PHILIPSBURG--Minister of Tourism Franklin Meyers met with private-sector stakeholders involved in the establishing of a board for the still-to-be-formed Tourism Authority and advised them to nominate six persons to sit on the board of the authority.
This changes the initial structure that the Minister had wanted to implement, which called for three members from the private sector and three that government would appoint (not necessarily civil servants).
The initial plan was for those six persons to select a seventh, leaving the Minister with the responsibility of appointing a Chairman of the Board and the director of the authority.
Although Meyers could not be reached for official comment on Friday, The Daily Herald understands that the new course of action could have been prompted by the back and forth tension between stakeholders about who should be on the board.
Minister Meyers has selected St. Maarten Hospitality and Trade Association (SHTA), St. Maarten Marine Trades Association (SMMTA), St. Maarten Timeshare Association (SMTA), St. Maarten Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Harbour Group of Companies and Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA) to serve on the Tourism Authority.
Those entities would have to select persons from within their fold to occupy three of the seven seats of the Tourism Authority. However, questions had been raised by particularly the Chamber concerning why PJIA and the Harbour Group had not been more active in the discussions to form the board of the Authority.
The Chamber representatives had refused to vote in an earlier session to select the private-sector representatives, while the other organisation proceeded to vote for Emil Lee of SHTA, Jim Rosen of SMTA and Lorraine Talmi of SMMTA.
Meyer's new instruction now possibly opens the door for PJIA, the Harbour and the Chamber, along with the three mentioned persons, to form the six-person board. It remains unclear if the entire voting process will have to be re-done or if SHTA, SMTA and SMMTA can proceed with their nominees.
The stakeholders have reportedly been given until Monday to come up with a way forward.
