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VI UPDATE U.S. Virgin Islands Public Records TRANSCRIPT OF PUBLIC PROCEEDINGS | Committee on Budget, Appropriations and Finance Legislature USVI November 14, 2024 · 3.8 hours · gov Source recording https://youtu.be/LZ30vP1ad6E Status This is a working transcript produced by machine from a recording of a public proceeding. It is a finding aid, not an official record of the Legislature. Transcribed by VI Update, using OpenAI Whisper large-v3-turbo, run locally. Not reviewed by a person. Reliability Automatic transcription, UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording before relying on it. Speech recognition splits spoken digits and wraps figures mid-number, so a dollar amount, a vote count or a bill number can be wrong in a way that reads as correct. Speakers are not identified: automatic speaker labelling was measured unusable and removed. Public record The underlying proceeding is a public record of the Legislature of the Virgin Islands. 3 V.I.C. § 881(a) defines public records to include all records and documents of or belonging to this Territory or any branch of government, or any "department, board, council or committee of any branch of government" · which names legislative committees by category. § 881(b) gives every citizen the right to examine and copy such records, and the news media the right to publish them. (The open-meetings chapter, 1 V.I.C. § 254, does NOT reach the Legislature: § 253(b) expressly excludes it and its Standing and Special Committees. § 881 does, and it is § 881 that confers the right to copy and publish.) The Legislature broadcast this proceeding publicly itself. The source recording is not ours, is not hosted here, and remains with its publisher at the link above. Rights To what we added · the transcription, its arrangement and its description · we assert nothing. A verbatim transcript is mechanical rather than authored, so there is likely nothing in it to own; to the extent any copyright is nonetheless found to subsist, it is dedicated to the public domain under CC0 1.0. Please copy it, quote it, index it, train on it, republish it, mirror it, sell it. Redistribution is the point: a public record with one copy is one fire from gone. No permission is needed, and none is ours to grant or withhold. ¶¶ Thank you. Oh, my God. 0:00:00 Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. 0:01:30 Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. ¶¶ Thank you. 0:04:30 ¶¶ La, la, la, la, la, la. Thank you. 0:07:00 Thank you. La, la, LI, no, lola, LI, no, la, navetra, lola. ¡Oye, amigos! Thank you. Oh, my God. so Thank you. 0:08:29 Oh, my God. so so so Oh, my God. Thank you. [3 such phrases repeated 13 times · standby audio before the proceeding, transcribed by the recogniser as speech] 0:11:29 I love you. Thank you. so Thank you. [3 such phrases repeated 12 times · standby audio before the proceeding, transcribed by the recogniser as speech] 0:19:29 I love you, I love you Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. 0:25:59 Thank you. Thank you. 0:28:29 Thank you. Thank you. 0:29:29 Thank you. Thank you. 0:30:29 Thank you. Thank you. 0:31:29 Thank you. I love you, I love you Thank you. ¶¶ Thank you. ¶¶ Li lo la la le lo le lo dai, li lo la la le lo le lo dai. 0:32:29 Thank you. Thank you. Lilo la la, lilo te lo da, lilo la la, lilo te lo da, óyame. 0:35:57 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 1 of 21 Legislature USVI · | Committee on Budget, Appropriations and Finance Thank you. Oh, my God. All right. Thank you. 0:37:27 Thank you. Thank you. 0:39:27 Thank you. Oh, my God. 0:40:27 Oh, my God. Thank you. [2 such phrases repeated 12 times · standby audio before the proceeding, transcribed by the recogniser as speech] 0:41:27 Let's do it. Thank you. I love you. [3 such phrases repeated 10 times · standby audio before the proceeding, transcribed by the recogniser as speech] 0:47:27 ¶ ¶ ¶ ¶ ¶ Thank you. 0:52:27 ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ Oye, mire. 0:53:27 Thank you. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. 0:55:55 Thank you. so Thank you. 0:57:25 Thank you. I love you. Oh, my God. [3 such phrases repeated 8 times · standby audio before the proceeding, transcribed by the recogniser as speech] 0:58:55 Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Oh, my God. Thank you. 1:02:55 Thank you. I don't know. Oh, my God. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I love you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. 1:05:25 Thank you. guitar solo Thank you. Thank you. 1:10:25 I love you. Thank you. 1:12:25 Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. 1:13:25 Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Thank you. 1:14:55 Thank you. Thank you. 1:17:25 Thank you. Thank you. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Thank you. 1:18:25 ¶¶ Thank you. 1:20:25 ¶¶ Milo la la de lo te lo dai, Milo la la de lo te lo dai. ¶¶ Thank you. 1:21:25 Oh, yeah, man. Thank you. I love you. Oh, yeah. 1:23:20 Thank you. I love you. 1:25:20 Thank you. Thank you. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. 1:26:20 Thank you. Oh Oh Thank you. Thank you. Oh, my God. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. The Committee on Budget Appropriations and Finance Meeting of November 14th, 2024 is 1:28:20 hereby called to order. Madam Clerk, can I have the roll call please? Senator Marvin A. Blyden? Senator Blyden, present. Senator Samuel Carriong? Present. Senator Carriong? Present. Senator Dwayne M. DeGraff? Yes. Senator DeGraff, present. Ray Fonseca? I'm here. Senator Fonseca, present. Senator Novelli Francis, Jr.? I'm here. Senator Francis, Jr., present. Senator Donahue Fred Gregory? I'm here. Senator Fred Gregory, present. Senator Javani James, Sr.? I'm here. Senator Javani James, Sr., present. Madam Chair, seven present. Thank you, Madam Clerk. We have established a quorum. Do we have any correspondence to be read into the record? 1:34:26 No, Madam Chair. Madam Clerk, can you please read today's agenda into the record? Committee on Budget Appropriations and Finance. The 35th Legislature's Committee on Budget Appropriation and Finance will meet on Thursday, November 14th, 2024 at 10 a.m. in the Earl B. Oakley Legislative Hall, St. Thomas, U.S., Virgin Islands. Block 1. Bill number 350382, an act approving the lease agreement between the government of the Virgin Islands, acting through the Commissioner of the Department of Property and Procurement and HKT Energy Consulting Group, LLC, for reconfigured parcel number 114 Submarine Base, number 4 South Side Quarter, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, for the purpose of operating an office and warehouse and for no other purposes. Invited testifies are Mrs. Lisa M. Alejandro, Commissioner, Department of Property and procurement, and Mr. Hugo V. Hodge, Jr., President, Chief Executive Officer, HKT Energy Group Consulting, LLC. Bill number 350386, an act approving the lease agreement between the government of the Virgin Islands and Star Time Firearms, LLC, DBA Precision Shooting Range for a portion of parcel number 1A Estate Bovoni, numbers 1 and 2, Frenchman's Bay Quarter, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, to operate a firearm training facility and shooting range and for other related purposes. Invited testifiers are Mrs. Lisa M. Alejandro, 1:35:22 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 2 of 21 Legislature USVI · | Committee on Budget, Appropriations and Finance Commissioner, Department of Property and Procurement, and Mr. Levi McSheen, Manager, Star Time Firearms, LLC. Block 2, Lease Agreement for Parcels No. 12 and 12A, Submarine Base, Crown Bay Field, No. 6, Southside Quarter, St. Thomas, United States, Virgin Islands, consisting of a combined 20,423 U.S. square feet or 0.469 U.S. acre of land more or less, which is zoned W-2 for waterfront commercial industrial and parcel number 145. Madam Clerk, one second. What is the agenda that you're reading from? Bill number 350387 approving the multi-year lease agreement between the United States of America by and through the Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, and the Government of the Virgin Islands, acting through its Commissioner of the Department of Property and Procurement for Plot No. 10, A State White Lady, West End Quarter, St. Croix, Virgin Islands, to be used for the continued operation of a locator, auto marker, and federal aviation administration activities in support of the national airspace system and for other related purposes. Invited testifiers are Mrs. Lisa M. Alejandro, Commissioner, Department of Property and Procurement, and Mr. Carlton Dow, Executive Director, Virgin Islands Sports Authority. Bill number 35-0385, an act approving a multi-year lease agreement between the government of the Virgin Islands, acting through its Commissioner of Department of Property and Procurement and USVI Soccer Federation Inc. for parcel N-1 remainder of tract 1, Estate Nazareth No. 1 Red Hook Quarter, St. Thomas Virgin Islands for a soccer field stadium with concessions and soccer related activities. Mrs. Lisa M. Alianzo, Commissioner, Department of Property and procurement, Johannes Word, President, USVI Soccer Federation, Inc. Madam Chair, 1:38:11 this concludes the reading of today's agenda. Thank you, Madam Clerk, I just need a quick clarification from Assistant Commissioner Richards before we begin. The bill number 35.0387, the multi-year lease agreement, I just spoke with the Executive Director for the Port Authority, who should be representing on this particular lease? 