established as as guilty, as guilty.

Now, with that, while funding DOJ and establishing a white collar criminal unit is a good idea.

I think we also need to be more proactive.

We live in a very small community where lines get blurred.

Some people may not understand what corruption looks like when you're talking about the commissioners.

That's a higher level, but you could have lower level corruption that people just don't understand as corruption.

So I think when you have new cabinet members, you have people entering government.

There should be some sort of training for ethics and corruption, how to spot it, how to avoid it, how to report it.

And I think we will start to see less instances of this conduct and we'll see.

Having been a former lawmaker.

What do you think the executive and legislative branch need to do in order to collectively build back public trust?

The the most important thing, at least in my mind.

And I wanted to, follow up on your statement made by, attorney, Walker, the subject matter that there is an existence, a process of check and balance when in government.

I think that, the strict following of these procedures, have been set aside by various departments and agencies.

You know, things that should be checked by the Department of Property and Procurement.

The reports, as mentioned by Mr.

Moss, that comes out of the inspector general reviewing them.

And you see how you are able to tighten and focus on the administrative processes that secure the the expenses, excuse me, the expenditure of the finances of government.

So in that context, I think the the check and balance system really not only needs to strengthen, but needs to be enforced from the top level of each department.

And agency down to the importance to each one of the employees who are to the lower level.

That works on behalf of the people.

Yeah.

Now I want to shift to an issue.

Governor Brian has turned to again and again since taking office, and that's wobbling from warnings about vulnerability and management to promises to fix the utility to the commissioning of new generators.

Wapa has been a recurring theme in Governor Brian's State of the territory address.

Let's take a look back.

The Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority remains the most vulnerable of our assets.

Wapa Fiscal affairs can only be characterized as abysmal.

Regrettably, Wapa is still plagued with management inefficiencies and way too many of them.

Wapa has a tremendous opportunity to transform itself.

If we can only overcome its immediate challenges.

As I campaigned for reelection last year, I tried my best to avoid making any bold pronouncements to solve issues that were beyond my direct control.

The one exception to that, though, was Wapa.

I have committed to fixing the issues of Wapa within my second term.

We have already begun the mission of ushering in an energy revolution with Wapa.

We will lay a solid foundation this year to get us there.

Earlier this month, we celebrated the long awaited unveiling of the watch solar generators for Saint Thomas and Saint John.

The project added 36MW of power to the grid, along with nine megawatts of battery power.

After an almost 15 year effort.

We now have smaller, more efficient generators running online at the Randolph Holly Power Plant.

It has been a long and challenging and a great road, but we are finally turning the corner now and transforming Wapa into a renewable company.

This past December, we cut the ribbon on 16MW of pure solar power and battery backup in Saint Croix.

The investments we are making and the hard work we're doing, the paying off to you all now.

In Governor Bryan's 2023 state of the territory address, he declared, quote, I have committed to fixing the issues of Wapa within my second term and quote, Mr.

Marshall, I see you just picked up your glass to drink, but I want to ask you, should the governor be commended, you know, for making such a bold move, deciding to put this on his shoulder and his responsibility rather than the authority itself, you know.

And what does fixing Wapa actually mean for residents?

What is a loaded subject?

And I think I think we could come in and order and, the administration for the work that is being done to see through the projects that are on the way.

But I still think there's a lack of vision, and creative problem solving.

I think this idea that we're scraping virgin land to put up solar panels that could be blown away in storms.

I think we're kind of working backwards because technology is moving in other ways, and there's there's any number of additional solutions to fix.

And, our energy production woes.

And I don't think that Virgin Land, especially in a place that has a finite land resource, being, you know, scraped for, for solar panels is is the result or the solution.

And I also think increasing the grid capacity by spreading it out, is also a solution to Saint John.

If everyone isn't aware, is still connected to Saint Thomas by an undersea cable.

And that is not adequate for, you know, life in 20 2526.

Now, ki, I want to ask, what do you think one immediate issue at Wapa, that really has to be fixed for residents to be able to see a difference.

You know, that's a that's a good question.

And thus far, in addition to the solar panels that Mister Marsh mentioned, we also have the purchase of the beta facility.

Right?

We have the Watts solar generator.

So what you have is Wapa working on different projects at the same time with the vision for the future.

I think that Wapa also gets caught up in a lot of break.

I see you've got a Wapa board, you've got a PSC, you've got a legislature, and I think the bureaucracy itself takes away from Wapa ability to fully function.

So if there's one thing I'd like to see change with Wapa right away, in addition to all the projects that are underway, is to remove 1 or 2 of those layers of bureaucracy that's over Wapa and dictating to Wapa what it should do.

If Wapa has a board, it doesn't need the PSC, and that's me, okay.

All right.

So I want to pause for a minute.

We want to go to the letter C so that we can hear the prayer coming in.

Blessings that we have received.

We pray that your blessings will be with our governor and all those that lead in this territory.

We pray, O God, for those that are going through difficult times.

Lord, may your Holy Spirit come for them.

May your blessings be upon these islands and upon all of us who dwell.

Father, son, and holy Spirit.

Amen.

Please be seated.

Thank you, Father Abraham.

We'll now stand in a recess for five minutes.

All right.

And while the legislature is in recess, we're going to come back to the issue of wapa con.

You're a Saint Thomas resident.

You experienced that outage just this week, actually, or last week.

So, you know, this was thousands of residents, you know, that were left without power once again.

Due to that well-known phrase of loss of generation.

What should the governor say in his speech tonight?

You know that shows he understands the public's frustrations with ongoing outages and the rotations.

And even with these new generators coming online and the millions of dollars that are going into these solar projects and these recovery projects that are supposed to help the grid.

Well, I think it's, it's the elephant in the room for many people and many people in the private sector, many people, but everyone, everyone's, everyone's highly sensitive to what happens at warp on a daily basis, whether it be getting ready, your, your kids ready for school, whether it be operating your business, looking at the bill at the end of the month.

So I think communicating on this issue, not just what we're dealing with now, but what we can anticipate to come from the projects is important because there is a lot of frustration on a daily basis.

And it's it's a legacy issue that didn't, didn't come to its position of where it is overnight.

But I think the Rubber's got to meet the road for the population in terms of, rates as well as, affordable and and consistent power.

And that's the role of a municipal utility is to provide stable power at a reasonable rate.

It's a nonprofit entity.

So that's really what they're there for.

Yeah.

Now we'll see.

Do you think what was problems can still be fixed or, you know, within its current structure?

Or do you think the territory needs to start looking at other options like Mr.

Marsh just suggested?

I am in, agreement with, Mr.

Marsh statement relative to, alternative mechanisms for generating power for the people of the Virgin Islands.

I was a little taken aback because I got lost with the statements by, by Qi in regards to we need to make a choice and a decision of whether or not we want to keep a board or we should keep public service commission.

I think we are suffering from, the, the management of a number of boys throughout the territory, in this case, the Warren Power Authority, board is an institution that seems to be not quite functional in regards to its responsibility, oversight and working with the CEO of the Water and Power Authority.

There's no jurisdiction, any state, county, throughout the United States that, the Public Service Commission, by whatever name it goes, is non-existent because it is responsible for ensuring that certain services that should be provided to the public is properly, regulated.

And so I, I see a need to keep a public service commission.

I question the need for the water power outage board.

We're suffering from, a dilemma with the management of boards of certain institutions that we can run over to the hospital, corporation board, from governing the Whanganui Hospital to the Roy Lister Snyder Hospital to the Myra Keating Smith, facility over Saint John.

And, I just came from a time where the administrators will put in place, bourgeois, nonexistence and so that we, the buck stops somewhere other than sitting around this conference table or room, listening to board members opine on what they think should be done.

All right.

Now, let's turn now to one of the longest running capital projects in the territory.

It's been promised, anticipated and revisited.

And Governor Bryan's State of the territory addresses over the years.

And those of you on Saint Croix know exactly what it is that I'm talking about, and it remains unfinished to this day.

Let's take a look.

In the last transition, the construction of the Poly Joseph was delayed along with several other projects.

This cannot and will not continue.

Without question, our administration remains remain committed to the renovation of the Paul E Joseph Stadium in Frederick Stead.

And we anticipate that it that the long awaited completion will happen within the next 12 months.

The Poly Joseph Stadium in Frederick said.

Is also nearing completion.

While we continue to feel exasperated, exasperated in a word with the current contractor, we can finally see the end of the tunnel is hazy for the Poly Joseph Stadium project.

The total project cost to date is $25,722,898 and 40 and $0.54, with the remaining balance of $6,401,101.46.

This total includes payments made in accordance with the original contract and the two supplemental contracts issued combined.

The total contract value is approximately $32.124 million.

As of our last project meeting with the contractor.

The most recent schedule calls for a substantial completion date of December 25th, 2025.

All right.

So I'm going to go to my fellow West man, Mr.

O.C.

Richards.

Back in July, we were supposed to get a Christmas gift.

Because the Department of Public Works said that Polly Joseph would be completed by Christmas of 2025.

Since then, there's been no public update on a completed date or opening.

Now for you, as a born and bred Cruzan, you know, what are some of the conversations that you were hearing from your local, you know, residents, you know, about the project, but I don't want to be passé, which was your question, but, I left the legislature in on January of 2013.

And, prior to leaving the legislature, I was the sponsor of the legislation that appropriated the first set of moneys to repaired the existing structure of the Polly Joseph Stadium and then the Public Finance Authority under the then governor.

The young administration went out to the bond market and, floated money, and we had an additional project that was added, which was a permanent site for the Festival Village.

And I think all is, disheartening and frustrating to know that we speaking about, if we know in 2026.

Yes, that what we see today as a result of these large investment and this is possibly one of the, good example of a case against, a contractor that has abused the public trust, misused public funds, and, leave us with a would a facility that doesn't meet the basic requirements and specifications of a baseball facility that we was expecting to have.

Yes.

Okay.

I want to go back over to you, my fellow Cruzan.

Do you think Governor Brian needs to address Joseph in his, state of the territory address this evening?

I think it's something that he he did bring it up, and he spoke about it.

I'm committed to it.

You know, ultimately, is it reasonable for him to for people to expect him to mention it?

The Poly Joseph stadium and this and I agree with you completely.

This is a prime example of needing to look into the contractor, because it has been mentioned over the years.

I would have to agree that it should be some mention, some status update.

Assuming one is available, at the at the end of the day, the Poly Joseph Stadium is an albatross in more ways than one, and it hasn't even been constructed.

And I'm not from French and said, from Christians that some projects that adjacent right.

But the amount of money that has been invested into this project without there being any visible, physical structure warrants at least an investigation because it seems that it was flawed from inception.

And that has been haunting the execution of the project since then.

I think Governor Brian and his administration are well-intended, but they have inherited this albatross of a project.

All right.

So I do want to take a pause right there, because we do have Governor Brian, who is arriving outside of the legislature building.

But before he begins to walk in, I want to ask you, Kurt, you know, at this point, I know one, you know, you might be on over on the island of Saint John.

I'm sure you've been hearing about the Poly Joseph Stadium as well to, do you think that the governor will get an opportunity to cut the ribbon for the poly Joseph before he leaves the office?

Well, considering that considering the contents of the project, I would sure hope so.

And not as a means to take credit or just to celebrate another accomplishment, but because, yes, this has been an exhausting process, for the people to enjoy.

And I think, equity in any of this is important for the community.

You know, can you think the governor will have an opportunity to cut that ribbon?

I don't have any inside information on where that projects are.

But what I would say is that most larger scale projects and I, I've been involved with project finance for a long time.

You generally have bonded or bonded contractors and from fixed price prices with completion guarantees.

So you effectively have an insurance product similar to what we ran into with Vitale years ago.

And that's part of the agreement.

Yeah.

And if it's not done, you pay penalties.

All right.

Now I want to go back now to the legislature.

We see here this is that is not the governor walking in.

We see Senate Majority Leader Kurt Vele walking in and I believe that is the delegate to Congress, Stacey Plaskett, that is coming in and greeting members of the 36th legislature as she prepares to sit down as well, too, coming up and greeting Senator Carla Joseph.

And we also see the senator at large, and helpful catch junior and, Senator de Graaf.

All right.

And, as the delegate prepares to greet the secretary of the legislature and the Senate president, I believe she will take her seats.

And after that, we will see the lieutenant governor come in.

Now while we are watching.

Let's see when you recall your state of the territories, your time in the law.

I'm the legislature, you know, what is the atmosphere like inside of the legislature?

Waiting for the governor, for the lieutenant governor and members of his cabinet to come in.

Why are you putting me in a spot to laugh?

Because I'm laughing to myself.

Because when you when you say what is the atmosphere?

It's like, in the context of the of the members of the legislative body that I've been, a spectator as a Senate staffer, to the state of territory address.

And I've been to state of territory address as a, as a member of the legislature.

Nine out of ten times senators are sitting there saying to this over, I won't know what a governor gonna tell me tonight that we haven't heard about over the past 3 or 4 years.

And and what was, so, so coincidental.

I was looking at, the 2024 state of the territory address.

Yes.

And there was a discussion where the governor was saying, well, in 2024, we now in 2026 were the streets of Fraser, specifically King, Queen and strand.

There going to be repair.

And I'm up to yesterday.

I drive down there to the ATM and I still hit anything.

And this is the place.

I thought this was a place where the tourists.

Yes, that we, so much, promote ourselves through the cruise ships, come in on Strand Street and, that hasn't been completely spoke about, the actual Macintosh.

Just drive, which is some people know, was formerly known as Mahogany Road.

And that in 2024 the contract was being awarded.

And we're here in 2026.

I know very little progress on that.

And so I think that senators feel frustrated, particularly when they pass legislation, appropriate sums of money and projects are not being moved on in a expeditious manner.

And now I we see the the governor coming into the, getting ready to make his way into the chambers of the legislature right now.

As we are waiting for him to make his remarks in the meantime, you know, we'll see.

You mentioned the hospitals in the territory, you know, earlier, as some of the remarks that you want to hear.

She has the territory has been under pressure.

And this month we heard from hospital official and lawmakers about full emergency rooms and worsening conditions.

What can the governor say in his speech tonight that would reassure the public that the state of the hospital care are in the state of hospital care in the territory?

Well, it's not a sole responsibility of the governor.

You know, I, recall when Senator Lorraine Berry introduced the legislation for the creation of the hospital, corporation, and having served 17 years in Department of Health, we had a functional hospital, and we just had the hospital administrator and a deputy commissioner territory wide in the the late, Lieutenant Colonel Harmon Richardson, we had our own hospital administration, like the the lead, was, Lloyd from, Gillespie that was administering the Charles Dan Charles Howard Hospital and it was under one functional roof.

Now we have a have a board again, and that's why I didn't mention it.

That seems to not be able to, to manage efficiently in the selections of CEO, CFO, the conduct of the business, a hospital, as a health care professional.

But by training, it's frightening.

And, I think the people of the territory are really concerned that I believe up to last week, there were hospital employees that didn't receive the bye week by week in their payment.

So that's frightening.

Now, on Saint John residents now they're still relying on temporary facilities at the Myra Keating Smith Community Health Center because a permanent clinic rebuild are underway.

You know, that's it might be underway, but it's not finished.

You know what should it hasn't started.

What should the governor say in his speech tonight to reassure residents on Saint John specifically, you know, that permanent health care remains our priority.

What would you like to hear him come into?

Well, I'm assuming that they're going to mention that the project has is a part of a bundle that's currently out for bid.

All right.

Sorry.

I'm so sorry, Kurt.

Well, we see everyone standing, so that means the governor is about to make his way into the legislature right now.

We are going to.

Have we see the governor greeting, members of the legislature, Senator Franklin Johnson, Senator Francis Halligan, as he makes his way over to circle.

To meet to greet his former Saint Thomas administrator, Avery Lewis, now, secretary of the 36th legislature, greeting the delegates of Congress Stacey Plaskett, and now greeting the Senate president, Milton Potter.

Giving his greetings to his lieutenant governor.

Michigan's approach.

As he prepares to give his final and eighth state of the territory address to members of the legislature and to the ribbon of the floor of the Virgin Islands, good evening.

Please be seated.

Father Anthony Abraham, lieutenant governor against, wrote Senate President Nelson Potter and the members of the 36th legislature, Chief Justice Reece S Hodge and the justices of the Supreme Court, Presiding Judge Jessica Gallivan and the judges of the Superior Court.

Delegate to Congress Stacey Plaskett and Chief Judge Robert Malloy, and judges of the District Court.

Members of my cabinet and agency heads, members of my staff, state chair of the Democratic Party Carolyn Burke, distinguished guests and my fellow Virgin Islanders.

So me and Rosa, good night.

Before I start, I want to give a shout out to the kitchen staff down at all of Muller, who I spent some time with today, and said, thank you to all the hard working government workers that struggle every day.

Through a lot of hard times.

But tonight, as you, governor, I stand with gratitude for the people who made this work possible.

Reverence for the institutions that keep our democracy strong, and an unshakable confidence that our future is bright.

Throughout our seven year journey, I have gained inspiration from the greatest leadership manual in creation.

Proverbs three, five and six.

Remind us to trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding in all thine ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy past.

The Most High has guided us safely through another year, with an abundance of blessings, and without any major disasters or emergencies.

For that we must all give pause, give thanks, and give praise for those blessings.

These Virgin Islanders, these Virgin Islands are built on the shoulders of many great individuals.

This last year, we lost several of our brick layers of our spiritual and culture.

Jabril Lawson, Javon, Uncle Man, Cecil Lewis, B Taylor, Junior, Austin Agee, Christian and attorney.

As our winter senior and especially bereaved from the loss of my good friend Yvonne Gottlieb and the good work she'd done with the cancer Society, we pledge to keep their legacies alive in the way we live, create, and care for one another.

In that same spirit of gratitude and remembrance, join me in honoring our service members of the Virgin Islands Army and Air National Guard airmen.

As soldiers continue to demonstrate their competence and readiness.

This year, the United States Armed Forces once again show that the Virgin Islands is the ideal home away from home, and that did not happen by chance.

My administration leaned in and extended a clear invitation and worked closely with our federal and military partners to make sure that their visits were relaxing and safe.

And as a result, the USS Gerald Ford and the You Were Jima once again made several fort calls to Crown Bay.

