Philipsburg: --- Ten out of the eleven members of the island council of St. Maarten who attended the meeting on Thursday to debate and vote for the organic laws have voted in favor of the laws. Commissioner of constitutional affairs William Marlin in his elucidation explained the council that the island council is voting for these laws now so that the Round Table Conference can take place on September 9th to pave the way for St. Maarten and Curacao to attain its country status.Marlin said that when the parliament of St. Maarten is seated they would be able to make whatever amendments to any of the laws if needed. Members of the Democratic Party faction expressed their concerns saying the council was being pushed to vote these laws and they were not given enough time to study the laws. Even though expressing concerns the Democratic Party faction said they have confidence in the advisers who have worked long and hard to prepare the laws that would govern the parliament and country St. Maarten. The organic laws that were voted upon and approved are the ordinance regulating country St. Maarten, the ordinance regulating the personnel, the law regulating the promulgation of laws, the law regulating the position of the ombudsman, the law on emergency services, law regulating the legal position of the civil service, law regulating the security services for country St. Maarten, and the law regulating personal information.
During the debate several issues were raised which was not related to the organic laws. Issues such as the executive council re-distributing the portfolios of care taker commissioner Theo Heyliger who has resigned since July 19. Councilman Leroy De Weever took a swing at the leader of government saying the only reason they took away Heyliger's portfolios was because the current government wants to take credit for the social homes that are to be given out soon. In rebutting that statement leader of government William Marlin assured that he is the commissioner in charge of housing since June 8th 2009 and he is not the type of person that would play with people's emotions during election. Marlin said he has no power over the 70 homes at Hope Estate and that the island government and the St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation will be signing an agreement on the homes on Friday. Marlin also refuted the statements made by De Weever who said government is playing cheap politics by saying the councilman should have looked at the publication sheet and he would have seen who holds the housing portfolio. Marlin said he is not one of those persons who held on to land for eight years and then sold those parcels on land one Saturday before election to gain popularity or votes.
Also taking shots at the statements made by De Weever was Councilman Louie Laveist who said he is in no way defending Heyliger but government is about continuity and when Heyliger resigned he said he was doing so to begin his political campaign. Laveist said if Heyliger had indicated then that he was also pulling his support from the National Alliance/ Laveist and Heyliger coalition then his portfolios would have been distributed a long time ago. Laveist said that since Heyliger's resignation he has not shown up for work neither is he attending executive council meetings. Commissioner William Marlin also brought clarity to matter by saying that the information which was leaked to one of the daily newspapers was not correct. Marlin said since Heyliger resigned he did not attend any of the meetings neither is he participating in any of the deliberations. Marlin said because of that government felt it was prudent for them to redistribute the portfolios to the other members of the executive council. Marlin said the fire department and disaster management was transferred to commissioner Xavier Blackman, the SLAC, EDC and the harbor now falls under commissioner Frans Richardson, GEBE and ROB falls under William Marlin.
De Weever also took a turn at government for amending the casino license ordinance which would pave the way for Caravanserai resort to obtain a casino license, De Weever said government seems to want to harbor money laundering since the casinos and change points is where these types of activities take place while stores on Front and Back Streets are closing down. Island council man Louie Laveist jumped after the statements saying that what the National Alliance/ Laveist and Heyliger executive council did now is exactly what the Democratic Party executive council did or wanted to do, something he said he knows about because he was part of the council. Laveist also promised to let the cat out of the bag regarding the same resort and the Democratic Party executive council.
Marlin also mentioned that the former executive council voted in favor of granting a license to Caravanserai and the former chairman of the island and executive council had sent it to the governor general to have it overturned because the chairman was not in favor of granting the license. Marlin said had the policy been changed then the resort management would have had options which was to comply with the requirements as stipulated.