1:40:30 What was the last part of your question, ma'am? Bill number 350387, the lease between the United States of America and the Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration. We do not have anyone to testify on it besides myself. Oh, okay. Okay, so you are the representative? Yes, ma'am. 1:41:06 Yes, ma'am. Okay. So that was not clear because we have actually former Senator Carlton Dow, Executive Director Dow as a representative. I just called him because I was noticing that there's no one here from Port Authority. Okay. No problem. We'll proceed. All right. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Let me take this opportunity to also recognize the presence of non-committee member, Senator Carl J. Joseph. Thank you for being here, Senator Joseph. And again, today we heard that we have four leases before us between the government of the Virgin Islands and businesses within our territory and one U.S. government agency that we are going to hear today. 1:41:34 These leases are in fact, as far as we have not received any information with regards to any challenges with these leases, so these leases appear to be non-controversial. And hence the reason why we're hearing all of these leases at the same time. So what we're going to do is we're going to ask the testifiers to please kindly put your name, titles and or business affiliation on the record. And we're going to begin with the representative from the Department of Property and Procurement, Mr. Vincent Richards, the assistant commissioner. 1:42:16 good morning madam chair vincent richards uh assistant commissioner department of property and procurement good morning great and then we're going to start from my my my left your right you may proceed good morning madam chair jeffrey bushelta of bushelta architecture llc um project architect assisting usvi soccer federation with their development Good morning. Good morning, Madam Chair. John Petey on the third, USVI Soccer Federation, Vice President. Good morning, Madam Chair. Michael Bourne, Council Member, VI Soccer Federation. 1:42:56 Okay. Good morning, Madam Chair. Yohannes Rodada, President, USVI Soccer Federation. All right. Good morning to everyone. So we're going to start with the Assistant Commissioner. Oh, I'm sorry. And then to my left, I'm sorry. My left, my right, your left. Good morning, Madam Chair. Hugo Hodges, Jr., President and CEO, HKT Energy Consulting Group. Good day, Madam Chair. Levi McSheen, CEO of Star Time Firearms. All right, okay, so we are going to start with the Department of Property and Procurement. 1:43:32 Madam Chair. Okay. I'm hearing someone else. Senator Francis. Senator Francis. Mr. President. Intro. Intro on the bills. Oh, introduction of the bills. All right. Who speaks to Bill No. 35.0382? I do, Madam Chair. You may proceed. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Good morning to you and good morning to my colleagues. And of course, good morning to the testifiers. Parcel number 35.0382 is an act approving the lease agreement between the government of the Virgin Islands acting through the Commission of the Department of Property and Procurement and HKT Energy Consulting Group LLC for reconfigured parcel number 114 Submarine Base number 4 Southside Quarters and Thomas Virgin Islands for the purpose of operating an office and warehouse and for no other purposes. This bill is being offered at the request of the governor. lease supports local small business and their objective of providing full service energy consulting firm with primary focus in Caribbean basin. It will allow for a 20-year lease with an option to renew for an additional 10 1:44:14 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 3 of 21 Legislature USVI · | Committee on Budget, Appropriations and Finance year. Bill number 35-0386 is an act approving the lease agreement between the government of the Virgin Islands and the Star Time Firearms LLC doing business as precision shooting range for a portion of parcel number one a estate Bovone's number one and two Frenchman's big quarters in Thomas Virgin Islands again this bill is being offered by the request of the governor and Department of Property and Procurement that allows for a 20-year lease with an option to renew for two additional five-year terms the applicant is an established St. Thomas business that is federally licensed Firearms Zila and offers certified firearms and safety training packages to assist clients with obtaining firearms permits. Bill number 35-0387 is an act approving a multi-year lease agreement between the United States of America by and through the Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration and the government of the Virgin Islands acting through the Commission of the Department of Profit and Procurement for plot number 10 Estate White Lady West End St. Croix, Virgin Islands to be used for the continued operation of a locator, automarker, and federal aviation administration activities to support national aerospace system and for other related purposes. This bill is being offered at the request of the governor and Department of Property and Procurement this lease extends the right to the property for a 20-year period for FAA related purposes that serve the public's use. Bill number 35.0385 is an act approving a multi-year lease agreement the government of the Verizans acting through the Commissioner of Department of Property and Procurement and the USVI Soccer Federation Inc for parcel number one remainder of track Estate Nazareth and number one Red Hook Quarters St. Thomas Verizans for a soccer field stadium with concessions and soccer related activities. This bill is being offered at the request of the governor and property and procurement and it would allow for a 30-year lease with an option to renew for two 10-year terms. This lease would support the expansion of a soccer in the territory and create a safe play spaces for youth to participate in this sport. Again we have the invited testifiers present today to support these requests on their respective leases and I ask for my colleagues support in these measures. Thank you very much Madam Chair for the time. Thank you Senator Novelli Francis Jr. for speaking to these particular measures as before us so now we're going to start with the assistant commissioner of the Department of Property and Procurement and we're going to go in the order of how the bills are presented on the on the agenda. Mr. Richards you may proceed. Good morning Chair Donna E. Fred Gregory, Vice Chair Novelli Francis Jr., Committee Members 1:46:11 the Honorable Senator Blyden, DeGraff, Fonseca, James Sr., Non-Committee Member Joseph, Central and Legislative Staff, Fellow Testifiers, Visitors present in the chambers and members of the viewing and listening audience. I am Vincent Richards, Assistant Commissioner of the Virgin Islands Department of Property and Procurement. I'm testifying today on behalf of Commissioner Lisa M. Alejandro to support the proposed lease agreements for the St. Croix District and the St. Thomas St. John District which are before the committee for consideration. Today the Department of Property and Procurement respectfully requests this committee and ultimately the full Senate's approval of the lease agreements between the government of the Virgin Islands and HKT Energy Consulting Group, LLC, USVI Soccer Federation Incorporated, Star Time Firearms, LLC, and the United States of America's Department of Transportation Federal Aviation Administration. These these agreements all require legislative approval in accordance with the 31 Virgin Islands Code subsection through 205 their terms all commence on the first day of the month following the approval of the governor and the legislature of the Virgin Islands the rent payable under these leases shall be adjusted annually including any renewal terms and according in accordance with the consumer price index increases established by the US Department of Labor Bureau of Labor statistics. All but one of the following leases, lease agreements require a minimum of one million dollars for all limits of general liability coverage. 