And Frederick said, our small businesses, taxi drivers and tour operators can attest that economically it was a huge win.

So thank you to all Virgin Islanders for showing them your hospitality on every single visit.

In our commitment to service for both the active and inactive last year, we work to expand access to care, improve the navigation of claims processing and provide non serve connected Non-service connected veterans on Saint Croix with no cost airfare to medical appointments.

Special thanks to Director Patrick Farrell and the Office of Veterans Affairs for continuing to champion this good work.

Over the past year, I chose to venture across oceans and, yes, continents and get connected from whence we came.

This was a transformative experience that all Virgin Islanders should experience at least once in their lifetime.

And I am better for it.

And this relationship with our kinfolk in West Africa should be nurtured.

I would like to acknowledge the members of the West Africa delegation who are in our territory this week with us.

With us tonight is the CEO from the Ghana Tourism Authority, Miami Foy, while the Ethel and Prince Anthony board.

As your governor, my purpose has been simple to deliver real progress for the Virgin Islands.

I've tried to do that by being honest about our challenges, keeping my word, and making sure every part of your government treats Virgin Islanders with respect.

I focus on growing our revenues by strengthening our economy and tourism, attracting new investment, securing federal support, and making sure that we collect what we are owed together.

We have used those revenues to steady our government, pay long overdue bills to shore up our retirement system and provide the best quality of life for Virgin Islanders and our guests that we can afford.

My goal is always been to take the wisdom of our elders and the vision of our team and turn it into action so that progress with our last me or any single administration.

Tonight in this chamber, I will deliver my final state of the territory address.

It is a moment to take stock, speak with candor.

Another update you on the journey we have been on over the last seven years.

I won't be brief by any standards, but I will be clear because the stakes are too high for anything less.

When I stood before you last year, we were progressing in the throes of great change.

I reminded you of where we started together record high unemployment, a pension system on the brink, deteriorating infrastructure and staggering unpaid obligations.

I reported that change was finally taking place.

Tourism was surging.

Royal Caribbean was bringing more cruise passengers to Saint Croix.

22.5 billion had been pledged to restore our islands, and we launched rebuild USVI to turn long promised schools into active projects in every year of this administration, though, we have faced adversity that tested our resolve, and the plans that we've laid in the past year was no different.

In many ways, 2025 brought some of the most difficult moments not because we lost our way, but because the world around us shifted under our feet even as we were tracking forward behind every ribbon cutting and groundbreaking, we were constantly navigating forces beyond and within our shores that threatened to slow or derail the work we were doing.

Hence, I must be forthright and contextualize the challenges we face in the last year and how we together chose to make them.

Last year, I brought a change in leadership in Washington, D.C., from our good friend President Biden to President Trump.

For the territory of our side, that depends on strong federal partnership.

That kind of transition is never just politics on television.

It is a real time shifting priorities, policies and, yes, relationships programs we had carefully aligned with federal rules and expectations suddenly required renewed defense and fresh advocacy.

We have to reassess, realign and move quickly to keep pace with the executive actions and the changing federal landscape.

My team and I found us so back in old rooms with new decision makers, making sure the Virgin Islands were not treated as an afterthought.

It is not about my personal feelings, political feelings.

Our mission is simple to secure the future of this territory.

No matter who sits in Congress or the Oval Office.

At the same time, changes in federal trade policies and new tariff pressures created a real sense of uncertainty.

Trade and tariff shifts may sound abstract, but for us they affect everything from the cost of materials and fuel to the development of our ports and our tourism economy.

Every single price increase lands heavy on our shores.

This month, we have to fight to make sure that the cost of nationals decisions did not disproportionately impact Virgin Islanders.

Our people simply cannot afford it.

This past year, Delegate Plaskett and I confronted federal proposal to impose steep maritime fees on Chinese build vessels, fees that could have disrupted our supply chain and inflated costs and everything from building supplies to groceries.

But after our aggressive efforts, lobbying and working with the Trump administration, ultimately they exempted the Virgin Islands from these increased field fees.

We would like to thank the delegate and our friends at Tropico, who are leading this team effort that produce results for our people.

We also face the uncertainty of the longest federal government shutdown in our nation's history.

When Washington stopped the needs of our people did not.

Families still needed food assistance, seniors still needed access to health care, and our government still had to operate.

Whether programs had federal funding or not.

And while many in this nation stood in lines at food banks or unfortunately just went hungry, we ran the checks and fed our people.

Our children, our challenges continued as our children's futures were put at risk.

When federal government forces prematurely withdrew 34 million in education stabilization grants.

We huddled, strategize and responded.

We secured a meeting with the United States Secretary of Education, and that swift action and firm leadership led to the reversal of the decision, allowing essential programs to proceed and vendors to be provided.

Who provided goods and services to be paid.

On top of that, our ongoing work to stabilize and transform the energy grid, particularly in Saint Thomas Saint John District, did not go exactly as we expected, but we experienced setbacks that contributed to rotating power outages and costly surges that damaged the equipment of residents and businesses alike.

I know the frustration because I simply hear it everywhere I go.

I hear from the small businesses that lose inventory, the family that sitting in the heat and the students that are studying by flashlight.

And when the power goes out, everyone's patience goes out.

With this.

But over the course of this administration, we have learned from our trials that transformation is never a straight line and that some of the pain is felt even as the improvements are being made.

And if that was not enough.

Ransomware attacks, ransomware attacks on our hospitals and health systems forced us to spend time, money and energy protecting our people, facilities and data.

Cyber security upgrades are not visible like a new wing in the hospital, but they are just as essential.

These threats are.

These threats and attacks cost us money that it could have been spent directly on giving health services to our people.

But perhaps the most painful tests of this term has been the conviction of three members of my own cabinet.

From day one, the number one tenet of my administration has been to restore trust in our government and those who lead it.

This administration is committed to integrity and does not tolerate leaders who abuse their position of power at the expense of our people.

Integrity is not easy, but it is essential.

This government operates under one of the most demanding procurement systems in the nation, with layers of checks and balances and balances and no checks.

These policies are grounded in transparency and accountability, and even so, we still find it necessary to enhance our commitment through ethics training for our government employees and additional training for all individuals engaged in procurement.

We also created and implemented a comprehensive code of conduct and are holding our employees to these rigorous standards.

As you, governor, I want you to hear this directly from me.

I recommit to stamping out corruption wherever it appears and to protecting the trust you have placed in me and my cabinet.

I'm asking you, the public, to walk with me in this work.

When you see something wrong reported, when you see something that does not look right, say so.

We will investigate and act.

And wherever the investigation leads, we will always cooperate and support the pursuit of justice.

Seeking the light to reveal the truth.

Even though it's the act of the few.

It reflects on all of us, and we cannot allow the failures of the few to cripple our image or derail the tremendous opportunity we have before us as Virgin Islanders.

All of these challenges could have knocked this, of course, but they did not.

Instead, we became more agile, disciplined and innovative in our governments.

I'm reminded every single day that progress in the Virgin Islands does not happen in a vacuum.

It is occurring in the throes of great change, and yet we move forward.

That is why, even amid uncertainty in 2025, it became another banner year for the Virgin Islands.

Not only did our economy remain strong, but we made good on promises to the people of the Virgin Islands because at the end of the day, that is what all of this is about the people.

Last year when I stood before you, I made commitments among them.

I promised that we would keep paying down old tax refunds.

This past year, we paid over 47 million to individuals.

To some, success meant one spent 140 million paid in tax refunds over the span of an entire administration.

To date, the Brian Roach administration has paid a half $1 billion in tax reform.

That is progress.

It's progress that is rooted in the belief that if we can't refund to our people what is owed.

We are systematically impoverishing our own.

And I want to thank Commissioner McCurdy and the team of that team at Department of Finance and Director Joe and the team at the Bureau of Internal Revenue for carrying out their heavy lift.

The illustrious and esteemed Lieutenant governor chickens the approach.

He has done an excellent job collecting the revenues that power our government.

Now think about this over the term of our administration.

His office alone has collected almost $1 billion.

You see, we are modernizing how residents access core services through consolidation and facility upgrades, including the purchase of the former first Bank building.

Senator VLA, that will eventually become the home of our public facing division I. The office of the Lieutenant Governor to the Division of Banking.

Insurance.

We turned over $1 million in unclaimed property and bank accounts to our residents, $1 million.

The Money Transmission Revolving Fund collected over $2.3 million in 2025.

We work hard with this same legislature to get the language right, and this fund will continue to give for years to come.

Finally, after over a decade of planning and hard on hard work, our street addressing initiative is on track to be completed this year.

This is huge.

This means GPS systems that work not turn right by the white guy next to demand retreat.

It means improved emergency response and parcel delivery services for the Virgin Islands.

Huge win for the people of the Virgin Islands and the Brian Roach administration.

Last year when I stood here, I boldly stated, send me the bill and I will pay the retro senators.

You delivered.

And together we paid out over 21 million in retroactive payments.

Thank you to Senator Noel Francis for sponsoring the bill.

And the other members of the 36th legislature for its passage.

Following probably one of the most significant accomplishments in decades with securing an increase in the rum cover over eight permanently.

Administrations have been trying to do this since Randy Lugo was a baby.

With the assistance of our partners in Washington, D.C., including US Senator Mike Crapo, Kevin Coward, Terry Knees, and our lobbyists.

We secured the permanent restoration of the rum corridor rate to 13.25 proof for Forgotten Forever.

This security.

This is security for our retirees for the next 30 years.

Many said could not be done.

But this administration do it and done.

I want to thank the good Senator Lewis for passing the resolution to honor Senator Crapo, who is a great friend to the U.S.

Virgin Islands.

Now, I committed to you that the Office of Disaster Recovery through rebuild USVI would move major projects from concept to contracts.

We consolidated we consolidated projects into bundles and set a goal of issuing eight $1 billion packages.

And in 2025, Director Adrian Williams Octoling and her team over delivered.

Today, more than 11.8 billion in federal recovery funds are under contract, launching construction on more than 36 complex projects.

That means more than a dozen modernized schools, health care facility, roads and utilities.

We went I want you to listen to this.

We went from and I mean from administrations that once boasted that they had a capital budget of 10 million or 20 million annually.

We are dispensing 40 million a month.

For the future of public safety.

We executed the territorial fire station bundle, bringing our critical facilities into one coordinated construction push.

Like the soon to be name can wait for it.

The Darrow Mosley George Senior Fire station in that state between.

You.

This will give our firefighters modern bases of operation and improve response times when emergencies strike.

In education, we move from design to delivery and into comprehensive rebuilding of our school system.

On Saint Thomas, the bundle advances the Saint Thomas Administrative Center.

The locker Janie to it.

Emmanuel, Benjamin Oliver, Yvonne Milliner Boesky, and Ivana Eudora can schools.

And we have active contracts for the main campus of Charlotte a Molly High school and Bertha c bus Shelter middle school.

The Saint Croix Bundles is in contracting phase and includes the Alexander Henderson, Alfredo Andrews, Claudio Marco, Pearl B Larson elementary schools.

We also executed contracts for Saint Croix Central High School as well as the Saint Croix Educational Complex.

Together, these award totaled 13 school campuses across the territories and will give our students the learning environments they deserve.

In recovery, health and senior care.

We are in the pre-construction phase for a full Health and Human Services campus at New at Hanson.

This year, Newt Hanson comes down.

We are finalizing the contract for construction on the Herbert Great Home for the Age on Saint John.

We began pre-construction activities for Myra Keeton Smith Health Center, the Maurice de Castro Clinic, and the new Julia East Broward School.

For our roads and public utilities.

We are executing large underground contracts on Saint Croix.

The North Central Bonding Bundle combines underground power, wastewater, portable water replacements, communications replacements and unified paving into a single progressive design building contract on Saint Thomas.

The East Horizontal Bundle delivers the same coordinated approach.

The one dig approach reduces the disruption in surrounding neighborhoods and prevents the same roads from being dug up more than once.

That gets on all of our nerves.

We have received bids for the prudent replacement of the Richmond Power Plant in Saint Croix and the round of holly power plant on Saint Thomas, thus both power plants being replaced.

Even after all we have done already to them.

Taken together, these 20 2025 awards show that odor and the rebuilding USV VII initiative have shifted the recovery from planning to execution, turning federal obligations into active contracts, jobs and progress in every district.

This fast decided December.

We kept our word and broke ground on a new Donna and Christian Christensen Department of Health building on Saint Croix.

Tonight, I want to thank Doctor Donna Christensen for all she has done for health care and all she has done for our administration and the people of the Virgin Islands.

We are in the final stages of contracting and will soon select a contractor to rebuild the one off Louis Hospital.

This thing has gone out to bid three times now.

We've secured all the funding, we've completed the design and are dedicated to the staff of GFL.

We are making the final preparations now to vacate that hospital.

And so the demolition can begin this year.

That same urgency has guided us to the system that powers everything we are rebuilding.

A modern hospital cannot thrive on an unstable grid.

That is why my final four years in office, I have dedicated a tremendous amount of time to eliminating our perpetual energy crisis, a crisis that has plagued us in fiscal management, reliability, and most importantly, costs.

Now we are determined to make Wapa a renewable energy company.

I mission a simple, it's simple and concept, but Lord is it complex in execution.

Keep it on.

Make it cheap.

This year we delivered large scale solar and battery projects that are finally changing how our grid works.

Two new utility scale solar farms at State's Petronella and Hogan's Berg pin with battery storage now deliver more than 30MW.

That's about two thirds the daytime capacity on Saint Croix, plus 30MW of storage that is cleaner, steadier power and power that reduces fuel costs so ratepayers are not held hostage by old prices.

Working with the 36th legislature, we expedited the coastal zone permits for a new solar and battery projects at state for tuna here on Saint Thomas as well as Pavone, and when they are online, these solar farms will provide an additional 35MW of capacity to the power needs of Saint Thomas and Saint John.

These projects make the Virgin Islands a global leader in solar per capita, and at the same time, the Virgin Islands Energy offers expanded direct incentives for solar battery systems and efficient appliances, and provided public electric vehicle charging station.

This means rebates on electric cars and appliances, 1% loans for residential solar systems, and free energy saving appliances for residents.

Thank you.

Director Kyle Fleming.

Now, Commissioner Derek Gabriel and his team at the Department of Public Works have had an extraordinary year in both districts.

Several bridges have been reconstructed on Saint Croix, including East Airport Road Bridge, the upper of Love Connector Road Bridge, the Kyle Cahoon Midland Road Bridge, and the bridge on Queen Mary Highway near Carleton.

These were critical infrastructure repairs built to withstand tomorrow's flood and heavy rain events.

We delivered by paving roads all over this territory downtown Charlotte, Amalia, first Avenue, the Fort Christian parking lot, Lagrange, Peters, South Shore Road and the Airport Road.

As promised, we broke ground on Mahogany Road and is now in full reconstruction.

Going through the rain forest.

As one as one of our many 40 year accomplishments by this administration, we finally have a dedicated turning lane at Container Port Intersection on the Melvin Evans Highway.

We finished the Clifton Hill adjoining roadway and there our street lights for as far as the eye can see.

If that wasn't enough, we delivered a 300 seat ferry vessel named the spirit of 1733, the largest ferry vessel in our Victron fleet, connecting Saint Thomas and Saint John.

This ferry will be complemented by the Saint Croix Saint Thomas Ferry, which is currently in design and scheduled to carry both vehicles and passengers between the two districts.

To top it off, we secured the funding for Veterans Drive Phase two.

This project has gone out to bid and will complement Veterans Drive Phase one, providing substantial congestion relief to our residents and visitors on Saint Thomas.

We opened the daily Gregory Transportation Center at Tivoli, King Airport, improving accessibility for locals and visitors.

This year, we also took a major step forward at Crown be working with the 36 legislature and the Virgin Islands port Authority.

We consolidated and approved a lease for a $200 million public private redevelopment that will modernize the upland areas and add a whole new cruise berth to Saint Thomas.

Thank you to my good friend, Director Dow and the people at the Port Authority.

For each of us.

But unfortunately, the side effect of all this success is inflation.

As our economy grows, we must fight to keep the dream of homeownership within the reach for the people who are building the economy.

This Nice slice moderate income homeownership program, which provides up to $200,000 grant, is directly investing in the American Dream for Virgin Islanders.

And as a close of 2025, the program has successfully empowered 72 families to become first time homeowners.

These families not only became homeowners, but they also gained an asset that added an average of $90,000 to each of those family wealth.

That is a legacy that any homeowner can be proud of.

That is why this year we are authorizing another 2 million for this size program.

Legislators.

We must pass legislation that will make this program permanent and put our people in their own homes.

It is in this very spot that I pledge our administration would execute the largest property acquisition in the history of the Virgin Islands, and we did it.

We secured the purchase of over 2400 acres at Maroon Ridge and added it to our territorial park system.

This important part of our history will now be preserved for ever.

Thank you, Commissioner Oriole and your team.

During our election year activity.

It really showed dragons and I that people really needed low cost entertainment and activities.

Almost nightly, the campaign headquarters would be a buzz.

To put it simply, there was always something going on.

And last year, I promised that we would make progress on our recreational facilities and provide low cost, healthy activities to our residents.

Well, the Rental Jackson Sports Complex can once again host baseball games in Frederick State.

Another visible sign.

Another visible sign of progress is the reopening of the Vincent F Mason Senior Coral Resort Park in Frederickson.

In 2025, we open a modern, accessible pool and park where children are learning to swim and families gather.

Not to be outdone, the revitalization of Edward Fredericks Ballpark is well underway, with the completion of a 16,000 square foot skate park, a new playground, and shaded area for seating.

Transforming this area in freed energy into a vibrant, multi-use recreational hub.

But we knew we couldn't stop there.

We secured funding to install new lighting for the entire park, and we are working with FIFA to install a new soccer field, which should be completed this year.

And no recreational facility would be completed in today's age without internet.

We dedicated a lot of time and effort to ensure that we provided free, free internet to those who need it.

This year, we can boast that our territory wide internet program is almost complete with over 50,000 individual users per month.

It is in every park, playground, library, beach, public housing community.

This gives every resident the opportunity to participate in the global economy.

Thank you to Steven Adams at Bingo and Commissioner Roberts at Department of Sports, Parks and Recreation.

Our efforts to improve public safety are no longer just plans on paper.

