Why local governments…

Jack Pickel - St. Croix 

Municipal corporations, established in the towns of the USVI will improve the quality of life of all citizens in the Territory… 

• A. Citizens’ voices can be heard, ideas shared, and local public, non-profit and private infrastructure projects defined with local input from their inception.

• B. Citizens can participate in neighborhood associations within the towns that represent their interests and participation in revitalizing their communities where they live and work.

• C. Communities can organize utility cooperatives to provide reliable infrastructure and services locally.

• D. Local problems and issues can be addressed locally without the necessity of the GVI Governor and Senate approval.

Each town (presently, Charlotte Amalie, Christiansted, Frederiksted and Cruz Bay) can have defined local jurisdictional boundaries and local sovereignty. Citizens of each town can elect a local governing body that can appoint local boards and commissions, and executive-led local administrative offices for public health, safety and welfare for the citizens of each town.

Appropriate Land Use, Planning and Development rules and regulations can be developed for each town with professional local staffing, an appointed local planning and zoning commission to hold hearings on all local land use changes and/or modifications, with final appeal to the local elected governing body which has final authority to approve, deny or modify all land use decisions within the municipal corporate boundaries.

Towns can establish local public health and safety departments within each incorporated municipality, including neighborhood foot patrols in high pedestrian-traffic areas, and emergency vehicles can be strategically located in each town to help protect the local citizens’ public health, safety and welfare.

Local necessity water, wastewater, electric and communication (WiFi, telephone, cable and fiberoptic) operations and maintenance cooperatives can contract with existing utility providers for the use of their local distribution infrastructure and networks (franchise agreements) within the municipal boundaries of each town.

Each town can negotiate competitively with public and/or private generating and production providers to supply such goods to the citizens and businesses within the municipal boundaries.

Each town can have regularly scheduled Public Meetings of the Governing Body with a mandatory component for public comments on any subject germane to the public health, safety and welfare.

Citizens from outside of the towns and in other urbanizing areas of that island or district can have standing to comment and provide data to demonstrate how discreet projects within the town will likely impact growing areas outside of the town limits that are not represented by elected local leaders.

A revitalized Office of the Governor, GVI bureaucracy and Legislative Branch can focus on Territorial issues of public health, safety and welfare without the burden of attempting to properly manage and maintain the towns in the USVI and their physical and social infrastructure.

How do we get there from here?

We form task forces in each town made up of local leaders to work with leaders in the other towns:

To advocate for legislative authority (a Municipal Corporations Act) setting forth procedures for citizens to describe town boundaries and establish local government governing bodies, executive management, and standing boards and commissions to consider and recommend programs and projects dealing with the public health, safety and welfare;

To develop individual town organization plans, budgets, ways and means to implement and structure local government to meet the needs of each town;

To organize and conduct a local referendum in each town for the citizens to adopt municipal boundaries, a local government charter and establish local governments in accordance with a Municipal Corporations Act of the Virgin Islands of the United States.

The founding organizers and board of directors of the Old Town Christiansted and Gallows Bay Citizens Town Club, a non-profit USVI entity to be formed, will establish a task force to represent the Town of Christiansted and Village of Gallows Bay to undertake the tasks for the “Old Town” urban neighborhoods and communicate with and participate with the task force members representing Frederiksted, Charlotte Amalie and Cruz Bay in advocating for and enacting a Municipal Corporations Act.

We would like to start with an introductory virtual meeting with leaders from each town interested in participating, on or before July 4, 2025 to approve and assign responsibility for devising a calendar, an advocacy plan and presentations for the Sixth Constitutional Convention, Governor Bryan and the 36th Legislature of the US Virgin Islands.