1:48:19 As a premises owner the Department of Property and Recurement will be required to execute all permits and licenses required to develop the premises. These potential lessees have all provided required documentation to support the processing of their respective lease agreements with the government of Virgin Islands including their respective business licenses and certificates of good standing. The lease agreement between HKT and the government of the Virgin Islands acting through the Department of Property procurement is for our reconfigured parcel number one fourteen I'm sorry one one four submarine base number four South Side Quarter St. Thomas Virgin Islands consisting of a one-story steel frame structure on approximately thirteen thousand five hundred eighty two u.s. square feet or point zero zero point three one u.s. acres of land more or less the hurricane damaged property after renovation will house the company's warehouses warehouse and offices estimated renovation on a completed project is estimated at a hundred and fifty thousand dollars the term of this agreement is for 20 years and provides provides for one additional term of 10 years. The annual rent for the subject property will be $45,600 payable in an equal monthly installment of $3,800 during the term of the lease agreement. 1:50:14 The lease agreement between U.S. Virgin Islands soccer and the government in Virgin Islands acting through the Department of Property and Recurement is for parcel number N-1, remainder of Track 1, Estate Nazareth, No. 1, Red Hook Quarter, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, consisting approximately two hundred nineteen thousand one hundred ninety 1:52:00 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 4 of 21 Legislature USVI · | Committee on Budget, Appropriations and Finance three point nine point nine two u.s. square feet or five point zero three two u.s. acres of unimproved land more or less the property will be used to develop a soccer field seating stands concessions and other soccer related amenities and in accordance with the requirement of the property zoning initial phase investment is estimated at 2.4 million dollars with an estimated five to seven million dollars in total investment the term for this agreement is 30 years and provides for two 10-year renewal options the annual rent for the above reference parcel will be thirty six hundred dollars payable and equal monthly installments of three hundred dollars during the term of the lease agreement. The lease agreement between Star Time Firearms LLC and the government of the Virgin Islands acting through the Department of Property Procurement is for a portion of number 1A Estate Bovone, number 1 and 2 Frenchman's Quarter, St. Thomas U.S. Virgin Islands consisting of approximately 73,180.0 U.S. acres or 1.68 U.S. acres of unimproved land, more or less. The property will be used to operate a firearms training facility and shooting range and for other related purposes. The term of this agreement is 20 years and provides for two five-year renewal options. The annual rent for the above reference parcel will be $48,000, payable and equal monthly rents payments of $4,000 during the term of the lease agreement. And the lease agreement between the FAA and the Government of the Virgin Islands acting through the Department of Property and Procurement is for plot number 10, Estate White Lady, West End Quarter, St. Croix, Virgin Islands, consisting of approximately 0.24 U.S. acres of land, more or less. 1:53:52 The property will be used or continue to be used for the continued operation of a locator outer marker and FAA activities in support of the national airspace system for the safety and comfort of the traveling public. The term of this agreement is for 20 years. This is a no-cost lease agreement between the government of Virgin Islands and the FAA. These proposed lease agreements will assist this federal agency, a non-profit, and these locally-owned businesses to expand and improve their operations in the St. Croix District as well as the St. Thomas and St. John Districts as well. These investments will also continue to the expansion and the long-term stability of the Virgin Islands economy. The properties will be returned to the government of Virgin Islands at the end of their respective terms in an improved condition. The Department of Property and Mercurement is the custodian of all government-owned properties. 1:54:40 Commissioner Lisa M. Alejandro remains committed to establishing mutually beneficial partnerships and agreements with tenants and developers that unlock the true value in GVI-owned properties. The Department of Property and Procurement respectfully requests that the Committee on Budget Appropriation and Finance vote in favor of these lease agreements. This concludes my testimony, and I'm prepared to answer any question the Committee may have on the reference lease agreements. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. 1:55:55 Thank you, Mr. Richards, for your testimony. We're now going to go to the representative for Bill Number 35-03382. And that will be Mr. Hugo V. Hodge, Jr. You may proceed. Good day, Honorable Donna A. Fred Gregory, Chairperson of the 35th Legislature's Committee on Budget, Appropriations, and Finance, Honorable Senator Novel E. Francis, Jr., Vice Chairman, Members of the Committee on Budget, Appropriation, and Finance, Honorable Marvin A. Blyden, Honorable Samuel Carrione, Honorable Dwayne M. DeGraff, Honorable Ray Fonseca, and Honorable Javan A. James Sr. Good day to the other members of the 35th Legislature present, testifiers, and the listening and viewing audience. My name is Hugo Vincent Hodge Jr., and I am humbled by the opportunity to testify before this body in support of Bill No. 35-0382, an act approving the lease agreement between the Government of the Virgin Islands, acting through the Commissioner of the Department of Property and Procurement and HKT Energy Consulting Group, LLC. Honourable Senators on the Committee of Budget, Appropriations and Finance, I am here before you to offer testimony in support of bill number 35-0382 an act approving the lease agreement between the governor of virgin islands acting through the commission of the department of property procurement and hkt energy consulting group llc for reconfigured parcel number 114 submarine base number four south side quarter st thomas virgin islands for the purpose of operating an office and warehouse, and for no other purposes. HKT Energy Group, LLC, a Virgin Islands corporation, is a full-service energy consulting firm 1:56:25 offering professional, technical, and engineering consulting services to our clients. HKT was founded in February of 2016, and we are involved with our customers at every stage of the energy value chain, from the planning phase, to the design phase, to the construction phase, all the way to the commissioning phase. Our uniqueness lies in who we are, what we do, our deep expertise, and our dedication and commitment to the Caribbean. Combine, our consultants have over 100 years of power industry experience. Our executive team consists of native islanders and ex-utility executives with deep utility expertise in both Caribbean and North American power markets and operations. We care deeply about the Caribbean, its people, and its position on the world stage. It is personal to us. HKT and the GVI acting through the Department of Property and Procurement seek to enter into a long-term lease agreement for reconfigured parcel number 114 Submarine Base, number 4 South Side Quarter, St. Thomas the Virgin Islands, consisting of a one-story steel frame structure on 13,582 U.S. square feet or 0.31 U.S. acres of land, more or less. 1:58:37 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 5 of 21 Legislature USVI · | Committee on Budget, Appropriations and Finance The hurricane-damaged property after renovation will house the company's warehouses and offices. HKT renovation and improvement costs are estimated to cost approximately $107,500. The lease property will provide a home for HKT energy. The build-out will allow for offices and a conference room while providing much needed storage space in the warehouse for testing supplies and other items, including but not limited to solar panels and batteries. A long-term lease allows for time to recoup the significant investment required to repair the existing structural damage from the hurricanes, and subsequent build-out of the office and warehouse. The term of this agreement is 20 years, and the lease agreement provides for one additional term of 10 years. The annual rent for the above-referenced parcels will be $45,000.00 payable in equal monthly installments of $3,800.00 during the term of this lease. 