In 2025, we added a new fireboat to our fleet, enabling us to fight fires on the water and conduct marine and search rescue.

This month we took possession of not one, not two, not three, but seven new ambulances replacing our aging fleet.

We are we are expanding our capacity across all three islands and now training and equipping our own EMTs and paramedics.

I want to thank Director Stevens for steady leadership and to our first responders, first responders.

You are the heartbeat of our public safety.

You answered every alarm.

You responded to every emergency.

You handled all those calls tonight on behalf of a grateful territory.

We applaud your hard work and your commitment.

We have also modernized our roads and our police, how we police our roads and our communities with our new citation system.

Officers can issue traffic tickets electronically and spend more time with the public needs the most out in our neighborhoods.

And with the initial deployment of the real time Crime Center, we now have a modern hub that brings together cameras, license plate readers, and data analysis to support investigation and guide patrols.

This is 21st century policing in a small territory and it's already making a difference.

Kudos to Commissioner Mario Brooks and our men and women in blue of the Virgin Islands Police Department.

These milestones are powerful reminders of how far we have come, and how fortitude and persistence can lead to progress and opportunity for our people.

You see change.

Change is hard, but progress is even more difficult.

So tonight I want to offer a special thank you to the members of the 36th legislature for standing with us as we navigated this past year.

That partnership was not abstract.

Together, we moved on.

Critical crossings.

Coastal zone management permits improved rail reliability of the water and power authority and strengthened our energy future.

Together, we secured 5 million to get horse racing moving again on Saint Croix.

Together we advance the redevelopment of Crown Bay, positioning our ports for greater tourism and commerce.

And together we worked to secure Frenchman's Reef and Bui House as assets of the people of the Virgin Islands.

These are all concrete examples of what happens when we have a legislative and executive branch working together.

And contrary to the rumor mill.

The legislature and I have not spent the past year at odds.

At least not the whole year.

We have debated.

We disagreed.

We have negotiated hard.

But that spirit has allowed us to pass important legislation.

Even when the politics were loud and the cameras were rolling.

I am proud to say that tonight, in the face of it all, we remain focused.

Focus and the promises we made were kept to the people.

See, in a small community like ours, every single rumor feels like news and every headline can sound like a foregone conclusion.

Over these years, we've had our share of tough coverage and criticisms, public disagreements.

And that's before you even come.

The myriad of political distractions on Facebook and social media.

And I respect the free and active press.

It is essential to our democracy.

But I also know that the noise can sometimes drown out the steady, unglamorous work being done on behalf of the people.

Let me offer a simple thank you to the people of these islands.

Your honesty keeps us grounded.

Your patience keeps us humble.

Your resilience points the way in everything worth noting.

Noting tonight traces back to that our people.

But tonight is more about just more about alleged programs and progress, challenges and accomplishment.

It is about how far we have come and where we intend to go next.

That is why I fervently declare, plainly and without contradiction, as a record allows me to state that the state of the territory is anchored in progress.

After all we have achieved in 2025.

I'm happy to share tonight that our journey continues.

Tonight I will outline plans for this year despite governing in the face of constant challenges.

We remain resolute, anchored in progress.

It's not a finish line.

It is a firm mooring in moving waters.

Even our greatest work leaves echoes yet to be answered.

Every bright morning casts a shadow.

We must still light.

So tonight, from a place of gratitude and resolve.

We turn our eyes to the horizon of 2026.

And press forward with the purpose of improving the daily life of Virgin Islanders and the guests.

We extend a welcome to.

Now, let me begin with what touches every family.

Health care.

In 2026, we will reopen the solid Kimmelman Center.

Virgin Islanders will once again be able to receive comprehensive cancer care right here at home, surrounded by family, not in a hotel room on the mainland.

We are working on modernizing our entire health care system.

We are increasing access to care, building the state of the art facilities, recruiting providers with diverse specialties, growing a stronger, more expansive health workforce, implementing modern health technology systems, and ensuring functional health exchange to securely share confidential medical records.

But reopening and rebuilding facilities alone are not enough.

They must be supported by better policies and a dynamic organizational structure.

Since the start of my administration, we have advocated for a unified health care hospital system.

Tonight, I stand fully with the Territorial Hospital Board to establish a single hospital system.

By pooling resources and negotiating together, our hospital will stretch every dollar further and deliver more consistent care from the first visit to recovery across the territory.

I know.

You heard it all before.

But in the coming weeks, you will see the action of a hospital board that is intent on unifying all of our system.

We are also collaborating with all the governors of all the insular territories in a coordinated effort to bring telehealth and health care to our people.

This groundbreaking initiative combines our health records.

It will improve diagnoses.

It will track patients progress and make billing collections more efficient for all our hospital.

It is not something any one of us can afford, but together we will make it way with all the territories.

And now, as health is undoubtedly will undoubtedly find its footing, learning must also lift our children higher.

We all know the age and strain of all our school campuses.

I was on all the mother today.

I attended that 50 years ago.

John H. Woodson Junior High, built more than 43 years ago, is an example.

And this this is one of our newest schools.

In 2026, we will close that campus for good.

And those students will walk into the new state of the art.

Arthur E Richards, pre-K through eight school.

This this this new facility is awesome.

It boasts a gym that doubles as shelter, a multi-purpose library, a swimming pool, and the resilient infrastructure our children deserve.

This will be the first new school to open in the territory in 30 years, complementing the other 13 already under contract.

Now we have many, many competent, well-trained teachers and they're leading this vision and showing through their work their commitment to the academic success of our students.

Two perfect examples are with us this evening.

First, the District Teacher of the year for Saint Thomas and Saint John is Miss Jessica Sibley, a fifth grade teacher at Danita It Elementary School.

We got a big, big, big up for this seven school.

Thank you.

And in Saint Croix, the district teacher of the year is Miss Joanie Phillip, a sixth grade English language arts teacher at Riccarton Richards Elementary School.

Thank you.

A blue eyed national blue Ribbon School at Arthur Richards.

Rick, I sorry, Ricardo Richards.

Our amazing teachers are developing the next great minds.

But a bright future also requires affordable housing.

In 2026 on Saint Croix, 106 newly redeveloped affordable homes will house families at David Hamilton, Jackson Terrace building on a 248 units already occupied at Walter I am Hodge and on Saint Thomas.

Preconstruction is underway for two two high rise apartment design with an on site microgrid.

And as you turn the corner to Home Depot, you can see 84 modern homes at the new estate.

Due to rising out of the ground.

Similarly, we are nearing completion of 90 homes under the Envision Tomorrow program, building on the 88 homes that are already completed.

And yes, in Williams Delight, we have provided grants that allow residents to own their homes.

This year we're making another 31 available for home ownership.

Thank you, Senator Maurice Jones, for our work on that.

Roads and public works are the threads that stitch our daily lives together.

In Saint Croix, we have secured $28 million to reconstruct the resurface East scenic Lavalle and South Side Roads, as well as strand, King and Queen streets in downtown Frederick Stead to the people of Williams Delight.

After a really long femur review process, I am pleased to announce that we will begin paving and drainage improvements in your neighborhood this year.

In the Saint Thomas Saint John District.

We will take major road projects spanning from Julia and Jackson Road in the West Estate, Nazareth in the east, including on Bhavani, Bologna and Skyline Drive.

Public works has also secured the funding for the much anticipated Nardo Troutman drive right off.

This bypass road will ease the traffic along the way with Reimer Highway from Casillas to the Fort Molina intersection.

Getting home just got a little bit easier.

These are steady investments that keep people and goods moving.

Speaking of moving, this year we will be deploying 28 new busses to include paratransit and the ability to transport our vulnerable population and public works.

Again.

And threatening our public health.

FEMA understands that that's why they've obligated more than $3 billion for the pool and placement, replacement of our aged and crumbling wastewater infrastructure and sewer systems across the territory.

The waste management is working with our underground people to prioritize those areas where the sewage is the worst, but we must begin paying our fair share for solid waste disposal, garbage disposal.

We cannot continue to expect reliable service, so keep our vendors paid if you are not willing to pay what it costs.

This is a simple truth and public service.

Communities are measured by how they manage their waste and how they protect their people.

This year, we will continue to phase camera installations, the phase camera installations across the territory, adding to the cameras that are already been put up in Saint John.

And for the first time in our history, the Virgin Islands Police Department will actually be using drone technology to respond to emergency situations.

Now.

And while enforcement is important, a fear and accessible judiciary is paramount.

Tonight, I am pleased to announce the nomination of Judge Denise M Francois to the Supreme Court of the Virgin Islands.

Once confirm, this will be the first time in the court's history that it has a full complement of five justices.

And I'm pleased to.

I'm also pleased to announce the nomination of attorney Rene M Andre to the Superior Court of the Virgin Islands of the state.

John Marshall James is.

They will serve us well during this administration.

We have worked to protect the pastimes that make us who we are as Virgin Islanders by rebuilding and reimagining the courts, fields and tracks where our stories are told.

Central to our story is the tradition of horse racing.

This past year, we hosted six major race days at Clinton Phipps, generating hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize money.

New economic activity and a renewed sense of pride in the sport of kings.

Thank you, South Southland gaming.

I mean, while we and we ended our relationship with Vigo, and now the potential for horse racing will be moving forward in Saint Croix.

But if you.

But if we are to return to horse racing in Saint Croix.

I really enjoy the Crusades.

Coming to Saint Thomas to race.

But if we are to return to horse racing in Saint Croix, it will require a little bit more than concrete and steel.

Our administration is pursuing a comparable public private partnership, similar to the Clinton Phipps racetrack agreement, only bigger.

And under that framework, we expect to see real investment in the rebuilding of the Randall Jack James racetrack.

I look forward to submitting legislation within the next two weeks to bring this longstanding tradition back to life.

But in drafting the legislation, in drafting legislation to support this progress, we saw the need to consolidate the entities that regulate gaming in the territory.

That is why tonight, I am asking the members of this August body to support legislation that merges the Virgin Islands Lottery and the Casino Control Commission once and for all.

A single unified regulator means one rule book, consistent enforcement and lower cost to the people.

It also creates a stable, dedicated revenue stream to support racetrack operations, youth sports and cultural programs.

I'm looking forward to the quick passage of that legislation.

I think one of the senators has already preempted me.

Now, those who will judge us merely by the heights we have achieved would do well to remember the depths from which we started.

Kwame Nkrumah once said that I understand that the human psyche will not allow one to fully appreciate the body of work while you are still toiling in the task.

But I can assure you that our output has been vast and impactful, and it has changed the course of these Virgin Islands for years to come.

To truly grasp that progress, though, we must look back at what we inherited and measure the territory's trajectory from whence we came.

Now we've made seven trips around the sun and the final is eight.

Now eight is a rather profound number is represented of balance, harmony, prosperity, and infinite potential.

Hence, permit me a moment of introspection as one of only nine, one of nine individuals elected governor of the Virgin Islands.

I have a deep appreciation for the efforts of those who came before me.

Each of my predecessors helped shape the Virgin Islands we know today, and in their own way, made this administration successful.

Tonight I want to thank governors.

The young.

I'm giving them up to come.

They are very different leaders, but many of the achievements that we've had rests on the foundations that they lead, the push for renewable energy and reduced dependance on fossil fuels.

Early childhood education.

Gress reforms retroactive wage payments.

That the Azure Rum Agreement and initial Irma and Maria recovery efforts major projects such as Veterans Drive, Main Street, Nardo, Trackman Drive, Chrome Bay, all of them move forward during my tenure.

Thanks in part to the vision and the groundwork of former governors, now I have learned that eight years is never enough to start and finish every initiative.

I'm reminded of a story told me by my good friend Ralph Gonsalves, former Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

He told me that in 2001, he asked Butch Steward, the owner of sandals, to build a sandals resort in Saint Vincent.

Butch told him to build the airport first and then he would build a hotel.

In 2017, he completed the airport, and in 2024, not Butch, his son Adam delivered the country's first sandals.

24 years.

And tonight I have my good friend Storm Gonzalez, who's in the crowd with us.

He's given my running to plan.

The son.

Of the comrade.

And so.

24 years or what would have been six gubernatorial gubernatorial terms later, they fulfill the promise that is the anchor of Saint Vincent's tourism industry, which don't happen overnight.

Nobody look.

And it does not come if you try to go at it alone or refuse the bill or refuse the bill, or refuse the bill, and what was started before.

I honor our former governors, and that is why I'm committed to ensuring that both their official portraits are completed before I leave office.

Governor.

The Young's portrait will be unveiled early.

This order.

And governor, was my portrait.

He was up there the other day taking pictures because it's already been commissioned.

Now, when we started our journey to lead this territory together, and I knew that the challenges were ahead and that it would take fortitude and creativity to change course.

Over the last seven years, we rode the highs and the lows, the ups and the downs, but never wavered.

No matter the headwinds or the headlines.

And as I delve into these thoughts, I must reflect as far back as the administration's first state of the territory address, in which I advised that our territory was in distress.

We inherited a government so strained that even meeting payroll was in doubt.

The Virgin Islands government had borrowed 212 million for operations.

I couldn't borrow a cent more, was no cash reserves, and we carried more than $270 million in vendor payments.

Metzger's contribution had become routine.

The retirement system had four active lawsuits against the government.

A court injunction blocked the collection of more than 40 million annually in excise taxes, and Gers was underfunded by $5 billion.

That's not rhetoric.

That was the reality of the day.

Let's face it.

When we took office, a stop sign was a rear, a counter.

Not even the street lights were working.

And there certainly wasn't no $8 billion in any bank.

We had to rebuild this territory.

That night, Lieutenant Governor Roach and I pledged to secure, modernize government, fix Carleton Road, expand pre-K to every school, and set a 20 year vision for the territory.

We were going to cut our reliance on fossil fuels and strengthen our infrastructure.

Those commitments became our Guideposts and the path to restoring faith that government can still deliver.

Now, some of those promises were large and structural, and others were as personal as a promise made to one young man.

That night, I pledged to Nicci Theodore that we would fix Carleton Road, one of many road projects that followed tonight.

That guy is a big man here with his mother and his crew with us.

Then living proof of us that we kept our word.

Guy.

He wasn't.

He was in college when we started.

No, in college.

Thank you.

Okay.

I long, long.

I learned along the way that progress is never instant, but it comes when we honor the commitments and stay the course.

In our second year, just as we steadied our feet, I thought it was going to be, you know, smooth sailing.

A global pandemic arrived and tested every seam of our existence.

The Brian Roach administration and the people of the Virgin Islands led one of the strongest, most proactive Covid 19 responses not in the Caribbean, but in the world.

When Covid infiltrated our shores, the Brian Roach administration, we were already preparing.

We coordinated with our federal partners and the local partners to secure our borders, expand our hospital capacity, and provide life saving vaccines.

With the announcement of the first known case in March 2020.

We acted to ensure masks and social distancing guidelines.

We shuttered schools and government offices and moving classrooms and workers online.

We created a phase alert system that clearly guided the public through every stage of the pandemic.

We launched the travel portal.

Let me in, please.

Requiring a negative Covid test before entry, and work closely with our cruise line to protect our boarding and economy.

They said that over two 300 people would die in the first three months.

But over half a million tests were administered more than 26,000 cases were identified and over 70,000 of our people were vaccinated.

Hospitals never became overrun.

And while we mourned 133 lives lost, we saved countless more.

We were in this together when some jurisdictions found it difficult to be neighborly.

We were blessed to have the resources to fight.

So when Sam the sailor needed care, we opened our arms and provided the help he needed.

When the British Virgin Islands had limited access to Covid 19 vaccines, we assisted them, setting up our stuff on the docks.

We're vaccinating their population, and when every point in the Caribbean close, the US Virgin Islands welcome the boats to our shores.

Thank you, Commissioner in Kansas household.

The Department of Health and our entire team.

In our hardest days, it was faith that steadied us and kept us moving forward.

When we hosted the first day of prayer at government House, we opened the doors not just for ceremony.

Muscle Muslims and Christians and Protestants and Catholics and even Rastafari could join in lifting this territory in faith, asking for wisdom and protection and strength to carry one another through.

When the rest of the Caribbean was shut down, we remained open.

We not only remained open, but we also allocated the funds for the Small Business Grant.

We awarded businesses up to $50,000.

Premium pay rewarded Covid workers with over $40 million in checks, and Covid scholarships were awarded to over 900 student students, totaling $1 million.

But through preparation and decisiveness, our territory stood strong.

Together, we turned challenges into progress and adversity into opportunity.

And out of that gantlet came purpose.

Purpose.

We learned that creative and decisive leadership can turn constraints into opportunity.

When doors close, we build new ones.

When rules were rigid, we found lawful paths that served our people.

That is a brand roots approach pragmatic, people centered and aimed at a broad prosperity.

Our economy is stronger today than ever before, and certainly stronger than the one we inherited in 2019.

And since then, we have taken a conservative, responsible approach that has driven measurable growth.

Our gross domestic product has grown from 3.9 billion in 2018 to an estimated 5 billion today.

That is, without the presence of the refinery.

That's without the refinery working.

The unemployment rate dropped from 10.7 in 20 18 to 3.6 today, the lowest in our history.

Apart from the pandemic years, local revenues grew by an average of 8% annually from 830,000,000 in 2018 to over 1,000,000,000 in 2022.

In fact, the growth was so strong that we took $40 million that we used to put into the general fund from the rum cover over and David to the gears.

This sacrifice means that in the last three years alone, we have contributed over $120 million of what used to do roads, schools and other repairs and used it to secure our pension system.

On top of all the other money that getting that is sacrifice.

And nevertheless, we continue to march on and continue to grow our revenue base, because when we took office in 29, the government of the Virgin Islands, overall, that was 2.2 billion.

We proposed managed and balanced budgets that matched estimated revenues, resulting in a surplus.

Never happened before.

We implemented a disciplined line of credit to manage our cash flow, accelerate recovery work, and pay vendors more reliably.

And for the first time in this government's history.

We activated the Budget Stabilization Fund, commonly known as a rainy day fund.

That fund today has over $10 million sitting on it.

Through all the challenges.

And I want I like to say these things because they're factual and can be fact checked because through all the challenges we confronted, we have actually managed to reduce reduce the overall debt of the Virgin Islands by 25% from 2.2 billion to 1.6 billion today.

