Laveist attends first council
meeting as an independent
PHILIPSBURG--Island Councilman and “non-active” commissioner Louie Laveist attended his first Island Council meeting as an independent member on Monday. Arriving half an hour late, which he said was due to traffic congestion, Laveist took up his customary seat with the Executive Council in Dr. A.C. Wathey Legislative Hall.
Laveist did not speak during Monday’s meeting, which lasted less than 30 minutes, one of the shortest in recent times. Only Public Works Commissioner Theo Heyliger spoke, giving a brief introduction to the sole agenda point: the preparatory resolution for St. John’s Estate Phase II.
All five opposition National Alliance (NA) members were absent from the meeting. The five Democratic Party (DP) members and Laveist formed the meeting’s quorum and voted unanimously to declare an appeal from the St. John’s Estate developer invalid.
Laveist broke with the DP on November 12 after he had been stripped of his portfolios during his nine-day detention in October on suspicion of committing forgery. He was stripped based on the party’s position that any of its members of either the Executive or Island Council under investigation should resign.
After much political negotiation, DP managed to reclaim Laveist’s and majority support in the 11-seat Island Council and thereby keep the present Executive Council intact.
There is no basis within the Islands Regulation ERNA for the position of “non-active commissioner” and Laveist’s declaration that he would serve in that capacity has left the Island Council to grapple with how this would work.
DP leader Commissioner Sarah Wescot-Williams announced over the weekend that Laveist was expected to resign from the Executive Council, but this has not yet transpired.