1:59:59 In summary, HKT Energy Group, LLC, a Virgin Islands corporation, requests favorable consideration from this body as you contemplate Bill No. 35-0382. I respectfully request this committee's and ultimately the full Senate's approval of this lease agreement between the Governor of Virgin Islands and HKT Energy Consulting Group, LLC. This concludes my testimony, and I'm prepared to answer any questions the committee may have on the reference lease agreement. Thank you. 2:01:05 Thank you, Mr. Hodge, for your testimony. We're now going to hear from the Bill No. 35.0386, Mr. Levi McSheen. You may proceed. Good day, Madam Chair, Senator Donifred Gregory, Vice Chair, Novel E. Francis, Jr., members of the Committee on Budget and Finance, budget and finance appropriation and finance listening viewing audience thank you for the opportunity for for me to testify before the committee on budget and appropriation on finance in support of lease agreement between the government of the Virgin Islands and Star Time Firearms doing business as precision doing business doing business as precision shooting range my name is levi mcsheen ceo of star time firearms ceo of precision shooting range llc honorable senators of this committee thank you for the opportunity to testify in support of bill number 35-0386 an act approving this the lease agreement between the government of the virgin isles and star time firearms llc doing business as precision shooting range for a portion of parcel parcel 1a estate bovoni number one and two frenchman's quarter quarters frenchman's bay quarters saint thomas virgin islands to operate a firearm and training facility and shooter shooting range our goal is to operate a state of the act shooting range on the island of saint thomas the facility would offer unique opportunities for virgin islanders to receive firearm education and safety training as well as competition events currently there is only one active facility in this district which is operated and utilized by the virgin house police department while this range serve as a critical purpose for law enforcement training it does not 2:01:41 address the growing needs for public access to a safe control environment where residents and residents can practice and learn about firearm safety precisions aim to provide high quality experience for first-time firearm applicants hobbies tourists law enforcement and government agencies our facilities our facility will be um features as variety of shooting lanes training areas and safety course to meet the need of our level of experience at a small business we are projected to create seven to ten jobs in the construction phase as a cost approximately two hundred and fifty to three hundred and three hundred thousand our annual operation is projected at to create 7 to 10 full-time jobs and 2 to 3 part-time jobs our service will offer education and training with the increase of firearm ownership it is critical that Virgin Islanders have access to proper education responsibility responsible firearm use the public shooting range will offer a space that licensed gun owners and individual training alike can receive certified training in the fundamentals of firearm handling and storage and up to up-to-date legal responsibilities opportunities for competitive shooting and recreation we not only serve as an educational and training hub, but also a recreational outlet. Competitive shooting sports have gained popularity nationwide and offers a way for the community to come together and promote healthy competition and discipline. 2:03:44 Committee outreach and violence prevention programs. We will offer outreach programs that educate youths and other community members about the dangers of illegal firearm use the importance of conflict resolution such programs in partnership with local organization could could be an effective tool in reducing gun violence and promoting firearm safety in closing opening the doors of this facility will address critical gaps in firearm education safety and skill development in our community it will provide a safe control space for residents to learn practice and engage in responsible with responsibility with firearm ultimately precision shooting range will enhance public safety and promote responsible firearm ownership I request your favorability approval of this lease in this committee. I am available for any questions you may have. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. McShane. We'll now hear from the Bill number 350387, the representative. I did speak with Mr. 2:05:52 Haddow did call back because we do need to have some sort of understanding of exactly what this lease is about. So Mr. Haddow has shared with us that he will be sending someone from the airport, the director of the airport here in the territory. So we will await his arrival. So we're going to move on to bill number 35, the 0385, and that's the lease between the government of the Virgin Islands and the Virgin Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands Soccer Federation. Who speaks to that? You may proceed. Mr. Bourne, you may proceed. 2:07:21 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 6 of 21 Legislature USVI · | Committee on Budget, Appropriations and Finance Good morning, Madam Chair, members of the Budget and Finance Committee, Senators, members the public and staff i'm michael bourne council member of vi soccer federation which is one of 211 member associations of fifa the worldwide soccer organization i'm here today with president of vi soccer federation johannes rodell council member jp de young and jeffrey bicholte architect for the firm for the association also members of the council isla brown carol mcgay kevin shepard bow cheek sir and our council members fifa is the governing body of soccer around the world dedicated to developing and enhancing the game and equally important the life path of soccer for youth and adults as a member association in good standing vi soccer qualifies for all services programs events and funding fifa provides presently vi soccer ranks number 209 in fifa yet it is a commitment and goal of existing council to maximize the sport of soccer and life paths of participants in soccer to enhance the virgin islands yes we do have a long way to go and numerous items to achieve presently vi soccer has a fifa approved facility in st coi which will be further upgraded over time but today we're here to address questions and to provide information on a lease at the state nazareth to build a fifa approved facility to complement the st corey facility the site at nazareth has been a vision of a sports complex for numerous years to date saint thomas swimming associations the only operating activity on the master plan pi soccer is executing on the master vision with this five year with this five acre soccer center in addition during the recent process we have been working closely with 2:08:08 property and procurement ccm and the cricket association to update and rectify previous problems with the overall site to enable not just our soccer field facility but also areas for cricket the vi olympic committee and possibly other sports the drainage surveys and zoning of the master site are specific areas that need to be addressed vi soccer will include a soccer pitch, fencing, bleachers, lighting, concession, bathrooms, team facilities, referee facilities, training rooms, parking and dorms. Construction will start as soon as the lease is finalized and the zoning change implemented and construction permits obtained. The facility will be built in stages, yet the completion of the pitch is priority number one to enable soccer to be played over time the other amenities will be built we're working with FIFA throughout the process as they build these type of facilities around the world and