People are always talking about what the federal government could do.

Our debt represents 32% of our GDP.

The United States, one of the most powerful country in the world.

Their debt is 120% of their GDP, four times what ours is.

But as we finish this term, the story is simple.

We took an economy that was fragile and uncertain, and through disciplined investment and partnership.

We have positioned the Virgin Islands for sustained growth and opportunity for years to come.

When we leave office, we will leave more than $70 million in cash reserve and a lot less debt.

That is anchored in progress.

But I think one of the most important ways we began to rebuilding trust is by doing right, by our public workers, our servants, public servants.

Early in my term, we address one of the many demands of the people.

Ask that we repay the 8% salary cut from 2011, and altogether we paid 45 million in that debt.

And over the seven years, we've made it a priority to chip away at the mountain of old retroactive pay from 1982.

We owe this debt.

We deliver more than 66 million in retro wages to current and retired government employees.

This ain't in a speech, but to my people.

I going to try to get some this year to.

I don't know how, but we're going to say.

But this is the largest sustained effort to pay down a debt in the history of our Virgin Islands.

We did this because we understand what these funds mean to Virgin Islands families.

You know what it's like when you retire on $13,000 a year and water down from $1.30 5 to 899.

We understand what it means to families.

That is also why we found the funds to support the minimum government salary increase from 27 to 35,000.

Three.

It's not that we don't want people to get money.

We just want to make sure we got the money to pay.

When this was proposed, we were the sole advocates for the private sector employees.

How can the government set the minimum wage at 1685 and leave the private sector employees at 1025?

I like to thank the good Senator Franklin Johnson for hearing our plea and taking the steps to correct this injustice.

It is now law we signed into law.

It's going to take a boat.

But at the same time, every wage agreement we negotiated with our union was structured honestly and funded in the budget.

So that raises were paid when promised and did not turn into tomorrow's retro.

The result is that we are steadily reducing the retroactive balance that we inherited, while refusing to add a single dollar of unfunded wage obligations to our people.

Thank you, Chief negotiator.

Just bring in.

Now, over the course of our our tenure here.

We have secured over $180 million in settlement funds for the people of the Virgin Islands.

All of these from lawsuits initiated by our Department of Justice.

Those resources are being directed into prevention and treatment.

Survivors support victim services and stronger enforcement, while also helping community organizations expand the work they do every day is with these same funds that this year we bought a brand new home for Nana's baby children, home and compliments of the 36th legislature and the people of the Virgin Islands.

I want to thank God and Ray, the Attorney General, and all our attorneys and people that work on the Department of Justice for their tireless work on our behalf.

Even before I took office, a single greatest threat to our government and our families was the gress was not only a threat to the government employees, it was a threat to the economy of the Virgin Islands because retirees don't get their money and no insurance.

This would be a disaster.

The actuaries were clear that if we did nothing, the system would have run out of money two years ago, 2023, and retirees who had served us for decades would face the unthinkable risk of not getting a pension.

I could not accept that.

We could not accept that.

We made it our mission to protect the dignity of our retirees, and to make sure that men and women who kept this government running would not be left behind.

Working with the legislature and our financial team, we did something that people said could not be done.

You're going to hear that a lot.

We created a real rescue plan, not another study.

We restructured our rum, cover our bonds, and use the saving to fund the retirement system.

In addition, we settled for lawsuits against the government, some that were decades old and reduced the processing time that it took to retire.

More than 90% people couldn't retire.

The government owned the retirement system money.

And because of that work that the IRS of, I would receive hundreds of millions of dollars.

We continue to urge, though that is needs reforms.

It's like Social Security.

You can't just fix it one time.

You have to keep fixing it because inflation keeps going up.

Securing the permanent Ram cover will perhaps was one of the most important victories of the administration.

So when I talk about being anchored in progress, this is what I mean.

We took a system that was on the verge of collapse and gave it a lifeline, measured in decades and long after we leave office.

History will judge this rescue of Greece as one of the most consequential achievements.

Not for me, for our people.

When we talked about rebuilding this economy, I knew we needed more than just a list of projects.

We need a road map.

That is why working with the Economic Development Authority, we launched vision 2040 with the voices of thousands of Virgin Islanders who contributed.

Vision 2040 called for substantial investment in our blue economy.

But now all these efforts are being undermined by the British Virgin Islands and the outrageous increase in maritime fees.

They are friends and neighbors, but we are exploring every option, including working with our federal partners to achieve parity.

We respect that the BVI needs additional revenue to pave their roads.

They don't have $25 billion.

They need money to build their infrastructure and move their society forward.

But we too have to eat.

And their policy should not and will not create barriers in these Virgin Islands that impede our economy and commerce.

After years of trying to get new hotel projects in the ground in 2025, we saw the Hotel Development Act do exactly what it was meant to do.

This past August, we opened the 126 room Hampton by Hilton on Saint Thomas, the first newly built large scale hotel in more than 30 years.

Its completion is a powerful symbol that our tourism product is being rebuilt and modernized in a real and lasting way.

And over these seven years, we have taken tourism to record highs and use it as a platform to tell a bigger story about who we are as Virgin Islanders.

Visitor arrivals increased from 1.6 million in 2019 to 2.5 million in 2025.

Hotel occupancy rose on an average from 38 to 61%.

We achieved an average daily cruise ship visitor spend of $166 a day, is the second highest in the Caribbean, and once again, our cruise business is now among the strongest in the Eastern Caribbean.

We saw an exponential increase in cruise arrivals in Saint Croix in a single year.

From 2019 to the present, passenger arrivals have quadrupled from fewer than 60,000 to more than 241,000 tourists visiting Christopher Frederick Stat port every year.

We also took over Carnival.

We built a modern tourism product that showcase our culture and our people.

And through our division of festivals and cultural heritage, we enhanced our carnivals and festival.

We use that platform to attract major brands like Uber Soca and to package our music, food and culture for the region and the diaspora.

We strengthened our marketing with Saint Croix is a vibe like no other.

And our territory wide natural and rhythm brand.

We ventured into new markets with partnerships with professional sports teams like the New York Jets, and sponsored international events like DC United versus Bermuda and the Bethlehem Soccer Complex.

From reopening and adding flagship hotels and resorts to winning national recognition as an innovative, top ranked destination.

We have not only rebuilt tourism, but also repositioned it as a more diversified, resilient and locally rooted pillar of our economy.

This year at the Caribbean Awards, we were named Caribbean Cruise Destination of the Year and Experiential Destination of the year.

Thank you to Commissioner Jennifer Miller, Angus King, and the work of former Commissioner Joseph Purcell to.

The start of this administration for far too much of our government was still on paper.

Vendors had to walk contracts from desks to death.

It was hard to know where a purchase order stood, and the public had no simple way to see how their tax dollars were being spent.

I made a commitment to modernize the system.

Today, procurement is faster and fair, and transparency is more than just a campaign process promise.

We launched Gvi by is our first government wide procurement and contract system.

At the same time, we launched our open finance portal and transparency website, giving the public for the first time a clear window into revenues, budgets, payroll and expenditures.

Thank you, Commissioner Alicia.

Alejandro and Director Julio Raimondo.

No matter what they say, together we have made modernization and openness part of the daily practice of the Virgin Islands government.

When we took office in 29, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles was a symbol of everything people disliked about government.

Long lines, outdated systems, too much paperwork.

We committed to a different future and transformed BMV into one of our most modern, customer centered agency.

Today, residents can renew their registration and licenses online and book appointments.

What used to take people used to take the day off to go get a license.

Now you could do it as little as 15 minutes from their house.

24, 73, 65.

Thank you.

Director Bob McIntosh.

We make it.

We're making improvements along with electronics and electronic citations.

And we've integrated with the courts now.

And now we've approved the BMV to allow inspection, free residence registration for vehicles up to ten years old.

You don't have to go down no more.

Our administration, successful implementation of technology has improved government services and operations and encourage private sector growth today.

From your phone, you can start a business.

Register it at the Lieutenant Governor.

Find out how much money on taxes for it.

Submit the permits.

Go to trade.

Get the trademarks and corporation file and pay your taxes all from yourself.

That is progress.

A key part of our shift from crisis to strategy was the creation of Oda.

In our first year, established Oda as a dedicated team within the Public Finance Authority, whose only mission is to manage and drive our recovery.

Before Oda, federal disaster dollars were scattered across agencies and projects that move way too slowly.

Today, we have one office tracking every project, every obligation and every deadline, and coordinating directly with FEMA, HUD, and all our federal partners.

We grew and secured our recovery from a potential 8 billion to an obligated 25 billion.

Further.

You have to remember, there will be no recovery, no recovery.

If we had not reduced the federal match, the Virgin Islands government and the people of the Virgin Islands would have to find 2.5 billion of its own to match the 25 billion that was given from the federal government.

But to lower the air and I work with the Biden administration, we reduced that from 10% to 2%, saving the Virgin Islands over $2 billion.

They simply did the funds spend the funds and spent it correctly.

Thank you, Director Williams, Doctor Lynn and the team at all.

You are.

I wasn't going to be brief because I want to refresh your memory.

Because in 2022, I signed the emergency, the merger of the fire service, Emergency Medical Services into a single entity.

Y'all remember the ambulance had to come from Christian Center.

Federal said people dying while awaiting an ambulance.

Even here, three ambulance calls with the same time.

We can do it.

We did it.

The legislature, we integrated these key public safety agencies, and as a reform that people have been working on for 25 years.

Right.

Team.

We restored to modernize and modernize our tsunami warning system.

We activated emergency operations for six separate incidents hurricanes, tropical storms, the the Covid 19 pandemic, the Bhavani landfill fire, the let them water crisis.

Y'all remember that and the energy crisis.

Every administration faces emergencies, but no one has successfully managed as many complex events as we have.

In October 22nd, 2024, after four years of preparation, the U.S.

Virgin Islands received full accreditation for its Emergency Management program.

We are the first and only U.S.

territory to the seas.

Thank you, Director Goslin and the team, led by team.

When we came into office in 2019, the state of health care in these Virgin Islands, we effected years of strain and storm.

I'm saying, quote, when I flew, we were still operating in substandard space and temporary come for good reasons.

Let me say planning.

You have to go outside to use the bathroom.

Remember that society was aging and in need of major upgrades.

Behavioral health services were fragmented, the public health data were outdated.

And we were trying and we were trying to find people we lost in the storm.

They went to the States and nobody had any idea where they went.

On Medicaid program faced federal cops in an unfavorable market.

So even when the need was clear, we couldn't pay.

We couldn't pay the March.

From the beginning, we set out on a plan for healthier horizons.

We pushed telehealth and technology.

We stood up GFL North as an interim facility while we pursued a new permanent hospital.

But perhaps the most significant policy achievement in health care was securing the Medicaid much permanently.

For years, we struggled with the match that forced payer governments to cover 45% of the costs.

This was onerous on our health care system, but through our persistence, we secured this match at 17% permanently.

We we expanded the income limits to make people more eligible under our service.

Under administration, we provided care to over 29,000 Virgin Islanders annually.

Thank you, Delegate Plaskett, for your work on this.

We did this along community partners who filled critical gaps.

When the local dialysis center threatened to close, we work with the legislature to secure funding and expand capacity, enabling Schneider Regional to open a bacon wing and expand dialysis service.

We also supported a start up of the 13 chair Virgin Islands Health Care Foundation Dialysis Center on Saint Croix.

We funded the $2 million.

We funded the Virgin Islands Diabetes Center of Excellence, which delivers tailored care and education and outreach, the insured to the uninsured and the most at risk throughout the territory.

Now, more Virgin Islands issues receive critical care right here at home.

And when we said we would stabilize and rebuild health care in the Virgin Islands, we meant both bricks and mortar and the policy that sustains it.

Health care and energy have been two of our most longstanding, deeply rooted challenges, and two of the issues are people feel most deeply about.

And we committed to tackle both.

In 2017, the hurricanes shattered an electrical system that had to be rebuilt for the third time, completely rebuilt for the third time in 30 years.

We knew that if we did not fix energy, nothing else in our recovery would stand.

When we began this journey to stabilize welfare, we knew that the darkest hour, no pun intended, would come before the dawn.

We started slowly using our federal funds to purchase the Wartsila and Araiza generators.

We launched a territory wide composite pole installation effort, replacing old wooden poles with hurricane resistant pole.

It's now 90% complete.

We went out and we purchased Vito Propane assets from Vito $140 million.

As a result, Wapa has been able to reduce its fuel transportation cost.

We went out and we paid down to $26 million.

The government owed, which went as high as $100 million they owed Wapa for years.

We paid it and moved the central government and hospitals into a single payer system.

So today we remain current with Wapa.

We took a 100 million in Arpa funds to ensure that your rates did not go up.

By 2023, I'd seen enough.

I declared a state of emergency so we could get faster clear Robux we had.

We invested additional Arpa dollars to purchase new generation equipment, and we once again used our rainy day fund to clear more than 11 million in past due balances owed not by central government, by autonomous agencies.

But together, these actions did not solve every problem at one point.

But they turned the corner from crisis management to a real path forward.

Rapid has begun to make real progress.

The government is paying its proper bills on time.

The new solar facilities at Bologna and Fortuna and Saint Thomas will increase generation, reducing the likelihood of island wide outages that should happen by this summer.

And yes, I can announce that the new Wartsila units are now operating on propane.

When energy costs go down, everybody costs go down and you have more money in your pocket.

But like the rest of the country, we have been beaten by winds of inflation.

Every single thing has gone up.

Everything is up.

Your light, Bill.

Never in our history of our territory has a rate remained the same for low or lower for seven consecutive years.

But that's not enough.

Call.

Tonight I call on Wapa and the Public Service Commission to immediately take steps to lower the rate within the first quarter of this year, so that our families can feel some relief.

But it won't mean anything if our people cannot accurately get their bill.

That is why, in this upcoming year, Wapa will begin rolling out its new automated metering infrastructure to accurately read meters.

This will cure the excessive estimating and erratic billing that has become far too common.

Not only will the belt be correct, but it will be a little bit lower, leaving more for our families and discretion incomes.

But the final fix for Wapa, however, will come when we solve its financial problems.

We can heart in the system and modernize generation, but we must also fix the balance sheet.

Wapa is working real hard on that solution.

I'm asking senators to join me in passing the reforms and tools we need to put the utility on solid financial footing.

Only then we will fully deliver what our people deserve power that is more reliable, more resilient, and over time, way more affordable.

In 2019, two many of our people measure the gap between promise and reality, and every pothole.

Every flooded intersection and every dark stretch of highway.

Major arteries throughout the territory and streets in Christian Stead and Solid Amalia have gone far too long without serious investment.

An entire neighborhood from sand farm to Colby, with living with road connections and drainage that simply were not acceptable.

And over the last seven years, we have worked hard to change that picture.

In a systemic way.

Working with our federal partners, DPW advanced priority surfing projects across the territory, including Queen Mary Highway on Saint Croix, Centerline Road and Saint John and Key roads on Saint Thomas with a balanced slate of projects in both districts.

We built up.

We rebuilt a rehabilitated signature corridors and community rose Garden Street, Lompoc Mountain Top, Aerial Core Drive, Salmon Main Street.

My Mangalam has gone to North Star Village on Saint Thomas and Saint John Fish Fry Road, Boulder Mountain Francis being around Saint Croix neighborhood roads like Strawberry Hill, William State, Lorraine, Mount Pleasant, Herman Hill, Union and Mount Washington State, which the north side King Street and even more even I want the island.

We pay 60% of the roads and I don't know how long that is.

We tackle longstanding drainage problems at coral B remember of Oglesby used to flood out to the downtown Salida.

Molly Larson completed the first Avenue drainage project is complete now and advanced road repairs and Donald Tom Christiansen where we paved the whole thing and Frederick step two in phases so that historic towns are now more beautiful and resilient.

You remember in Saint Thomas when all the roads were falling off the hill, Pilgrim terrace, clear view, Hoby but Bordeaux and a black point.

We showed up all of those things and showing those roads will last for decades to come.

And as I look back from 2019 to tonight, the story of public work is that we move from patching problems to executing a real plan, delivering safer and smoother roads, better drainage, brighter highways, stronger bridges, and a more modern ferry and transit networks.

We're not finished, but we're no longer stuck in neutral.

So.

When we took office, the Virgin Islands had no territorial park system.

Our national parks were world class, but our parks.

But our local beaches are lines.

All of them were at risk of being sold.

I believe that some places should remain with us, the people, forever.

By working with the legislature.

By working with the legislature and federal partners, we established the Virgin Islands Territorial Park System and created the Division of Territorial Parks and Protected Areas with deep DNR to manage it for the first time.

The government has a dedicated team to protect our beaches, bays, forests and keys.

The system includes popular areas like Caskey, Bevan and Key and parts of Hostile Island and Saint Thomas, Kramers Park and Great Salt Pond on Saint Croix.

Oppenheimer beach on Saint John.

These are locations where Virgin Islanders swim, fish and gather.

Now they're permanently designated as parks for future generations.

We made the largest land conservation purchase in the history of the Virgin Islands with maroon, with the.

It is now the Maroon Sanctuary Territorial Park, protecting almost 4% of the coastline on Saint Croix.

I believe our greatest achievement is ensuring that these lands will not be sold, but will remain in the hands of the people of the Virgin Islands forever and long after the speeches and ribbon cuttings, families will still enjoy these parks.

This is a legacy of a government that plan for the future, not just the next election.

In 2019, our ports reflected years of underinvestment and we chose to change course on Saint Thomas.

We were allocated 25 million to dredge shallow Molly Harbor, positioning Weichel to welcome larger vessels and strengthen both tourism and cargo.

I'm pleased to tell you tonight that after the second time for this going out, we do have five bids in and we'll be awarding a contractor to get that started this year.

We also.

We also secured the Tiger grant funding for Crown Bay.

We did it so well.

We got two Tiger grabs.

We have to get one back and designated the Alameda County Green campus for long overdue redevelopment.

This year we will be we will begin demolishing that site to expand capacity and improve operations and unlock new opportunities on the waterfront.

On Saint Croix, we strengthen the container port by relocating freight from Gallo's Bay and creating room for smarter port operations and more space for community and tourism.

