Senate Committee Grills Taxicab Commission

During a session of the Committee on Government Operations and Consumer Protection in St. Thomas on Sept. 14th, lawmakers voted unanimously in favor of Bill No. 34-0272. The bill will “empower the Executive Director of the Taxicab Commission to hire the necessary staff to operate” the agency.

“In the course of the 34th legislature we have seen a rapid decline in the services, the morale of The Taxicab commission,” said the bill’s sponsor, Senator Janelle K. Sarauw . “We have noticed in the institution a usurping of powers by the board of the executive director. What this legislation does is aligning the role of the executive director with any other executive director, any agency.”

During her introduction of the bill, Sen. Sarauw cited an August meeting of the Senate’s Committee on Finance, in which the VITCC’s top representatives could provide few answers to lawmakers regarding their budget and accounting. Sen. Sarauw called the hearing “embarrassing, to say the least.”

Bill No. 34-0272 pertains solely to the functions and abilities of the VITCC’s role of Executive Director, who cannot even write a letter of reprimand, according to Sen. Sarauw. Nor can the Executive Director of the VITCC hire or terminate employees. In fact, the portion of the VI Code under consideration doesn’t enable the position with any defined legal authority; It only states that it can “hire an executive director.”

Ultimately the rest of the entire VITCC’s power resides within the nine member board. In reality, the executive director of the VITCC has no authority to hire, fire or even really manage employees on behalf of the agency. The current Chairwoman of the VITCC Board, Lloretta Lloyd, objected to the legislation even in light of such recent, well-documented mismanagement of the agency.

Lawmakers shared a similar sense of outrage during the session, which was rife with concern, a litany of scrutiny and a sprinkle of new revelations that grew contentious. Senator Novelle E. Francis noted that he had asked for minutes of previous meetings back in March, but the board failed to produce such documents. When asked by Sen. Francis about the implementation of the tariff, which had been set for completion by Aug. 31st. Vernice Gumbs, Acting Executive Director, Virgin Islands Taxicab Commission said no and began to offer explanation before Sen. Francis cut her off loudly.

“Thank you, thank you,” said Sen. Francis. “You all want to come in here and tell legislators what to do and simple, simple things that you are supposed to be doing, you're not doing. This is a circus. I'm calling on the government to stop this embarrassment. This is unacceptable.”

Senator Franklin Johnson succinctly supported the measure and went further to echo the complaints of local taxi drivers who have voiced their frustration with the VITCC.

“I don’t need five minutes,” said Sen. Johnson. “My mind have already been made up to support this measure here. I might be a first term Senator, but I've been following this process for years. “And when the Taxicab commission came to the finance budget here, and it was one of the most embarrassing moments that I've seen from any agency in my entire life.”

In response to a question posed by Senator Alma Francis Heyliger, VITCC Board Chairwoman Lloretta Lloyd noted that it had not yet completed a set of bylaws or a standard operating procedures guide, but that the agency hired an attorney to complete the project and would get back to her with regards to a timeline for completion.

 “There's a very huge disconnect between the board and dealing with the day to day operations,” who supported the measure in order to bring balance to the agency.

Later in the meeting, lawmakers learned that Vernice Gumbs, who had testified as the Acting Executive Director of the VITCC had in fact been elected by the Board to serve as the full-fledged Executive Director.

During a point of inquiry, Senator Francis Heyliger, couldn’t help but wonder if the agency's own Executive Director had even been informed since the VITCC had not disclosed that decision at any point prior to the meeting. At that point, the committee had seemed almost giddily distressed, but any chuckles only served to stave off the tears.

 “This whole thing needs to get fixed,” said Sen. Francis Heyliger.

Along with her colleagues serving on the 34th Legislature’s Committee on Government Operations and Consumer Protection, Sen. Francis Heyliger joined her colleagues to unanimously support the measure, which will now move on to the Senate’s Rule’s and Judiciary Committee.