provide us with immense knowledge vendors and resources the code total construction time is probably three to five years in some VI soccer is executing a major step forward in the fulfillment of the vision of a sports complex as state Nazareth we are available to provide additional information needed and to answer any of your questions thank you thank you mr. born for your testimony you catch me quick on that one I thought you had lots more to say okay so um we do have a representative from the Virgin Islands Port Authority and he well they do not have a prepared testimony I'm just gonna ask you to put your name title on the record and then give us just a quick brief overview of what this lease seeks to what's the purpose of 2:10:04 this good morning everyone my name is Jerome Sheridan I'm the territory airport manager for the Virgin Islands Port Authority on behalf of my executive director Carlton Dow here to present accent answer any questions you guys may have regarding bill number 350387 regarding a lease agreement between the government of the Virgin Islands and the FAA just the overall I guess synopsis of the bill itself in the agreement the government of the Virgin Islands has is looking to I guess to seek a a lease agreement between property and procurement and the federal aviation administration for technical equipment and owned and operated by the F.A.'s Technical Operations Group, which allows aircraft to safely land at the Henry Rosen Airport in St. Croix during periods of inclement weather as well as also used for practice for a lot of our local pilots and others that may want to come into the territory to shoot what they call instrument approaches when the weather is not so good. You know, in the U.S. Virgin Islands, we have pretty good weather most of the time. We don't normally get a lot of foggy weather like the areas of Boston, New York, and such like but we do have systems in st croix that can allow us to do that when we get uh what they call the ceilings and the minimums of clouds start coming lower and lower to the ground and it becomes aircraft a lot harder to see visually to actually land in st croix so i'm here today to prepare to answer any questions you guys may have at the lease unfortunately the port authority is not the land holder it's the government of virgin islands we just have a a party to it to provide any information and clarity about any questions you may have about that system thank you very good information thank you for that all right colleagues we're gonna because we have the four bills before us today we're going to um do a seven minute round so we're going to give you an opportunity to ask whatever questions you may have and um i'm going to start with soccer of course so of course Mr. Buschelzi we know that you are aware that the legislature moved legislation I want to say about two years ago two to three 2:12:06 years ago to establish the site plan for the sports complex in a state Nazareth And of course, this SACA field is definitely one of the areas that it was set aside. I just want to make sure that based on the site plan, I know we've had the discussion, but it's important for us to place it on the record, based on the site plan that you prepared, because we were supposed to have, as a matter of fact, I'm going to have to allow his testimony, his correspondence to be read into the record. I totally forgot because it didn't come up on time, but I'm going to allow that. This is commissioner white, but based on the site plan that you prepared, I know that you are also representing the, uh, Virgin Alsaka association. Does the parcel that's 2:14:18 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 7 of 21 Legislature USVI · | Committee on Budget, Appropriations and Finance before us today fit based on the site plan? Good morning again, Jeffrey, uh, project architect, uh, yes. based on the master plan that was prepared, the soccer field and the facility with the parking and everything fits within what was contemplated under the master plan. So this would be directly east of the area for cricket and west of the area where waste management authority has their bins right now and south of the the Eudora Ken track and field okay thank you wanted to make sure that we are all on the same page with that we do have a we put your name put your name well you have a PowerPoint if you'd like to see that with absolutely absolutely we have visuals yeah you should share that before your testimony one second one second so yeah so what we're gonna allow you to do that we'll allow you to do that so are you gonna talk through it or you're just sharing it we we can talk through it briefly I mean okay good yeah so we're gonna ask media has it correct media okay you can roll it right so so this is a aerial view of the area between National Guard and the Dorican school that's the area where we're discussing where the, um, the master plan was developed for the different sports. So that yellow area there is the plot size. 2:15:36 Um, I'll go to, um, so the parcel is surveyed out and recorded, um, in preparation for the lease. There's a small area that was carved out for the roadside restaurant that's not included on the parcel. Okay. So this, this is the layout of the current site plan over the master plan to ensure that it fits within the master plan. And this is a color rendering of the concept site plan. 2:16:56 the soccer field is about 360 feet by 240 feet it's a regulation size FIFA FIFA field that by itself is 1.98 acres so that's about two acres by itself and then the the eastern part of the site would be the bleachers a small maintenance building a training facility and parking and then there's some infrastructure features for drainage site drainage things like that it was set up this way the buildings kind of shield the wind coming off the water from the east direction which can be a problem with with the playing playing of soccer affecting the ball so that was done for that reason and then it's oriented in a north-south direction for solar the best solar orientation so that's it in a nutshell okay to give you a visual thank you all right thank you for that I'm glad that you share that you did have that visual for us I did have another question okay so mr. Richards we know that the precision shooting range was on the agenda I believe in our last meeting before the last and we have to take it out of the agenda and the bill that was prepared by a legal counsel was based on information that was shared initially by the Department of Property procurement. I know that you shared with us some updated maps, is that correct? Yes, Senator. Okay, so the updated maps, so can you please put on the record 2:17:36 that information because we are going to have to amend this particular bill to accommodate the updated information. We updated the exhibit B on the package and it's now perfectly correct and aligned with the lease agreement so okay so initially the well what was the do you recall what the initial address what is the updated address the address remains the same but the exhibit the the layout or the delineation of the boundaries of the subject property is just has been corrected the information that we have It says that the address was number 1A Estate Bovone, numbers 1 and 2. What's the address now? The address remains the same. 2:19:31 The delineation is just a portion of 1A Estate Bovone. And the exhibit specifically delineates what portion, the actual portion. Okay, so this is what I'm trying to get at. the bill has to reflect the actual portion so the bill currently says number 1a so what we need to get from you on the record is what is the portion the legal the term is a portion of 1a not 1a but a portion of 1a let's see yeah I'm trying to find them up give me one second okay I what does the map see senator you have a point of information what does the map see Senator Joseph, help me out here. I just want clarification. Madam Chair, the lease agreement itself actually says a portion of our parcel number 1A, estate boney, that's what the lease agreement says. Okay, so that's what it says. Yes, Madam Chair. Yes. Just for clarity, we need to have procurement, property and procurement show us specifically so that it isn't any any confusion with what the leasy is leasing on the map because I didn't see it in the supporting documentation clearly which parcels is a portion. 