We upgraded the airport departure lounge and improved key facilities through public private partnership, helping us attract and retain more airlift to the Virgin Islands.

These are not isolated projects.

They are connected investments in how we move people, move goods and build an economy that is ready for what comes next.

Over the last seven years, we have transitioned from managing Crisises to crafting a comprehensive housing strategy, working hand in hand with the Virgin Islands housing Finance Authority, Oda, and EDA.

We rolled out initiatives such as envision VII, Slice All Out, build a home to support home repair construction.

We've made significant strides by completing numerous affordable and mixed income projects, adding preserving over 643 units for seniors, families and first time homebuyers, including 300 units for home ownership, most of them available at Bellevue Village and College.

Calabash boom in Saint John, also some in Loveland, creating new homeowners on the little island in line with our Workforce Security Initiative and vision 2040, the Virgin Islands Department of Labor has moved from crisis management to strategic growth.

On Saint Thomas, we ended nearly 40 years of leasing and more than 9.7 million in rent payments when we purchased the Department of Labor building a conference that's gotta.

We also strengthen the systems that labor, the Unemployment insurance trust fund.

This is one especially to me because, you know, I was a labor commissioner.

The trust fund grew to a debt of $100 million.

The Great Recession, the refinery closure and Covid created a chasm that we thought would never get fixed.

For years, employers board that cost.

We acted and adopted the plan to fully retire that burdensome loan.

Today, from a hundred million that that is to $22 million.

Now.

This June, we will totally pay it off once again.

Our fund will be solvent and hiring employee will become less expensive for our business people.

We consolidated government insurance and workers compensation, collected 6.8 and employee contribution and increased benefits after years in the red.

We have a worker's comp compensation solvent compensation system that is solvent once again.

Thank you, Commissioner Malloy and your team of the Virgin Islands Department of Labor.

Education and training are the foundation of a vibrant economy and a thriving society.

We have to give people, our people, access to the tools they need to compete if we are to grow as a society.

Even before entering office, we set the stage as a former senator and 32nd legislature, Lieutenant Governor Enzo Rhodes sponsored legislation providing free tuition at the University of the Virgin Islands for all Virgin Islands high School budget.

We further expanded that effort, and for the past two academic years, part time and online students have had the opportunity to attend the Uvi at no cost to them.

We are the first state or territory to implement or maintain this in the country.

Our priority in early education is yielding results.

Test scores have been improving in our elementary schools.

Pre-K classrooms are now in every single public school.

We have increased graduation rates and test participation and proficiency in English language arts, mathematics, and science.

Equally, we focus on ensuring headstart remains relevant and the essential component of learning and development paradigm.

We began with the renovation, in some cases a total rebuild of six new Headstart Learning centers in September 2025.

Coos Bay headstart welcome learners once again.

It is abuzz with young, precocious minds eager to explore the world.

In 2026, we will add four additional headstart.

Thank you, Commissioner Joyce and your team at the village of the Department of Human Services.

From the first day I took office, I had a simple dream.

I wanted every talented young Virgin Islander to know that there's a real power to come home, serve the people and build a world class career right here.

That dream took shape in 2021 when I unveiled the Gbo Fellows program, an internship designed to provide college graduates with training, exposure and networking opportunities within their own within their own government.

To date, 54 college graduates and young professionals have served as GVA fellows placed throughout 12 departments.

An agency 62% of our fellows are still working in this Virgin Islands government.

And 38% have gone to graduate school or in the private sector.

Thank you, Director Cindy Richardson for leading this effort.

My commitment to growing this economy by strengthening our workforce did not begin or end with that effort.

We signed union contracts, granted substantial salary increases, and ensured that the starting salary for teachers is now 52,500, not 44,000.

Like when we started.

And the average starting salary for a nurse is $75,000.

In fact, government salaries are up 25% on average $10,000, and the average age of our employees has actually been reduced by ten years.

We're making government younger, stronger, and building a new generation of public servants who love these islands, understand our history, and have the skills to lead us into the future.

When the next generation measures this era, it will see a government that finished the work that others talked about for 40 years.

In one administration, we move land.

We move the land and water use plan from concept to reality.

Progress back on a path to solvency, paid long overdue retroactive wages and secured permanent federal rum cover over revenues so future leaders complying with confidence.

We made advancement to construct the first public high school in Saint John and New schools across the territory brought income tax reform close to being fully covered and opened the first new large hotel in more than three decades.

We advanced our Bureau of Corrections and VPD towards complying with the consent decrees, and turned Wapa away from pure fossil fuel dependance toward utility salts.

Utility scale solar.

We created the first territorial park system, restored the 8% salary cut that haunted our public service.

Unified fire and EMS so our people receive improved emergency care taken together.

These are the kinds of structural and generational changes that define a new era and set a new standard for what an administration should accomplish.

But in the next four years, the Virgin Islands will face different challenges, different than what we inherited in 2019.

Inflation and rising costs will keep testing household budgets and stretching the distance between wages and what life demands.

The government's focus on construction and revenue indicates strong demand in the housing and infrastructure years, for years to come.

By 2025, the US Virgin Islands experience an inflation rate nearly three times that of the mainline.

Three times, and it's only going to get worse.

We are in a stages of recovery that will certainly test our capacity.

Nearly 25 billion is not a talking point.

It is clinics, classroom roads and ports.

Power and public safety rebuild to last.

That opportunity requires people.

Plans do not pour concrete.

Funding does not wear a grid.

The next four years will demand more skilled workers, stronger institutions and the discipline to deliver with transparency and pride.

Rebuilding is only part of the assignment.

As we modernize clinics, schools and ports, we must maintain them.

It takes Will to cut ribbon.

It takes character to get the lights on the roof, seal your system service and the standards high.

Long after the cameras are gone.

Maintenance is not glamorous.

What is the difference between progress that holes and progress a slip?

The next administration will inherit real pressure.

The road ahead is demanding is also worthy if we meet it with skill, seriousness and unity.

What we rebuild will be more than just structures and continuity.

It will be confidence.

It will be capacity.

It will be a future.

Our children can stand up.

And as we talk honestly, we must address the future of health care and infrastructure.

And how do we pay for it?

For seven years we have stretched every federal dollar, reprogramed our budgets, and tighten our belts to stabilize this government.

But if we want hospitals that truly meet modern standards and roads, roads that are properly maintained, we cannot rely on federal support alone.

At some point, we as Virgin Islanders must decide what level of service we want and what we are willing to get it, what we are willing to invest to get it.

That is why I'm asking this body to consider placing a simple question before the voters at the next election.

Let's call it a private citizen initiative that lets the people themselves decide whether to dedicate a small, targeted share of our own income towards priorities that touch every life in these islands.

Under this initiative, people will be asked whether they support a 1% income tax dedicated solely to our hospitals to help fund the basic level of universal.

Universal insurance so that no Virgin Islander is left without essential care.

They would also be asked to.

Whether they support a 1% income tax dedicated strictly to maintaining local roads for 15 years, and that is done with the option to support the maintenance of private roads that connect our neighborhoods and communities.

This is not a decision for one governor or for a legislature.

This is a choice about our shared future.

I believe it belongs in the hands of the people.

The voters approve it.

Those funds will be locked in for these purposes, not to grow the government for its own sake, but to guarantee that our hospitals are open, staffed and modern.

When I first ask you to trust me with this office, I was a 40 something year old son of these islands with a head full of black hair and goals.

And a heart full of concern for the future.

I did not walk into government House alone.

I walked in with the great Tiger and the roots.

The cabinet of committed public servants, and with thousands of Virgin Islanders who believe that if we faced our hardest problems head on, we could move these islands forward.

Tonight I have given you a replay.

The record of how we met the storms with grit met many pandemic with discipline, met shifting federal wins with steady advocacy amidst setbacks with the kind of creativity small islands are forced to master to survive and thrive.

We did not inherit ease.

We inherited Long-Standing Challenges and we continue to meet them head on.

I stand here tonight knowing I am only one of nine individuals elected by our people to lead this territory.

I did not start this journey and I will not finish it, because the stories of these Virgin Islands does not belong to any one governor.

It belongs to our people, generation after generation, carried forward by love for home and the steady will to keep building this home.

Tonight.

Tonight I honor the service of these governors.

Evans.

King Louis family.

Schneider, Turnbull, the young and mob each face the challenges of their time and left the lessons that shaped what came next.

Still, every administration is measured by what it confronts, what it chooses, and ultimately what it delivers.

We are doing our work in our time, moving this territory forward.

Yet the work of building a fierce, safe and prosperous Virgin Islands is never, ever going to be finished.

And that is why I believe history will remember this season.

Long after the speeches fade, the headlines changed.

Not by what we promised under the bright lights, but what we built when it was hard because this administration chose to do hard things.

It will judge us by what we protected, preserved, and demanded for our people when it would have been easier to put it off.

Kick the can down the road.

Save it for tomorrow.

In that way, I can say with a clear conscience, we did not simply manage the moment.

We changed the course.

We changed the course.

When we move recovery from paper to pavement, from renderings to projects.

We changed the course.

When we refuse to let energy remain a permanent two and started to turning our grid toward the future.

We changed the course when we stopped accepting a government held together by good intentions and chose responsible planning over political comfort.

This is what progress looks like.

Not perfect.

Not instant, but real.

You see, real progress is lost when it is rooted in something deeper than policy and projects.

So before I give you my final charge, I want to name what has always been our greatest resource.

Us.

Our people.

We are more than a destination on a map.

We are the laughter in the festival village.

The rhythm of the bamboo drum that pulls you forward.

The hymn that finds you when you need strength.

We are the hands that fix what breaks.

The elders who remind us that dignity and integrity are not negotiable.

And the young people who keep surprising us with the brilliance and the resolve.

Now, let me be frank.

We have not done everything.

There are plenty of goals, unfinished problems, still up, stubborn and work still waiting.

But we are not standing still.

And we continue to raise the bar.

I will always be grateful to the people who challenged us, pushed us and held us accountable.

Because that is the way a democracy is strong.

So tonight I leave you with this charge to not let cynicism become our culture.

Do not let cynicism become our culture.

They have told me many times that it could not be done and we did it.

Do not let quick outrage replace careful thought.

Do not let the difficulty of change convince you that change is impossible.

Progress is not a spectator sport.

The next chapter of self-governance in these Virgin Islands will require citizens who vote with purpose.

Citizens who hold their leaders accountable without tearing down the whole house.

Citizens who show up to build because the work ahead is worthy work.

So let those who do not understand our story say what they want.

Let the storms come and go.

Our anchor holds.

It holds because of the work we have done as a people.

Together, united in pride and hope to change the course of these islands we call our home.

And here is what I know.

With every fiber in me, that if we hold our course, if we keep our faith strong and our standard high, then our best days are not behind us.

They are certainly in front of us.

God bless you and God bless these beautiful Virgin Islands of the United States.

Love you.

All right.

And that was the governor's eighth and final state of the territory address.

I want to get your reaction from you key.

Give me some of your take aways on the governor's address this evening.

Well, this address, of course, was much longer than or somewhat longer than others.

Because he delivered to his base the summary of all of the accomplishments of his administration in the last seven years.

He also spoke to work that is forthcoming and for the remainder of his term.

Key takeaways were the examples of his bravery.

The jobs, saving the v tall infrastructure purchase.

These are things that people told him could not be done.

The rum cover over, and getting the permanent rate.

And these are things that he strived to do.

And he accomplished.

And he accomplished these things despite the naysayers who really should have supported him.

All right.

We'll see.

Give me some of your takeaways from the governor's address this evening.

Well, as I had mentioned in our opening, there was a great focus on the accomplishments that the governor identified in regards to, infrastructure improvements.

One of my major, takeaways was what I mentioned earlier.

The importance I still give in the governor's state of the territory address.

Don't have a real handle on what the revenues of the government of the Virgin Islands really look like in comparison to the expenses or expenditures that have to be made.

And, whether or not we have the financial footing that will take us through this coming fiscal year 2026.

I think for me, I always like to look forward to a state and territory addressing, the financial picture and the economy of the territory.

Okay.

Now, before I get curt and cons reaction across the street from the legislature, dozens of people protested as the governor entered the building and began his address signs calling for a better pay and fair contract.

Snell showed several unions were represented, including the United Industrial Workers and the Seafarers International Union.

The United Steelworkers, and the American Federation of Teachers.

Now, in the governor's address, the governor said he signed union contracts, granted substantial salary increases and ensured higher starting pay for teachers and nurses.

Also saying that the government salaries are up 25% on average or by about $10,000.

Now, Kurt, how do we negotiate his speech with the presence of the unions kind of protesting outside?

I almost feel like it kind of summarizes my immediate response to the speech.

I think it's it's tone deaf.

If I'm going to be on this, as someone on living on Saint John, where the governor has held in eight years in office, one official public townhall, what's happened in in audio or in conference rooms or between gvi and federal entities is not translating on island.

I mean, we have the library that was renovated without staff and it's already falling apart.

We have the head start that opened and was functioning months after.

It was the ribbon cutting was done because there wasn't, an initial attempt to recruit staff and people to work in the space.

The battery was renovated, and instead of it being a community space that's accessible and used.

They mentioned pretty much lays dormant and is essentially a storage space.

But what I'm doing is doc was legislatively renovated, the structure above it, but did the for the dock itself is falling apart and crumbling.

And there's talk about all these roads, paving projects that happen here and there, but they don't exist on Saint John.

And so if you live and work on Saint John, I didn't know these exist in other places in new territory.

What was said tonight does not translate to what we experience day to day.

Con I want to get your takeaways.

I think that the, the governor is an excellent speaker.

He delivered a, a long and thorough, account of, really eight years in office, more than four.

And I think he did a very good job highlighting not just the accomplishments, but also the scenario of where where we were, with regards to the financial standing and a number of other things.

And also a picture of where we're going.

But I can also understand where Curt's coming from with his statements, because if you listen to any territorial or state of the Union address, it's a it's highlighting all the high points.

And on a day to day basis, we do deal with whether it be whopper outages, whether it be, you know, road projects that haven't yet been completed or whatnot.

So I think he did an excellent job highlighting all the work that's been done.

And a lot of the critical, shoring up that his, that his administration did.

And I would give him an A on delivery and on, on, on touching the high points.

But I think, you know, we deal with many challenges in the territory.

That's the reality.

You know, now we'll see what.

I know you talked about the expenditures and not having a full grasp of the, you know, the territory's finances and where it lies.

But was there anything else that was that the governor failed to mention that you were hoping to hear about?

Well, for me, the one of my, focus, particularly in listening to state and territory address, I really don't, focus on what the governor didn't mention.

I like to listen to the things that and to address the things that that he didn't mention.

For me, I think the the most important thing, given the question that that you asked that the governor probably didn't focus on was, I think, but, the subject matter of, accountability in government.

That, the buck has to stop somewhere.

Each department, agency and entity has leadership, and the leadership is responsible for ensuring the performance of those that work under his or her administration.

And I think some of the things that he highlighted as successes and also, emphasize that the length of time they may have taken goes down to the fact of the accountability of employees within departments and agencies working under leadership to achieve certain things.

So in that particular instance, I think the the performance of the government as an entity to his leadership and employees is something that was not mentioned, is something that we need to focus on for future development to.

Kurt, I know we spoke about the lack of hearing something substantial for the island of Saint John.

Was there anything that was mentioned that you were happy to hear about, or that you were hoping that the governor may have drilled a bit more on?

I think there were any number of points that, large everyone in the territory could be excited about, revolutionizing some of how we process, you know, permits or applications for licenses, things like that.

Those are really good across the, across the board processes that have been enhanced and improved.

But I think just the overall quality of life is what was really missing.

And I think, in eight years, we haven't really seen that level of, like, empathy and connectivity to people on the ground.

And so while processes may be enhanced, while we might be changing laws to change how entities are operating, what people feel day to day and what people expect from their leaders has not followed the same.

It hasn't felt toward the same line.

And so I think, where we could improve processes, and sing songs about them.

But if we're not connecting to people in a way that's meaningful and substantive, then we would they're still always going to be a disconnect.

You know, and I think that's that's, unfortunate.

Missed.

Success.

Yeah.

Now some notes, just that we noticed was that notably missing from the will was, health commissioner.

Who's that incarnation who is tonight's designated survivor?

But also something that I noticed was that, notably, the governor was not wearing that ceremonial, you know, medallions that we've known the governor to wear at his last seven state of the territory addresses and all prior governors before.

You know, he was not wearing that key.

Any insights into why the governor chose to ditch that this evening?

I have no particular insights.

I noticed that at the same time you did.

But I must commend him.

And like I said before, the governor, this particular governor is a particularly brave governor, and he is not afraid to do something different or step outside the box.

And I applaud anyone, from my culture who would remove what appears to be a chain.

Or it could be described in other ways, but for tonight, we'll call it a chain hanging from his neck.

That is that is not a symbol that I think we should actually be portraying.

So I commend him on his last day to the territory from removing it now, it could have tons of meanings.

Maybe he's going to be free soon.

We don't know.

But I do applaud him for removing those medallions from from around his neck.

Let's see your thoughts on, just having me over here smiling.

Yeah, I'm here laughing because I said, that the government has recently visited on West Africa.

I think he would be, truly embarrassed, would sit, sit in front of his invited guests wearing the vestige and the bastion of, years of colonialism around his neck.

And I think, that too may have been, one of the the impetus that he have taken into consideration.

He doesn't have to satisfy and meet the expectation of others in the past.

But, all these governors wearing these today, and this has been something that I've talked about, publicly.

It's is a is a slap in the face to the people of the Virgin Islands to where the, what you call it, the chain of colonialism is what I call it, around your neck as you address the the people of the Virgin Islands with.

No, concern being shared in regards to the impact that is had amongst the lives of the people of the Virgin Islands who have been here for generations.

And even so, for those that, in the diaspora that came from these Virgin Islands.

Yes.

All right.

Con any thoughts?

I think the governor's the governor, and he should wear whatever he wants.

I mean, he looked great.

I like the gray suit.

And I think that, traditions are meant to be changed over time.

And if the new tradition is not to work, fine with that skirt, I do want to get your thoughts on it.

I always like to hear you so eloquently put it together as well, too.

I think, I'm not sure what the reason was.

And I'm not sure why at this point in the report.

I think it's important.

