DLCA head says agency facing staff, transportation shortages

ST. CROIX — Lawmakers received an operational update from the Licensing and Consumer Affairs Department during a Senate Government Operations, Veterans Affairs and Consumer Protection meeting on Tuesday and forwarded two measures honoring various Virgin Islanders.

Commissioner M. Nathalie Hodge highlighted developments including early efforts to improve the department’s website and online services by issuing a request for proposal, statutory amendments proposed during the territory’s first Legislative Symposium and a comprehensive update of the department’s standard operating procedures. Despite progress in those areas, Hodge said the department has been challenged by staff and transportation shortages.

Hodge noted during testimony that the department requested $75,000 to cover overtime and night costs, which she called “crucial for implementing nighttime initiatives to address bars, nightclubs and other nighttime events.” That funding wasn’t approved for the 2025 fiscal year, but funding was allocated to purchase vehicles. Enforcement Director Wilbur Francis, responding to questions from Sen. Alma Francis Heyliger, said the department has five enforcement officers. “So it’s kind of hard for me to understand how ... four, five people are really policing 11,000 businesses,” she said before questioning the need for night pay. Francis replied that the first issue is manpower and the second pertains to safety. “I can’t send one enforcement officer to be working with himself or herself during nighttime” just to monitor certain businesses, he said.