2:20:23 Right. So we need to have, we have to have that clarity. When you speak to a portion, AC Richards, you are leasing a portion and then we are presuming there's another portion that you will be leasing. So we need to have that clearly delineated for the record and also so that we can vote on this bill. Do you have a map? 2:22:10 Vincent Richards, Department of Property and Procurement. Yes we do have a map. Yes, we do have an exhibit. The exhibit was submitted this morning to the office of the president as well as to the office of the chairperson via email. okay so we're gonna excuse me uh could you double check that because i'm getting that we only saw the testimony we're going to move on but we have to make sure that because we're going to have to amend this measure because to senator joseph says that's my um that is my my my property guru she is though yeah uh we just need to make sure that we have it correct in a bill because this bill is going to have to be amended uh as it is presented okay um and we are prepared to amend it but just want to make sure that we are all on the same page and we don't have any issues going down the road all right uh so that was my other question and now we're going to go to our seven minute round and we're going to start with senator 2:22:36 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 8 of 21 Legislature USVI · | Committee on Budget, Appropriations and Finance mavenie blighting senator blighting you may proceed with your seven minutes thank you so much madam chair good morning to my colleagues listening viewing audiences uh central staff good morning testifiers and thank you for your testimonies. And thank you for your investment in the territory. We have four leases on today's agenda. HKT Energy Consulting Group, which wishes to propose operating an office and warehouse. Mr. Hodge, where is this warehouse located? So it's in, I'm sorry, Hugo Hodge, Jr., HKT Energy Consulting Group. In the way Arians is around the corner from there, as you go past the gas company, before you make the turn by the concrete stuff, there's a little road there and a warehouse up on the corner there, so it's there. On the point? Yeah. Oh, okay. No, I saw it. Okay. very well and you you also have um different uh equipment there um at the site like um solar yeah well we'll be storing panels and batteries um um as well as uh equipment for monitoring energy usage and stuff like that what's the cost of this investment approximately approximately a hundred and seven thousand dollars what the estimates are right now okay very well and it's a local company. How many employees are you speaking to? 2:24:08 Right now it's about four, but of course it will be more during the construction phase and then as we grow, as we do more like solar installations, there will be definitely maybe a couple dozen employees at a time. Very well. Thank you for your investment. Also we have Pease Sajan shooting range. Mr. Mr. McSheen, good day. How are you doing today? Good day. It's Levi McSheen Precision Shooting Range. 2:25:06 And how much is this investment costing your company? Between $200,000 and $300,000. And you said 7 to 10 jobs? 7. Full-time we'll have approximately 7 to 10 full-time and then part-time 2 to 3. You spoke to Community Outreach and Violence Prevention Program. speak briefly to that for me please what does that look like and what will that look like coming from your company uh well basically um it's just we'll do outreach with um the department of gun violence to just um shed light educate the people of the community on how gun safety is and just um just Just bringing education to them, teaching them the seriousness of firearms and, you know, training them, equipping them and just, like I say, just the height in gun violence. We want to be also active to help instead of, you know, we want to help educate the public on gun safety. 2:25:36 So are you providing those type of services at this moment? Yes. Right now we do firearms training, firearms education, et cetera, et cetera. Yes. Okay. Very well. Let me go to the USVI Soccer Federation, Inc. I know when it comes to FIFA and soccer, it's a big deal. Let me ask you in respect to this district and the stadium, Yeah. What would that mean in terms of sports tourism number one in the territory, not just St. Thomas, but in the territory because you have one in St. Croix also, and what would that mean in terms of our youngster in the territory getting involved in soccer? Can you speak to that for me briefly, please? 2:26:45 Good morning. Johannes Wetter, the president, USVI Soccer Federation. This is a very critical turning point for us in the Virgin Islands, being able to have facility here on St. Thomas primarily because of the access to hotels and the lift for people to come in from all different places I think being able to get this approved and get it going will allow us to engage our youth in pathways other than just playing soccer because there's opportunities for them to pursue even life paths as coaches referees trainers media people there's a very broad spectrum of activities that would lead them into more than just playing the game. And then also I think in terms of the economic benefit to the territory, we're looking at being able to host now regional tournaments and in light of, I know we're not going to be ready for 26, but 2026 the USA is going to be hosting the World Cup, which will also put us on the radar for them to be able to consider this as maybe as a training facility in preparation for their matches up there oh wow that's that's that sounds good but you spoke to building it in staging and you said three to five years and we're talking about five acres what the official arm what the official square footage when it comes to fifa and being able to hold the type of events what the official square footage jeffrey basholta project architect the minimum square footage that would be needed for this training facility is, or area, land area is five acres really, in order to fit everything. How many parking spaces are we speaking to? Right now there's I believe 129 parking spaces, 130 somewhere like that. Okay, very well. And what the cost of this investment about approximately what we're speaking to in 2:27:36 terms of dollars and cents? Yes, hi, good morning. John DeYoung, Soccer Federation Vice President. We believe that through the lifetime it'll be five to seven million just for an example. Just in St. Croix we've already invested four and a half million into the facility and that's just an example of what we'll be doing here in St. Thomas. So you're speaking to a world-class facility here in St. Thomas? Yeah, most certainly yes. Well I appreciate all of the different leases and I look forward to seeing these projects come to I look forward to especially seeing the involvement of our young people when it comes to soccer and also when it comes to our young men and women when it comes to gun safety and training here in the territory because we see what's been happening and I think education is very important and training is very important. So at the appropriate time I definitely will be voting for all of these agreements and but before i go let me ask um the 2:29:38 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 9 of 21 Legislature USVI · | Committee on Budget, Appropriations and Finance representative from port authority in respect to um your lease can you speak to that please exactly in a little bit more in detail exactly what it's about and what what the um intended purpose and what the outcome yes sure good morning everyone territory airport manager jerome sheridan again the lease is um a lease between the virgin islands the government of virgin islands and property and procurement um the port authority necessarily aren't uh landholders in this but what it is is that the the faa has technical equipment that's there that helps aircraft land um when the visibility is very very low at the airport at the henry roulston airport we have a similar system in st thomas as well but um the st croix system has a little additional with the approach lights that you see flying into st croix so this this system is actually off airport um some ways from the airport and what it does is it gives like a signal or beep to the aircraft let them know that they're on the right glide path coming into the actual airport itself so the the the lease itself is just to have for the fa to have their equipment housed on the particular land that's owned by the government of the virgin islands okay very well thank you for that and lastly mr machine let me actually because i've been out um at the range and i saw the property exactly where the range is going your range is going i know there's a line with a bunch of tires one minute on one side um is it is it on that side is it close to that and what what's about the um plan moving forward without those tires where the tires is um is actually we're going in the middle between the tires on the other side of the mountain, we actually dug into the mountain. So the tires, some of those tires, we're also going to be used as a barrier. Okay, very well. Again, thank you so much for your response, Madam Chair. Thank you for the time. Thank you. Thank you, Senator Blayden. We're now going to hear from our Senator Giovanni James Sr. You're recognized for your seven minutes. 