It's always important for us to be very critical about ourselves and our identity and how we perpetuate, habits, whether they are, you know, detrimental or, motivational.

Inspirational.

And I wish in that same line of thought, I wish the governor mentioned, some intent to fund and actually formally established the Cultural Heritage Institute, which, if everyone is aware, was established by the same legislation that established the division of territorial, the division of, the festivals, the division of festivals.

And so I think we have to face these things about ourselves.

We essentially what we said by funding and establishing it in festivals and keeping the fed moving, essentially what we said is the party can stop.

Yeah, but what does that say about our identity and who we are, who we envision ourselves to be, that this sister entity was not equally funded, unsupported and celebrated.

I know you said that you were happy to see the governor kind of ditch it.

Are we hoping that this sets the precedent that future governors also choose to do away with wearing the medallions?

I mean, I hope so, and I have, you know, watched either in the chamber or from home all of his state of the territory addresses.

And I would have to say that this is the first one where he had a high energy level from the beginning to end it.

Now, is that because he shed the weight of those ceremonial chains?

I don't know, but I would say that it did have some impact on his delivery of the speech tonight.

Okay.

All right.

Now we are going to continue this conversation.

We are waiting to hear, you know, from some of our lawmakers on staff as they call in to give reactions, raised and other key points and at some point later on, we are going to hear from you, our viewers as well too.

But I do want to stay here.

You know, the governor mentioned, merging.

Let's see, I want to go to you, putting the Virgin Islands lottery and the Casino Control Commission together under one arm.

You know, give me your reactions on hearing that this evening.

I mean, I'm in full support of that.

As a former member of the casino control Commission, I'm quite aware that, throughout many of the states within the United States and even some countries like, Jamaica, they have, a gaming organization or commission that regulates all types of gaming activities.

And so the, the, the marriage of the Casino Control Commission with the Lottery Commission, which is also, gaming, which would also include and should include the consideration of the, the horse racing entities of where they are racing, not.

Yes.

Included at racetracks.

We have in Saint Thomas, we, we have the votes.

Yes.

Which not regulated on by the Casino Control Commission are under the lottery Commission.

And so this consolidation could not only, bring more revenues for the territory and better manage the revenues, but have a better regulatory system.

Okay.

I want to come back to this point as our panelist, but we do have Senator Biden on the line.

Good evening, Senator Bladen.

How are you this evening?

Fine.

How are you doing?

I am well, now, I want to ask you, you know, what were your takeaways this evening from the governor's address?

Well, honestly, my takeaway is, I must say, that he really, was very.

It was very forward looking speech.

It was very, in terms of the pace of the speech, I think he spoke well in terms of the many accomplishments, you know, in respect to his eight years in office.

But at the same time, though, I am it have left me very optimistic in terms of the way and the path moving forward.

And I must say, he delivered.

He was very passionate in his speech.

But there's certain things I want to, honestly, be to in that speech because he spoke to the minimum wage and he said he was the only advocate for private sector increase.

What?

I want to remind him that last term I was the me being sponsor with bill number 350332.

Along with Senator Johnson Johnson, to push for that minimum wage increase for the private sector.

And we did it again this term.

I went to this term, but at the same time, it was not only until I brought him several times after a year about the board, in order to assure that those minimum, wage increases were brought forward, the wage war.

And so I just wanted to mention that and also before to the many issue, accomplishment when it comes to the vision program.

And I am happy and glad to hear that they have done 90 homes.

But I want to make it clear, crystal clear, that after eight years is after eight years we have had 91, but at the same time, we have had 1600 homeowners who put an application.

So I don't want to speculate also, but I'm glad when it comes to even one home.

Yes, I'm happy for an individual.

I go on to me.

Well, I want to thank you so much for calling in, Senator Blaine, and I truly do appreciate it.

Very well.

Thank you so much for having me.

Have a great night.

All righty.

Now on the line, we have a good evening.

Senator Johnson.

How are you doing this evening?

I don't believe there's a lot.

I want to get your takeaways very briefly before we get one of the panelists to ask a question.

You know, and 30s, tell me your initial reactions to the governor's, address, and I congratulate him on something that he stood up for, which is he spoke about the failures, the arrest of the commissioner, them that happened under his watch.

So I'm glad that he acknowledged that and that that's not something that you want to tolerate.

I I'm glad that he stood up.

I made up a lot of things that he mentioned that he wanted to deliver, and he delivered, what, 14 minutes for 30s?

I still have my disappointment for stuff that I thought that should have been done, that he promised to fix from 2023.

So I have some upticks and some, you know, parts of my, position.

All right.

Candy, I have a question for Senator Johnson.

Yeah, I guess my question would be what?

If you could, if you could choose one topic or one thing that, was left to be desired in terms of, something that which wasn't addressed or wasn't addressed adequately, what would that be?

Well, it wasn't addressed adequately about the roads in Frederick said, you spoke about depth on 2023 and the continuous promise and not the mode of transportation, King and Queen Street.

And every day that I drive, coming up on Queen Street, you know, it's it's a nightmare.

They said in January they're going to start.

And I just hope this they may happen because some 2023 we talking about these roads.

We talked about the hospital in his territory last year.

While we have those be demolished in 2025.

And and we cannot continue delaying this project, especially the hospital, because what we're in in a major hospital is that temporary.

That's the only been for seven years.

And we've have to think, well, I you know, those things are very disappointed for me.

Okay.

All right.

Well, Senator Johnson, I want to thank you so much for calling in and speaking with us this evening.

Thank you very much, you guys.

Wonderful evening.

All right.

You as well.

All right.

Now I want to go to go back to the conversation that we were having about the merger of the casino control Commission and Virgin Islands Lottery.

No, the governor did mention that he is preempted on that legislation.

And Senator Clifford Joseph actually has that, that language.

There is a portion of the bill, you know, that we do have some correspondence that we were able to obtain.

You know, it is.

Senator Alma Francis Gallagher retains authorship of a portion of the draft and requests expanding casino gambling for the island of Saint Thomas.

But specifically a portion of his request, you know, for creating a Virgin Islands Gaming Commission, you know, that has been assigned for drafting.

So, attorney, Senator Joseph does have authorship of that bill.

You know, I want to ask you, is this something that, you know, is long overdue?

This is something that, you know, you see making significant progress in the Virgin Islands.

You know, I think the record has shown that when we do consolidate, especially consolidate functions that are related, like what we did with fire and EMS, we do see benefits that streamlines the process.

We're integrating the process.

We don't have the left hand doing one thing in the right hand doing another.

So it is a it is a good idea.

I'm hoping that the preemption is an effort to move this policy forward, as opposed to an effort to block it.

Yeah.

That's what my hope is.

But your expert on this panel on this subject is okay.

When you said it's a good idea, I was convinced your person is right.

All right.

Well, we do have, Senator Novo Francis on the line.

Senator Francis, good evening.

How are you doing this evening?

Good evening.

I'm doing fine, thank you.

Good.

I want to get your reaction to the governor's address this evening.

Do you think he addressed some of the concerns of your constituents?

I think, most mostly, you know, he was able to address them there.

There are some, some areas that I believe that he has not touched on.

That would have been critical, for them to also understand, especially when it pertains to behavioral health or mental health issues.

You know, I, I think, just health care in general.

I thought that a little bit more time should be spent in that particular area, as it seems to have been the issue of the day, that that's occurring right now.

We'll see.

Do you have a question for Senator Francis?

Yeah.

And, good evening.

Senator Francis, I know that you're currently in charge of the, the committee and what is the budget and appropriations budget?

Yes.

Budget appropriation is a minor, but can you let me, share with the listening audience what you gleaned about the current existing status of the the financial standing of the government of the Virgin Islands in regards to revenues and the expectation of meeting the appropriations that have been made by the legislature.

Did you glean anything from the state attorney to address that you think could share with us?

Yeah, I think that I certainly was able to glean that the revenue is continue to come in.

You know, however, you know, based on the level of expenditures, in light of our inflation situation as well as the support that is being, done with the semi-autonomous agencies that our, you know, budget and revenues continue to be challenged in those particular areas, you know, so, it is, you know, critical that we're able to consider collecting revenues.

I think there was some mention about, you know, earmark in future budget, just to support that claims program as well as some, you know, the health care initiatives and stuff that haven't been forward.

There.

All right.

Well, Senator Francis, I want to thank you for calling in and, giving us your thoughts this evening.

You're welcome.

I on the line next, we do have a senator, Clifford Joseph.

Senator Joseph, we were actually just, speaking about you.

I want to get your takeaways on the governor's address this evening.

And specifically, we were speaking about the, the fact that you preempted him on that legislation regarding the Casino Control Commission and the Virgin Islands lottery.

Your takeaways yesterday.

Yeah.

And I'll be having I have all the information I, I don't have it all together by the by the end of this month, by the end of February, we still have the language to get it.

The number right now is 20 501 81.

Okay.

Now, any other takeaways from the governor's address this evening?

As far as the print company, I look at some key factors, like he spoke about, but all he spoke about, how was it?

But then we have an issue in, LBJ got and that I will continue to try and champion with some of my colleagues to make sure that we make sure that those folks who were in LBJ garden will not become mortgage holders or renters again, because you talked about a committee that or vendor who would like paying a mortgage, even though the owner, you know, they need to be removed from that area.

So I want to make sure whatever we do, we put them in homes that don't have a car like right now.

Okay.

And I believe our panelists, Kurt Marsh, he has a question for you.

Okay.

Good evening, Senator Joseph.

My question is actually pretty pointed.

And since you mentioned housing, I want to get your response, as an ancestral Saint John living in Saint Croix, and with the knowledge that 3000 units are being built across the territory, but zero are on Saint John.

Are you concerned with that statistic?

And are you and your colleagues having discussions about housing poverty across the Virgin Islands?

Yes, we I have conversation with, the actually the the chair of the housing committee, the vice chair and the planning and myself are really concerned with changing because even when it started thought when even when he's speaking about the, Columbus Room, we really don't know the cost that some of those multiples that get them at a lower cost know that this whole deal is going through.

They look like they're going to be going about going ready to return their mortgage.

That up to the ceiling is that.

But can I follow up?

Well, we do have another.

We do have I, I'm going to give you, though I wish I could give you the opportunity to follow up, but, Senator Joseph, I do want to thank you for calling, and we do have another caller on the line.

But thank you so much for your commentary this evening.

Thank you.

All right.

Now, this evening I am.

Good evening, Delegate Plaskett.

How are you this evening?

Smooth.

Hello.

Hello.

All right, I don't I think that connection was was bad.

So, delegate, if you are listening, I would ask that you, you know, give us a call back.

But, Curt Herring, the response from, senators is, I know you wanted to kind of follow up, give us some thoughts on, you know, the response that you got.

Well, my follow up would have been calabash, boom and Bellevue, our existing housing communities.

And the idea that the promise that was made when the residents moved in 20 plus years ago that they'd be paying, you know, 15 years rent, 15 years mortgage, that promise being kept is then being made whole.

What I'm concerned about is new units being built across the island, and none of those are slated for construction.

That is the real major point of concern.

Virgin Islanders, and many of them who have left after the storms, have not been able to come back because they don't want to, but because they're displaced.

And what are we doing to solve that problem about displacement?

Yeah.

Now, we do have Senator James on the line is Senator James.

Good evening.

How are you doing this evening?

I'm trying to do so much.

She stepped out.

Okay.

Okay.

All right.

Well, we will.

You can give us a call back when she is available, but, You know, speaking of, you know, while we were listening to the governor's speech, ki un were sitting next to each other as you are here on the panel as well, to believe you called him a little bit of a pessimist.

You know, sorry to share y'all business now with the with the white, a Virgin Islands public.

But you know, hearing his comments and his concerns, what do you have to see to her, you know, regarding those comments, as it pertains to Saint John and, you know, not really hearing much from the governor's, speech this evening.

You know, the concerns that Curt raised, I mean, of course, I would say that they're legitimate concerns.

And some of the concerns that he's raising are legitimate concerns that face the entire Virgin Islands.

And while the governor delivered a lengthy speech tonight, he cannot capture every single one of the accomplishments in that one speech.

You know, he didn't mention the the the land swap.

So for the school in Saint John, he, he didn't mention the residents sales period for Belleview and Calabash.

That we were talking about is not exactly what Kurt is looking for or what he mentioned just now, but it is a step for home ownership for at least 100 plus residents in Saint John currently.

Okay.

You know, there's the infrastructure projects that are planned, like the ferry service, the spirit of 1733 that's also slated to provide, infrastructure improvements to Saint John and to to provide infrastructure to the people of Saint John.

So, yes, he may not have mentioned everything that he has done for Saint John.

And of course, there's still work to be done in Saint John as well as Saint Thomas and Saint Croix.

Yeah.

But to suggest that he's done nothing, for the, for the island would definitely be unfair and contradicted by all that he's done in his term.

I, I feel like Curt wants to respond, but we do have Senator Alma Francis on the line that evening.

Senator Francis, hi.

How are you doing this evening?

Hi.

Good evening.

How are you?

I am well, I'm pretty okay.

Good.

Now I want to get your takeaways, on the governor's address this evening.

Were there any key issues that you were hoping to hear?

That the governor failed to address?

Well, the things that he did address and the way he presented them, some of them were a concern for me.

I, I did appreciate him sharing about the positive strides we're making in tourism.

He did express his disappointment at the fact that his cabinet members, were convicted of corruption.

You know, my only concern with that is that we take the federal government to step in, as opposed to, locally leading the forefront of cleaning up corruption in our territory.

As it relates to his discussing when he spoke about water, I mean, I kind of chuckled.

I did that some speech was already printed before the people in the territory start, from Friday, Saturday and Sunday with this constant power outage.

So, I mean, I wasn't sure a lot of it was back in reality or wanting to put out a very good, positive beats as much as he could before you left office, because, of course, you know, this is the last one he's giving before his time is up.

Yes.

Con, do you have a question for the senator?

Yeah, sure.

I'll, I'll I'll respond with the same question that I had previously, which would just be if there was anything left out of, of tonight's address or that wasn't highlighted to the degree that you'd like it to be.

What would that have been?

The thing in regards to being highlighted, I really wanted a little bit more when it comes to our health care and the territory.

We've been talking about vacating this hospital for years.

We've invested in building out a temporary one, which I think they told us the lights are already up.

It's a lot of things that we've done over the last 7 to 8 years.

I was one of those that was apprehensive at the beginning and excited to see, where this change was going.

But at the end of the day, it is what it is.

All right.

Well, thank you so much, Senator Francis Heidegger, for calling in and for giving us your thoughts.

We truly do appreciate it.

Not a problem.

And you guys have a blessed night.

You, as well.

All right.

Now on the line, I do have the Senate president Milton Potter on the line.

Senator Potter, good evening.

Hi.

Good evening.

How are you doing this evening, sir?

Excellent.

Douglas.

All right, now, I want to get your your takeaways from the governor's final state of the territory address this evening.

Well, just in general, the governor, this was a lengthy say that we address.

And I think the governor sort of use this time to reflect back from when he first old office, seven years ago.

And, you know, and I think he said he was laying the foundation so that folks can actually see what, you know, what he inherited and where we are today.

I, I would have liked the governor to talk a little bit more about education, the state of education.

He mentioned Arthur, which was the junior K through eight school, that it's an average of being completed, which is a major accomplishment for sure.

They spoke about the fact that we're going to have more schools coming online soon.

My concern is today, you know, down the line that is going to happen and we're poised to begin building the schools.

But the hundreds and thousands of Virgin Island children who are currently occupying schools that are in, shape, what is the plan for them?

Like BCB Junior High School, Lockard School, these schools that are in, in bad shape right now.

What is the interim plan between now and the delivery of good schools values and of like for him to elaborate a little more on that.

I would have liked for him to talk a little bit about the state of agriculture.

I was serious about putting a dent in the amount of food that we import 98%.

I would like for him to at least mention it and talk about, you know, the plan, for addressing this, we will never be able to, grow everything.

But can we go 25%?

Yeah.

Can we set all of that?

Those are just two right off the top of my head.

Two things that I would like for him to talk a little bit more about.

What?

A great degree of specificity.

Okay.

Okay.

Did you have a question for the Senate president?

Good evening.

Senate President Potter, are you leaving already?

Listen to to your commentary.

What do you see as the legislature's role and under your leadership as Senate President, to keep the executive branch feet to the fire in regards to the conditions of the school systems and the various facilities to show the territory.

Well, what do you say your role is in regards to that?

Absolutely.

So, Richard, we have oversight responsibility.

We bring them here, we ask for a plan, give us a strategic plan, tell us where we are.

Tell us what the timetable for, you know, you know, making progress.

What's the timetable for our young people?

You know, being placed in an environment where it's conducive for learning.

You know, those are some of the things that we do, on a regular basis.

But of course, we don't run the executive branch.

We try to get some tangible, concrete feedback as to where we are and what's the plan for moving forward.

But, you know, that is really our primary, our primary role as legislators.

And if I may just just so quickly, I just I know you don't run the executive branch and are responsible for the schools.

I'm sure that you're familiar with, some legal, history where if I'm a commissioner of education, then the lead doctor, Charles Turnbull, was, physically handcuffed, arrested and charged.

And that was because of a senator that had a child in the public school system.

And so I think if we don't try to move down these kind of rules, then we just can throw the apple back out to, to the, to the people and say, okay, it's it's in the executive branch.

And we have to take some, some, some control.

We'll definitely step up our game and take more assertive steps towards you know, getting the questions answered.

And so just basically seeing improvement I mean we'll, we'll look forward.

We'll look forward to that action.

Senate.

Senator Potter, we do have no it's okay.

Senator Potter, I want to thank you so much for calling in and for speaking with us this evening.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

All righty.

Now, I do believe that we are able to connect with the delegate once again.

Delegate Plaskett.

Good evening.

Hi.

Good evening.

How are you?

How are you all doing?

We are well.

Delegate.

Now I want to get.

We want to get your reaction on your takeaways this evening from the governor's address.

Sure.

Well, I thought it was very informative for us to hear the governor give a recap of basically what has happened during his administration and going through the his time in office and what he believes has been the highlights of the time that he is there.

And I thought for me, the things that I came away with was really the whole of government working together for the people of the Virgin Islands in his discussion of many of the initiatives.