2:31:52 Greetings to the people of the U.S. Virgin Islands. I'm going to keep it short, sweet and simple i mean no opposition to any of these before us so i'm going to ask each and every one of you simply um how start how soon you plan to start with these projects as far as the finances and ability to start i just want to see things start so starting from you mr hugo um good Good morning again, Hugo Hodge, HKT Energy Group. I've already started, I've invested funds in clearing the property and clearing some of what was inside the property. There was some material left from the previous leaser. So I've already expended some funds and started the process. I have a temporary lease while we're waiting for the permanent to get going. 2:32:48 So I'm already on the way on an operation to some extent. The USVI SACA Federation. Good morning, Michael Bourne, council member. As a member of FIFA, we're already pre-funded to do this activity. The first step will actually be relative to this body as well. We have a pending zoning hearing that should be coming up shortly. And with the lease and the zoning hearing, which would enable the construction of the facility on public land rather than residential land we'll be able to act ASAP we're ready to go we just need to the other bookend to this lease is the zoning change start time we are prepared to start ASAP once the lease is actually executed and tentative data opening should be I'll say the first of the year. And who is represented for the United States of America Department of Transportation Federal Aviation Administration? Senator, I can speak to the lease agreement. The facility for the FAA is existing, it's been there for decades. This is a no, this is a zero dollar lease. It just basically continues to support the Federal Aviation FAA to continue to operate their facility to make sure the aircrafts land and take off safely in the Virgin Islands. We have several of them with throughout the territory and we allow them to be on our property and operate. Submarine based warehouse? That one's not on the agenda this morning. I just want to see project started. I see that we have significant investment being taking place as we speak about these items on agenda and I'm just so happy to see things moving forward so let's just make it happen thank you madam chair for the time oh so you guys did not need seven 2:33:45 minutes you get to go home all right Santa Francis Junior now you're a bill sponsor you know he's a bill sponsors Santa Fonseca you recognize your seven Well, and before I do that, let me just recognize the presence of Senator Milton Potter. Thank you for being here, Senator Potter. Senator Fonseca, are you ready? Yes. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. Good morning to everybody. 2:35:42 Okay. Quickly, bill number 35-0387, Vince, so this navigation aid, this is so the airplanes can safely um approach they fix the landing it's i noticed i research it's like four to seven miles before the runway um you know i'm in favor of it but i was wondering where is this located on saint thomas vincent richard's property procurement where's it located on on saint thomas i know this is saint croix but i know our way in the water on saint thomas when you come in on approach so where is this located? I would love to answer the question but out of respect I'd rather yield to the gentleman from the point of view. Good morning everyone uh territory airport manager Jerome Sheridan uh yeah all the the markers um for the ILS systems in Saint Thomas are going out west towards I guess that's um I passed Bordeaux past um okay there's a big dome you see yeah okay that's i was i always wondered what that was okay good so this is good um i want to go to um the the soccer federation right so you say it's 360 feet by 240. so when you're making the corner there right where they sell the pate it's going from there all the way up to the eudora can feel right okay so um i noticed that land is not like 2:36:12 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 10 of 21 Legislature USVI · | Committee on Budget, Appropriations and Finance level so you're going to do a lot of grain grading and drainage right so the drainage is going to connect to the the pond is there any environmental issues tell me how that's going to work jeffrey bush shelter project architect um yes there's north of the of the site there's an existing uh retention pond feature and that has an overflow that goes south and then all of the area where the soccer field would be would also flow south north of the public road there's a like a drainage gut that flows to another retention pond that's existing that's behind where that restaurant is we may enlarge that depending on the needs once we get into civil engineering and then that I believe overflows it goes under the road towards Red Hook Bay you know I'm fully fully in support of this you know I'm a Eudora Ken alumni and I think this is great for the whole of the East End for the whole of St. Thomas by the way so um question so it's gonna be your feel with the local soccer associations be able to use it? What would be the special requirements? 2:38:15 Yohana Swarada, president of USVI Soccer Federation. Yeah, the whole purpose behind having this facility is to make it accessible to all people that are interested in playing soccer. So it would be open to, we are actually the organization that handles local competition, sorry, local competitions. So So yes, it would be available to effective everybody. This is great. Awesome. 2:39:10 Okay, so you said it meets the FIFA regulations, right? So if we have like a Caribbean games and thing, this meets all the specs. I think Madam Chair had questioned you about that. So that's good. You know, I'm so proud that the 35th legislature is going to be able to act on this because this is something that we have wanted for quite some time. So congratulations. It's funded by FIFA. FIFA International is funding it? 2:39:37 Yes. John DeYoung, Vice President of the Soccer Federation, yes. Yes, it's going to be funded by FIFA. Okay, good. So the seating capacity and also the bathroom facilities, all of that is you've calculated the load for the drainage? Because, you know, when you pass over and you don't reckon Nazareth by the big tank there, you smell a little thing, they say it's the lagoon, ain't no sewage. But I just wanted to put on the record that that smell is not sewage, it's a lagoon thing. Discuss that for me, please. 2:40:09 Michael Bourne, council member. Senator, in my presentation, I clearly outlined that the drainage is priority one. Right, right. what's there now won't work so that's why we've been working with CZM already to figure out the final solution that will come in the building permit scenario to tell you now what the actual answer is we don't know but we know that the issue has to be addressed to facilitate not just the soccer field but that whole area and as you've referenced the smell and the like so that will be addressed and fifa you know is fully on board with this and i just want to make note that you know the st croix facility is also fifa regulated and certified so the virgin islands will have two facilities to maximize the exposure internationally but look it starts all with our youth you know our push our council is very much focused on youth development i would love to tell you that we have the next messi or mbappe here but that person is probably four years old now and the focus is youth development and as miss johanna said the the facilities on both islands are focused to all people who want to play soccer and and learn the benefits of the sport of soccer because i cannot underestimate you know the the value of being part of fifa one of the largest corporations in the world the largest sports entity you know fifa makes the nfl and nba look like child's play and therefore we're a full-fledged member of that organization yeah and i you know i fully support soccer as a matter of fact i used to be the soccer coach for dover school so can we sign you up um yes definitely you know i'd like to get back in i need to run a little bit more 2:40:46 so i'm i'm i'm definitely in favor of 30 seconds this is awesome quickly um i'm definitely in favor of start time um firearm precision um shooting range one one quick question for start time um how many of your your your constituents your clients are young males um what percentage do Do you, do you know? Levi McSheen, CEO of Precision Shooting Rate. I'll say approximately 27%. 