I know that those could not have been done without the support of the legislature, as in, and even putting the securitization together or things, other components that were there as well.

You know, when he talked about the tax cut, bringing the tax checks, the refunds, the individuals or the 8%?

That, of course, was an agreement that he made with the legislature to earmark funding that I had secured by getting the earned income, as well as the child tax credit reimbursed to the Virgin Islands, which is bringing us 20, between 20 and $40 million each year.

So I think that in many ways, much of the work that he's, discussing is really a lot of federal foundation.

And then the utilization by his office and in its execution, along with the legislature, which has approved and put forward many of the bills that have brought this about.

That was really helpful to me to hear the things that I thought were missing, however, was discussions, of course, about what's with some specificity about what was going to happen in this last year in office, but then also there, such as, in education, while we are doing all of this rebuilding with the federal funding that we're receiving, what is that going to be happening programmatically, to our schools while we are increasing our rate of graduation?

We know that our proficiencies in reading and in math are not what they should be or not what they could be.

Yes.

Not what our children have within them.

And then, you know, there were areas such as mental health and homelessness, which I think are really important.

And being someone who has an office in Frederick that lived in Lagrange for many years, not hearing, exactly what's going to happen with Poli Joseph, which is kind of hung out there for many, many for a long period of time, as well as just general rebuilds of the towns and our agriculture, where things that I what I would have really liked to have heard from him.

Now, Kirk, I see you, shaking your head here.

Do you have a delegate?

Question for the delegate.

Not necessarily, but I will add that, some of what you outlined as expected dialog, are things that I share the same sentiments for.

I wish there was more of a sort of a synopsis of the intent of time spent in the last year in office.

Okay, we'll see.

Question for the delegate.

No, I don't have a particular question.

I, I could just offer a comment that she might be able to, to respond to.

And, that would be given the governor's, presentation.

What do you see as the role and the relationship between the delegate office in Washington, DC and the administration in the success of some of the things that he's pointed out?

Well, you know, I, I was very interested in hearing many of the components that he was talking about.

And, you know, things that are happening here in the Virgin Islands.

And like I gave as an example, that 8% being paid back and the tax checks that are coming are really based on the work that my office did and then securing the earned Income Tax credit and the child tax credit that's bringing annual funding that the legislature then earmarked for that, as well as even discussions about, the port fees that were proposed in the Trump administration and my office being me sitting on Ways and Means and sitting on the trade subcommittee, being able to ensure that it was not just the Virgin Islands, but the entire Caribbean has an exemption from that.

And I think as listen, this is what I've said in the map administration, where I was the delegate then, as well as the governor's office, is that I think that the bipartisan work that I've shown in the House having multiple, dozens of, you know, I have 40 pieces of legislation that a bipartisan I've demonstrated that members of the House work with me on both sides of the aisle.

That's important for the governor to, lobby the Senate for us, because I do not we do not have representation in the Senate.

You know, as well as working for the executive branch in the, with the white House that that is really a great marriage and a way of us hitting all the points together, not stepping over each other and not duplicating efforts.

I'm grateful when the legislature comes up, and I can target them to places where I'm not able to go.

And the legislature has come up several times in that discussion of the rum cover over, members of the legislature, VLA, you know, Bill Francis, Nelson Potter and others came up and talked with other members of Congress.

Yes, both the House and the Senate to get that done.

And that is something that we have discussed in the past.

Delegate Plaskett, and I do want to thank you so much for calling in this evening and for speaking with us.

We really do appreciate it.

Thanks so much, you guys.

Take care.

All righty.

All your work.

Thank you.

All right, now, as we wait for, you know, other senators and, you know, for more to call in.

I do want to, I believe we do have a, a senator here on the line.

Senator gets ins.

Good evening.

How are you this evening?

How are you?

Good.

I want to get your takeaways on the governor's, address this evening.

So, Okay.

How are you doing?

I'm good.

I'm at home to, the state of the territory address would have provided clearer directions and more concrete, solutions to, you know, a more pressing challenges.

And what I did was I recapped on what he first did it back in 2019, during his first year in a territory address.

And for one thing, that stuck out, when he spoke to health care and hospitals in 2019, he had actually pledged to prior to the reconstruction of the right.

Let's just at our hospital and the wonderful hospitals, in both districts, as well as the Saint John Clinic.

However, you know, neither hospital has moved beyond the planning and discussion stages.

You know, the people were promised action.

And what we have seen and that is, is delay and stagnation when it comes to these, projects in particular.

And then, the area that I was also looking at was, education, where he committed back in 2019 to actually retooling the career and technical education and expanding access for students.

I repeat, commitments.

There's been little to to no implementation.

We enacted we mean in the legislature and enacted back in 2021 at 80 506, which mandates, emergency medical service training at the high school level.

This is now four years later, and the law remains largely unimplemented, denying students real workforce opportunities.

So that the that was, disappointment.

Yeah.

All right.

No.

Well, I do want to give one of the panelists an opportunity to ask you a question.

Senator Gittins.

I'm going to go to key, to for for a question.

Good evening, Senator Giddens.

Good evening.

With regards to health care, did you have any thoughts on, the governor's, citizen Initiative, where he talked about attributing 1% of the income of residents to war and to have that applied towards funding some of the health care needs of the territory.

Did you have any thoughts on that?

So, so that that that will be go ahead and, step in in the direction to help our health care, facilities.

However, you know, I want to see implementation and all these plans, projects and whatnot.

So I just want to see movement.

He did said that, that the state of the territory is anchored in progress.

And we all know that with progress comes change.

And that's one of the things that are people don't, solidly embrace.

All right.

Well, Senator, I guess it's.

I want to thank you so much for calling in this evening.

We appreciate it.

All right.

Thank you.

All righty.

Now, we do have Senator VLA on the line.

Senate majority leader.

Mr.. VLA.

How are you this evening?

I'm doing well.

I'm very well.

How are you?

I am well.

I want to get your take aways on the governor's, speech this evening.

Quite a lengthy address.

Just about two hours.

I think it contained a lot of excerpts from the last seven years of the state of the terrible territory.

A lot of paper, talk a lot of coronavirus was about, tourism increase.

And in 2021, there wasn't a lot of specific in terms of the pad moving forward for the next 11 months.

And I really thought that he was going to lay out, a comprehensive plan for the last 11 months in office and which we would know how to address, many of the lingering problems that we face.

And then I read about these and, the large number or the large increase in the homeless population and that individuals were walking around with mental health issues.

I thought there had been a lot of more concrete information.

There were some sort of rebuild of one employee hospital as part B that the contract was trying to, but uncompleted.

I thought there had been, discussion on the referendum pool party geography area and the actual completion date or the failure of the contractor to complete that by the due date of Christmas.

He would think about a three year contract with that contractor.

So I was hopeful for more specifics.

But, the positive were, was or were the unemployment, trust fund is going to be solvent?

The work of, of motor vehicle, the geography of migration fund, which is one of the initiatives that the legislature outlawed.

And I think that, a number of initiatives, some of the major he didn't give due credit to, you know, the, that's Iglesias, fund, in fact, was was the result of the legislature mandating that the money is go towards the retirement, the Hotel Development Act, which is that on my bill and a next, some of amendments are going to be come to that particular bill.

I didn't think he gave credit.

The minimum salary for government employee.

That was vetoed, over rated.

And I still have that been fully implemented.

So I'm hoping that moving forward, a lot of difference in the issue that that people are looking for, that we're going to get solved.

Because what you heard is, is really the reality of the regular person driving on the streets are going to work on a regular basis.

It's not the reality of what they seeing.

All right.

Well, Senator Bill, I want to give the, one of the panelists an opportunity to ask, ask you a question.

Carne Davis is here on our panel, and I believe he has a question for you.

Good evening.

Good evening.

Senator.

As a as a as an educator, I didn't hear quite as much about education that I would have liked to tonight.

A lot of things are changing radically and drastically in 2026.

And going forward, how well do you think we're doing in academically arming our students?

And what what what more can be done to help produce citizens that can not only compete here in the Virgin Islands, but really globally and in what's a technologically rapidly changing environment?

We still have a lot of work to do.

He briefly went over to, of course, what the increase in test scores were.

Well, that's where I wanted to see them.

But I think the first thing that we really need to do is make sure that the students plan school for 180.

Do we have a lot of substantial amount of school there because of whether or because of whether, especially from time up or school or with more that abbreviated schedule.

So we need to as much as possible, resume having normal school be, across the territory.

That would enable the teacher to really be able to educate the student.

I didn't hear any discussion.

I referenced the birth of the school, which is a shortened build schedule.

So what are the plan to the school moving forward if the next school year?

We heard a brief discussion of a reference to John, it would seem that it's going to be close, but you didn't hear the specific plans for what is actually going to happen.

From what I have got to, that is what they will not be going to.

The new authority is going to be going to the utilizing is there a campus?

But I really what we're hoping to hear a full on education that included creating program for those students that are not hungry and level and that they would have afterschool program or extended school day or mandatory summer programs or how students.

So and I think we have to try to get them up to where they're supposed to be, because we know that they learn a lot of great, during Covid, we lasted two years, literally academically as a result of Covid.

Yes.

Well, Senator VLA, I do want to thank you so much for calling in and for giving us your thoughts.

We really do appreciate it.

Okay.

Thank you so much.

Alrighty.

Now on line, we do have Senator DeGraff on the line.

Good evening, Senator de Graaf.

Good evening.

How are you this evening?

I'm fine, thank you.

Happy new year.

Happy New Year to you as well, sir.

I want to get your take aways on the governor's, speech this evening.

Some high points for you and maybe some things that you, you know, wanted to hear about.

First of all, I'd like to say, well, if anything, you know, thank you for his service to the people that it was, you know, that the governor, served two terms.

All right.

If he wanted to hear about the senior population in terms of one issue, when you hear the hospitals or having dire situations talk about borders in the hospitals, because we don't have any senior facilities to put some of these people into.

So I would have liked, have heard about the seniors, with some of the money from FEMA.

I was trying to get started, make sense?

Employ a senior facility and each island.

So something along the and and, what we could do for our seniors.

The governor mentioned also border I think he said the end of his administration, a $70 million, ash reserves.

I didn't have a great thing.

But in terms of some of the issue that I know the Plano doesn't have behind on it, know the allotments.

And defending that idea, it makes me wonder, you know, how you have these cash reserves and then you have issues where, you know, getting a lot of Minnesota departments has become more dire situations also.

He stated, yeah.

Admitted that he wasn't finished.

They got they got it.

But when you talk about all these building I supposedly con, you haven't spoken about a workforce you always mentioned in about.

I've made mention about having or needing a workforce.

You know, a hotel was built in 14 months here, I think.

Almost.

So I mean, maybe that company should have been a company to try to get some of these schools completed and trade work and getting a hospital moving forward for our health care system.

There's a couple of things I wanted to share with you.

And I don't know, for, you you if you're and basically I don't see all of these things getting accomplished at all in this administration.

All right.

We'll see.

Did you have a question for the Senator?

No, not at this point.

Okay, Kurt.

Any questions?

Anybody?

Any questions on the panel for votes for the senator?

Sure.

Senator DeGraff, did you have any thoughts on the governor's, proposed private citizen initiative?

It may be proposed citizen initiative, the citizen initiative, the 1% tax.

It will be a that we all tell you vehemently disagree with it.

You know, again, it's about she is I've always had a problem with the taxation of the people of the Virgin Islands added on any taxation.

Then you see, for 15 years, possibly it ends up permanently and the people are the one that get taken advantage of.

So I'm an advocate for the people.

I don't agree with that at all.

100% disagree.

All right.

Well, thank you so much for your thoughts.

Senator de Graf, we appreciate you calling in and speaking with us.

Thank you very much.

Good.

Continue doing what you're doing.

Thank you.

Good evening, Senator Joseph.

How are you this evening?

Good evening.

Very briefly, I want to get your takeaways.

Yes.

Some high points from the governor's address this evening.

Before I get a question, allow one of the panelists to ask you a question.

Well, a pleasant good evening to you and all the panelists.

And, of course, for the people of the Virgin Island.

My takeaway from the governor's speech.

He was very upbeat.

He was energized.

He was, optimistic as well.

And he clearly laid out, the accomplishments of his administration and also a number of things that we still have yet to accomplish.

And one of the things that stuck out came at the end of his speech with, his proposal to put a referendum for 1% increase in income taxes, that would go towards our hospital.

And so it was a lot of food for thought.

We have worked with the governor.

Yes, we do have our little spats, but the whole thing is that we love our people and we could get, above all of those differences, rise above that to definitely move our islands forward.

Any of the panelists here, do you have a question for Senator Joseph?

I will I would just add, I'm sure there's more will come out.

But as I read it, there was a 2% tax.

It was a 1% tax dedicated to the hospitals and a 1% tax.

So that would be a gross tax on income.

Yeah.

I think that a lot of people just focusing on the 1% for the health, I wasn't totally sold on the other 1%.

Okay.

All right.

Well, thank you so much, Senator Joseph, for calling Anna for giving us your thoughts this evening.

And thank you so much for having me.

And thank you all to the panelists, too.

Thank you so much.

Good evening.

All righty now, good evening, Senator Frederick, how are you this evening?

And good evening.

How are you guys doing?

Good.

I would like to get your takeaways from the governor's address this evening.

Before we take a question from one of the panelists.

Well, overall, it was optimistic.

It's like a sell the victory speech before you leave.

A job that you're ready.

Believe you talked about.

He talked about his accomplishment, which makes sense.

The bridges that were built, the roads that were fixed is pretty much boilerplate.

What I thought, I was hoping he would have talked more about what he's done in terms of economic development, placements, so that when he leaves, then we could say that, okay, now the economy should be producing another 10,000 jobs or whatever that number is, because we've set up this in place and set that in place.

But that wasn't in there.

He didn't say anything about agriculture, and I thought food security was one of the key things that we all agree was important to us.

But, you know, it was his speech.

So, he spoke about the challenges they met when they came in and what they did to try to resolve those.

Yes.

Now I want to go to the panel.

Anybody has a question for the senator, I do.

Okay.

Considering the proposed, tax rate, additional income tax on Virgin Islanders.

Senator, don't you think there are other means by which we can acquire the funds to spread across the territory to give services to the Virgin Islands people, for example, over the course of 20 years, as we all know to be fact now, Jeffrey Epstein, got about $300 million in tax breaks from the government of the Virgin Islands, don't you think?

Revamping and revitalizing, maybe the EDC program so that the government of the Virgin Islands receives a greater profit, that they can then share to the people of the Virgin Islands?

Don't you think those are better means by which we can provide services to the people?

In my industry, we call that a leading question.

But so I want to remind everyone we still need to be competitive for companies when we come, and we want to do business in the Caribbean.

Right now, we're getting our butts beat by Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico is a much better deal to do business with because as a as a lower cost of living, it has better transportation, better infrastructure, low, more educated workforce.

So we need to be competitive.

If we start taking away from the EDC, a program that we have, that's not going to help us.

Okay.

All right.

What I would suggest we would do is find other cost saving measures to come up with that simple 1% that the governor spoke about that back then, I didn't think it was necessary to raise taxes for something like that.

We waste more than enough money.

We could easily cover that and the government.

So more efficient spending of our dollars.

Yes.

Doing away with the one program that will help bring in some companies here.

Hopefully.

Now, I don't know if that's a good idea, but we definitely need that program to bring companies here.

All right.

Well, thank you so much, Senator Frederick, for your thoughts.

We appreciate you calling in this evening.

Not a problem.

Take care.

Good.

Now I want to go to we're speaking about this 1%.

Kind of want to go to.

You know, you brought up a point here.

I want to go to the investment banker.

For a moment.

You know, the senator did just mention Puerto Rico as well, too.

And I think it's interesting, you know, there is the fine line of being a territory, you know, in being able to attract business, but an issue that I think also Puerto Rico is facing is they are losing a lot of their local footprint as well, too.

And we are much smaller than Puerto Rico versus the millions that they have.

And if Puerto Rico is saying, hey, we are millions and we're losing our local footprint, you know, but hey, we're open to business.

Is there a way in the banking industry for us as Virgin Islanders to think about how do we ensure sustainability for the local person while also attracting outside business?

Well, think the economic Development Authority, is a program that is critical.

If you look at the numbers in terms of tax collection, it tells a very different story than most people know.

You've got about any taxpayers in the Virgin Islands that account for 66% of income tax.

So as opposed to in Puerto Rico, you've got over 2000 beneficiaries in their program.

So from my math, my goal would be to increase the number of participants because that's one one that's one tax payer for every 1000 residents that has two thirds of the disparity of of tax.

Right.

So Puerto Rico has got a little bit of a difference in how they've got it.

It's a different different all the way over there.

But they've got a mirrored tax code.

They've got a very similar program.

Some people like the program here.

Some people like living here, some people like living there.

As you said, there's there's transit.

JetBlue has got direct flights, it's own terminal as the way.

But there's there's different advantages and disadvantages to each location.

But I would say that from an economic development standpoint, the easiest way to move the needle would be to try to really press, especially now as you have, large amounts of capital over $1 trillion in the last month, leaving California, leaving New York, leaving new Jersey, leaving high tax domiciles to compete for that, to compete for a greater amount of that, because even 10 or 15 large, relatively large tax payers could equate to a very, very large percentage of our gross tax revenues without touching the 1% on on our population.

Yeah.

Well, could I add something for sure?

Because I, I don't want, the gentleman to, to miss the point that was being raised, by Kurt in the subject matter of, EDA and people needed need to understand that, today under that program, you could get income tax exemption, both corporate and income, up to 90% exemption.

You have, a 100% exemption, gross receipts tax, property tax, excise tax.

And so that when Marsha made mention of that, the legislatively as far as the legislator concerned consideration no need to to to begin to try to at least reduce the percentage of taxes that the EDA can offer to beneficiaries and if not only reduce them, then you designate a certain portion of what they pay specifically, like the 1% for hospital arm care or whatever type of services needed in the government.

And I think that's the point that he was trying to make.

Did.

And I think that that is an important distinction, right, to not reduce the benefits, but as part of the program, you are required to donate a certain amount to charity.

And I think what's missing from the program is that that charitable, that charitable donation is not targeted.

So you have some ADC companies that create their own foundation.

You have some ADC companies that donate to their special projects.

And I think what should happen is that that program should be incorporated into the needs of the entire territory.

So you three ADC companies, you donate to this school, you three ADC companies, you donate to this, hospital.

Yes.

And I think that, I think is something that should be looked at, but I am in agreement with, Senator Frederick, I don't think we should reduce the benefits because I think it will render it that program less competitive.

And we may lose.

I do want us.

I do want us to continue this discussion.

I do want her to be able to give his final thoughts on it as well, too.

But we do have Senator Avery Lewis on the line.

So I want to go to the Senator.

Senator Lewis, good evening.

How are you?

I'm all alright.

How are you doing tonight?

We are.

Well, I want to get your takeaways on the governor's, you know, speech this evening.

I think the last time that he did this speech, you were a part of the administration.

So I don't know if I still have my timelines.

You know, things are moving very quickly.

No, no, no, no, you weren't you weren't I. That is my apologies.

That is my apologies.

But, you know, you were a freshman coming in.

I now okay.

Going into your second.

This is the second year.

Now you know, kind of getting your, your bearings as well to, you know, what are some of the takeaways from the governor's speech, maybe some things that the governor didn't mention that you were hoping to hear?

Well, I would say tonight, I think the speech of the speech, I had a very, you know, intriguing speech that he gave from a good recap in speech from where he came from, what he met, where he's going.

I know that he talked very early in the speech about corruption and, you know, that plagued his administration in the later part and on host and so, you know, with all ethics concerns and making sure that collection is not a part of his administration.

I mean, that's a stamp it out no matter what, you know, about what government processes.

I think I've, highlighted some key stuff.

He talked a lot about his rebuilding an individual programs, you know, the infrastructure hardening infrastructure, making things better.

I really was thinking about here a little.

All about mental health and all access to senior living care centers and so forth.

But, you know, all in all the speech and it takes some time to read tomorrow day justice.

And I expected and, you know, try to work together collaboratively to make some meaningful legislation to make that happen.

I know one thing for sure.

Without this building, we really need to work on our workforce, development in the territory.

We need to work on our education system.

We need our young people to be able to get involved.

We're going to have to create a more public private partnership because these modernized facilities need to have we have to build them.

We have to stop them.

We have to maintain it.

And that's a that's a cop as well.

He came a eluded to in there for maintaining, you know, pickup and so forth.

All right.

Now I want to give the panel the opportunity to ask you a question.

Anyone on the panel has a question for Senator Lewis.

If I could try.

I don't know if I don't know.

Was that, I don't take it back with that big friendly hug that he got at the beginning when, when when the governor greeted him.

And whether or not he.

After that, Huggy was still able to listen into the state to totally address my quick, inquiry is, I know you're chairing the committee in, government operations.

I believe in, consumer protection.

And it was it was a veterans.

Yes.

Our Veterans Affairs and your capacity.

Do you see anything that may have been lacking or should have been addressed during the presentation by the governor in his address to this evening?

Well, tonight he talked about inflation and so forth, but he really didn't digress.

I can really elaborate more like where are we going with it and how we try to solve some of the issues.

He talked about, new economic stuff, but he did really delve and deep in it.

I know one of the things that I'm working on right now is with the Department of Labor to do more good, to see how what different mechanisms and methods legislations we could potentially to bring relief to the people, especially with the gas prices.

And if you if you're in the wrong your territory.

I don't see prices in our grocery stores to see how what the legislature could do to try to bring some relief on that.

And for the people at the border.

All right.

Well, Senator Lewis, I do want to thank you for calling in and for giving us your thoughts this evening.

And I want to thank the refuge.

That's why they do it every day for the people at work.

Thank you very much.

All right, so I want us to go back to I want to say, hit play on that conversation that we were having.

And I want to go back to you, Kurt, because I wanted you to be able to kind of give your thoughts.

I know, you know, we were hearing the reactions from your fellow panelists.

You know, that conversation about the EDA and how we are looking at the EDC, benefit speak to me on, you know, what you've heard and you know, just your thoughts.

So a lot of these topics that come to from a very personal experience we got in industry or, having friends or family, etcetera, that work in these spaces.

And so, the conversation about the EDC, my statement was to revamp the program such that there's more equity and parity across the beneficiaries, which also should include the people of the Virgin Islands.

We have local companies that pay 30, 40, $50,000 a month in gross receipts, taxes.

They don't have 90% tax breaks anywhere.

They are penalized when they can't make their payments.

These are companies like low seed car ferries or big red barge that run critical lines of connection across Saint Thomas and Saint John because, as we will recall, Saint John's have to come to Saint Thomas for any number of things.

And there's no benefit to these companies where meanwhile we have, no drydock facility on Saint John for them to maintain these vessels.

We don't have water and power at the facility that was built 20 years ago that was supposed to alleviate that burden.

But Port Authority is increasing the fees so low city car ferries is going from paying $200,000 a year in fees to port to maybe $600,000 a year.

So these companies provide critical services to the people of Saint Thomas and Saint John in particular.

And they don't get these kind of, handouts from the government or the Virgin Islands.

And so what I'm saying is, if we're going to have these programs that attract people here to do business, we also should incentivize the people who are providing critical services to the people of the Virgin Islands, day to day, to companies that are built for and by Virgin, know those people.

Yes, there has to be equity and parity right on the other side of that equation.

The other side of that is that people don't have services.

The other side of that is the barge companies shut down and then we don't get across the water either side of that equation where to generate more revenue for the territory, you have to increase the base.

Right.

So if and I hear you and I'm with you on parody, I'm also a business owner.

However, if every single business were granted those benefits, where what would happen to the total space that you don't have to cut me off, sir, I respect your opinion.

I'm sure you respect mine.

If even if you don't agree with it.

I respect that you have one.

But the EDA is designed to attract businesses to the territory.

It's.

It's.

That program is not designed to extend or offer or maintain.

Do our local businesses need some help?

Definitely.

Certainly.

Costs rise, fees rise.

And you know they are obligations to the government and the people of the Virgin Islands.

Don't don't rise or, you know, don't decrease, with that.

But the EDA program is designed for a specific purpose, and that purpose is to attract businesses to the territory and to attract economic development, to expand the taxpayer base.

So what I hear and what I think the governor hears as the ultimate representative of the people who's supposed to be serving the people is, yes, there are these problems, but where are the solutions?

So when I ask what's on the other side of that, I'm not asking about the parity.

I'm asking about if every local business got the same tax benefit that the EDC companies receive.

What would that do to our revenue generation in our tax base and tax base?

So that's that's the question that I posed to you.

What is the other side of this issue that you have have raised when you work on not every local businesses, it's okay.

Not every local business, but the businesses especially that provide critical need.

I mean, I've made that point several times.

Critical needs.

Yeah.

All right.

I do want us to shift gears.

Now, I know this is a topic that we can continue and we can be we can spend the entire night here speaking on this.

I won't be here all night, but I want to shift now.

I want to shift now.

We don't want you to miss the last, but I want to shift now, though, to the initial deployment of the real time Crime Center.

I want to speak a little bit about public safety.

You know, where the governor said specifically, quote, with the initial deployment of the real time Crime Center, we have a modern hub that brings together a cameras, license plate readers and data analysts to support investigations and guide patrols.

And this is a 21st century policing in a small territory, and it's already making a difference.

I want to ask, you know, you say, do you think, are you seeing other friends in public safety with, with their use of technology?

I'm here listening to you and, I don't know which reggae artist that was when he was asking, please tell us who are the real criminals?

Yeah.

No, I thought my mind went down, but in regards to, community policing, I just think the people of the bottom rung is really suffering from the nonexistence of it.

The ability for the community to be seen to be part of the court, of the community, to troll the territory, you know, from coral Bay to Coos Bay, right down to friends, that the Christians had shot at the Molly to to Tutu.

You don't see the interaction as if the police are part of the community.

And so that, we have Drive-By shooting, but we have Drive-By policing, the police driving by and don't interact with the people that they supposed to serve and protect.

So to answer your question, Derek, I, I'm not seeing a real change, you know, in the orientation of what police should be in a community, what policing is today is, we want to to follow up, yes, on criminal activities in comparison to the prevention, integration and education of the community, to the real role of policing, within any community that that we also think of, you know, right now before we continue, I do want to go to senator at large Angle Bull because junior who is on the line.

Good evening, Senator Baucus.

How are you this evening?

Good evening.

I'm good.

All right.

Now I want to get your takeaways on the governor's address this evening.

I believe it was off beat.

It, was a pretty broad address.

It was not detailed or specific in, in any regard in the sense of touching on, critical issues.

There was no mention of, agricultural food security.

Also there was, number of capital projects on the island of beans that we didn't hear about, to include the fire station improvements to the rec center, the retrofit Metropolitan of the Virgin Islands Police Department, station over there.

And of course, he did put on a clinic for, the most part, it was a broad, upbeat address, and he rolled up the red carpet.

That, reignited his accolades from the in the inception of his, his term, the beginning up until now.

So, but I think there was a few gaps in between, on the right one, I want to give the panel an opportunity to ask a question.

Anyone on the panel has a question for Senator Wilkins?

Unfortunately, we're not going to let him get off for you.

Would you say somebody would ask him something?

So I jump in if we could, because you are, in fact, the the chairman of the the committee on was that culture, youth aging.

What is your opinion on the lack of, anything in the state or territory address about, the, the growing senior population that seems to have not been addressed, you know, in the presentation.

Agreed.

You're absolutely correct.

There was there was no mention of the senior population.

I did have a piece of legislation, 360003 that, dealt with the, assisted living and senior homes, pertinent to, the minimum requirements that they should be able to, be provided.

But a lot of it dwells on CMP certification for the Virgin Islands.

We know that we we do not have class certification, and we're working towards it, but you may make a very valid point.

But he had he did not also mention, the aging population.

Definitely.

In regards to that, we need to do some work in that area.

And I would definitely look forward to hearing from you.

I know I think I'm the only one on the panel that, is a card carrying senior citizen ID member.

So I believe at the moment you are right.

Yeah.

So I so that is something that I think there are a lot of listeners and a lot of people to call.

We are a growing, aging, community would like to know, you know, from the legislature and executive branch about some of the focus towards the needs that they would like to see, being met.

All right.

All right.

Well, Senator Bill, because I want to thank you so much for calling in and giving us your thoughts this evening.

Most definitely.

Thank you.

And thank you to the panel.

And thank you to always covering these very important, addresses.

Thank you very much.

Have a good evening.

All right.

You as well.

All right.

I want to go back to the conversation that we were having before Senator Baucus, called in.

We were talking about community policing.

We spoke about it briefly while we were outside.

Can you had some thoughts as well to.

I want to get your thoughts on, you know, what the governor's comments were, or maybe lack thereof, when it comes to community policing in the territory.

Well, I think I think there's in terms of utilizing technology, whether it be cameras, ShotSpotter and otherwise, I think that's the right direction to go as a tool.

But at the same, at the same rate, you've got to be out in the community.

You got to be policing.

I've not seen roads in my lifetime, and I was born here, with less enforcement on the roads, ATVs, without without license plates.

Right.

You know, recklessly, cars that aren't, you know, so I think there is a bit of a disconnect there in terms of not just, you know, some of the violent crime rates and things that we're trying to address.

We got 12,000, cases in our, in our judicial system that are backlogged.

And I saw that was happy to see Judge Francois was before she actually married me.

And but, you know, I think I think there is a disconnect because I haven't seen the morale.

To me, the morale looks low at the police department, as a as a as a visibility of the police, you know, and they're critical employees.

I know that we've got issues in recruitment, you know, that we've had trouble, trouble getting recruits and getting our numbers up.

But, yeah, I think there's been a I think there's not the focus on enforcement that there needs to be and visibility in the community overall.

Yeah.

Speaking of Josh Francois being appointed key, I want to go to you, you know, being an attorney, you know, you are very well versed.

Do you work every day with the judicial system, and you're in these courtrooms as well, too, you know, speak to me on these nominations that we heard from tonight.

Well, you know, Judge Foster for a long time has been one of my absolute favorite jurors.

She moves her cases.

She's thorough.

She's fair.

I was very excited to hear that she'd be moving up to the Supreme Court.

And that the Supreme Court will now have a full complement of five justices, which it hasn't had before.

I like that the governor has been tapping some younger members in a profession to take seats on the bench.

We heard, you know, Melanie Turnbull was recently nominated and is now serving in the family court.

Rene Andre is someone who I also have an utmost respect for.

And she has practiced in different areas.

I've encountered her in my criminal defense practice when we've, had multiple, you know, had had clients in multiple dependent cases.

I've encountered her when doing bond work with the PFA, with her work with Jori Roberts, and to see that he's tapped another young attorney to serve on the bench, I think brings a lot of energy to the branch and other enthusiasm people who are going to be moving their cases.

So I'm excited about both nominations and congratulations to both of them.

All right.

All right.

Now, is there any other topics, that was discussed this evening that you think, you know, we've maybe tickled your fancy a little bit?

That was interesting to hear outside of the 1%.

The taxation as well too.

You know, we see now the, the merger of Casino Control Commission, we, we spoke about maybe the lack of things that we heard about, but was there anything else that stood out to you, from this evening's speech?

I. As the first administration that passed a comprehensive London was use plan, and had it enacted, I I it is something to celebrate.

I was a part of the team of consultants that pulled it together.

I was hoping to hear.

Some more substance around enforcement, because the plan is a really good general guiding doctrine, but it doesn't do well to get into specifics.

So I really was hoping that we would have conversations about that.

And in particular, because there are some of these recovery projects that speak that go against, some of the principles of the plan.

And so as we talk about this recovery and rebuilding the Virgin Islands and consolidating those services and spaces and all of that, I really wish there is a lot more like intentional action around adhering to like, the guidelines of the plan.

So sorry.

Unfortunately, I I'm much more critical about it than than optimistic.

Okay.

All right.

Now we'll see.

The governor made mention today that, you know, we have the rainy day fund that has $10 million in it.

I know you spoke about funding and really kind of having, real grasp of our expenditures, you know, versus, you know, what it is the territory's finances is.

But hearing that, you know, the overall debt was $2.2 billion.

And that being down, I believe he said it was 25% to $1.6 billion today.

Our debt represents 32% of our GDP compared to the debt of the United States, which is at 120% GDP.

You know, hearing that, you know, it it sounds like, oh, that's so much lower.

But when we look at the our population versus the population of the entire nation, you know, is that something that's reasonable to really compare?

No, it's not a an appropriate comparison.

I think that the subject matter of the budget stabilization fund, I think when do you make any comparison that you're putting it out of context?

It is exactly to do exactly what it says.

Budget stabilize would have fun.

So that once a fiscal year, a budget is being passed annually, and you may find that, there is some incident occurrence or some that happens between a particular fiscal year that requires some funding to be earmarked to address the issue.

Then you have money set aside in what they commonly call the rainy day fund, which is the budget stabilization fund.

So yeah, I wouldn't throw in that fund and make comparison with GDP and the overall economic outlook of any particular jurisdiction or area.

So definitely not not for the Virgin Islands.

Okay.

Now, when I get final thoughts before we, look to close out con, give me final thoughts in a minute.

I think overall, the government did a very good job highlighting the successes of the administration, I think, which are a number, especially in terms of, securing systems, whether it beggars, whether it be rum revenue, that side.

I mean, I think you did a very good job.

But I think as, as Kurt and we've talked about on, on many different topics, the feeling on the street when it comes to, life in the Virgin Islands and some of the challenges, whether it be inflation and whether it be federal issues that may be outside of their control, even, you know, there's a there's a difference in terms of of that aspect of it.

Yeah.

But I think that one highlight it is very important is there's a tremendous amount of work that's been done to get those $23 million that are going to reshape the future of the Virgin Islands as they're spent and as their as their they continue to be, we're going to have all these new schools redone.

That work is incredibly hard.

Yeah, time consuming and costly.

Okay, so the government, the Virgin Islands, that was done over the last eight years.

Yeah.

Let's see.

Final thoughts.

Well, my final thought I would I received this thing in June.

A state or territory address was on what is expected.

We are particularly.

No in a political year I see everybody, Jackie and even seven of the members of the body that may be running me to run with this body.

So everybody's, you know, given these.

Yeah.

What do you tell these, accolades or criticisms or critiques of what is happening?

And so I, commend the governor.

I think his, his presentation was, in fact, expected, given the time that he has served in the administration.

He's right.

And, for once, and this was the first day to try to address that.

He acknowledged that he stand on the shoulders of other governors that preceded him.

This is the first time I've heard him speak to that.

And I think it's important for all of us to recognize that a lot of these projects, this stuff started prior to him.

But he's been able, in some instances, to get some of these things done and achieved.

Yes, they ate up some of both of y'all time.

So I want to give you all know.

So I want to give you some 40s.

Go ahead here.

Yes I commend all of the employees of the governments of the Virgin Islands working in whatever capacity, especially below management, because a lot of that work is done by people who come into office day to day work in conditions that are sometimes dysfunctional.

And they get the job done.

And so I commend the people of the Virgin Islands for all of the good work that they do.

And I look forward to a day and a time, hopefully in my lifetime, where Virgin Islanders live well, at home.

All right.

Okay.

I think what the governor made clear in his speech tonight is that he inherited the responsibility of the Virgin Islands that came with the disaster recovery effort that came with Covid, that came with infrastructure projects that were slated and needed to be implemented.

And when you look at the time period in which Governor Brian has governed, he has done things to prepare for the future, the future of our children, the future of our grandchildren.

We won't see the schools finish this year, but the idea is that you will see the schools finish in a few years.

You'll see the hospitals finish in a few years.

And what he's asking the people of the Virgin Islands to do during this time period is bear with me during these previous inconveniences, because it's coming.

That's all the time we have.

It's been a pleasure sharing this evening with our panel here in the Saint Thomas Studio, and with you at home.

Please save the date February 5th at 8 p.m.

for the premiere of the fourth installment of TV's The Governor's, focusing on our sixth elected governor, Charles Wesley Turnbull.

On behalf of all of us here at I'm Marcelina Ventura Douglas.

Good night.

And.

The are not necessarily those of TJX, its board, staff or underwriters.

Closed captioning of this program was underwritten by perfected claims supporting access to justice for its clients and employment opportunities in the Virgin Islands community.

Since 2021.