2:42:46 27%, okay, good. I'm definitely in support of... Time. Hugo, you know, I think, you know, that's a good, good item. And thank you very much, Madam Chair, for the time. Thank you, Senator Fonseca. So, all of you know that the Nazaret sports complex field is my baby. Everybody know. I want to make sure that we don't have any challenges around this in the future. 2:43:19 There was something that was said that I think is important that the soccer federation, Let me just say, I was a soccer mom. I had one of the best soccer players in this district, Jai Gregory. So solicit him. But let me say that I want to make sure that there's a partnership between the Saka Association, the Department of Property and Procurement, and the Sports Parks and Recreation. We did receive a letter from him, and he said that he's in full support, et cetera, et cetera. But when you talked about the development and the aquifers, that's what you said? 2:43:56 You made reference to the aquifers, Mr. Bishelta? The... The aquifers? No, the ponds. My bad. The ponds. My bad. Right? I want to make sure that as a development starts with your side, that it's a comprehensive development. One of the 2:44:39 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 11 of 21 Legislature USVI · | Committee on Budget, Appropriations and Finance things that we did, we utilized $23 million, I think, $23 or $20. million dollars of the Epstein dollars to below this sports complex. So we want to make sure that this work is gonna happen simultaneously. You, Mr. Bushelta, was a site plan master plan architect of record and we have to figure out whether we have to legislate it, whatever we have to do, we must establish some sort of MOU whatever that is to ensure you you know I feel about it I want to say GP mr. de young junior the third right that we need to make sure that once you're done or once you're doing your bill load we don't have any issues we want to make sure that this is a friendly complex as far as the build out is concerned we don't you know you don't do the drainage piece and then the government and do their piece and then you run into a problem, et cetera. I think that's very important. Too many times we've seen where, I'll just give Wandaig as an example. But Shelton, I'm certain that you understand what I mean when I talk about Wandaig. When WAPA opens the roads, they close it back up, then via come in, open it up is an issue. Let's figure out how to, I think that I'm going to do an amendment that just requires the Department of Property and Procurement and HF and Sports, Parks and Recreation, and yourself, the Virgin and Alaska Association, to in fact engage in an MOU to make sure that we don't have any problems with the construction component of this project because they all are tied to each other. And if one doesn't succeed, then the other one just stays there and it's a whole eyesore. 2:46:01 One of the things that we did recently is, and I'm not sure if you know, but recently we repealed the, there was a, where the garbage bins are, next to the Ivani-Durkin School. The transfer station was supposed to be built there. We said no. We said that space will be used for the entire sports complex. So I spoke to you about it. So we are now able to consider a, what do we call it? A baseball field? 2:46:53 That's what you call it? Maybe softball. A softball field, right. A softball field in that area as well. And that will actually support the PE activities at Ivana-Yedora Kent High School as well. So this is a comprehensive approach, and we want it to look comprehensive in the work that's occurring as it's being built out. So we have to partner in it. It requires a partnership, so I don't know if you call this a non-profit public partnership, I'm not sure, but it requires some level of partnership in order for it to be successful and we don't have any issues, any grinding and rubbing of the edges when it's all said and done. So that's very, very important to me. And then we're going to figure out what we're going to name it after. 2:47:29 I'm going to leave that ready. All right, my colleagues. Okay. Senator Kalaji Joseph, you're recognised for your seven minutes. Thank you so kindly, Madam Chair, a pleasant good morning to all of the testifiers and our listening and viewing audience, and of course, our Senators. I do have some questions I wanted to ask. I will start first with you, Assistant Commissioner Richards. Can they indicate for us the total amount of funding that will be coming into the coffers based on these three leases that we are considering before us? 2:48:13 Vincent Richards, Assistant Commissioner of the Department of Property and Becoming. Senator I don't have the number, aggregate number of all the leases over the full terms, But I can do the math and get it back to you through the chair if you'd like. Okay. That's fine. I think I could roughly estimate that it's about $97,000. Do you think that sounds $97,000 annually? Does that sound about right? You have $3,600 for the soccer federation, $48,000 for a star time firearm and $45,600 for HRT. Does that sound about right? 2:49:00 Mr. According to your math, yes, Senator. my math okay so let's let's just know that that's part of the preparation okay so that we should be able to now I wanted to focus in on the zoning for each one of these leases because that is very critical for us to be able to move these projects forward and so that they can operate so we have to be operating in good faith knowing that we are supporting these projects, if we have a lease. 2:49:52 I wanted to ask you, Commissioner, are all of the entities zoning in adherence to what they propose to do, the activities that they propose to do, to your understanding? Senator Nutshell, yes they are. If you'd let me finish, please. Go ahead. soccer association is is seeking to uh or requested that we rezone the property to public and in that rezoning from what it currently is to public which is owned by the it's owned by the government of the virgin islands it merely adjust uh the the the setbacks the setbacks of of the properties, and it will make it a much more feasible project, moving it to the public zoning, which it is a public piece of property. 2:50:25 Right, because the zoning currently is residential, is it not? Yes, it is, Senator, and under the residential zoning, if I may, it does allow for the construction of a feel under residential, but the setbacks does have restrictions with the setbacks. With the setbacks? Yes, Senator. So, with the public zoning, it will remove those restrictions? Are you going to... Go ahead. I was distracted, Senator. Can you repeat the question? 2:51:20 I said with the public, with it being rezoned or granted a variance under PEAD, that would remove those restrictions? Yes, Senator. Okay. So that's one of the issues I have. Now to you, Mr. Hodge, for HKT Consulting. Your zoning is 2:51:51 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 12 of 21 Legislature USVI · | Committee on Budget, Appropriations and Finance industrial. That is sufficient for you to operate, correct? Yes, ma'am. Okay, good. And I also wanted to ask, relative to your operation, are you going to be able to do what you said? I think I saw something in there about in the analysis provided by our Posada that you have some demolition to do? Are you going to be demolishing some buildings or any of the existing structures is part of your overall plan? 2:52:18 No ma'am, no, Hugo Hodge, HKT Energy. No demolition, there's some structural changes needed for the warehouse, it has some damage from hurricanes. Some of the beams, some of the cross beams have to be replaced, as well as when we do It has to be brought into code, current code, so the spacing is no longer code. I have to add some rafters in there as well, but there's no demolition, just structural improvements. 2:52:50 Okay, and you have done your homework, I trust, because you have that background in engineering. That's correct. And to check the structural integrity of the premises that you're going to inherit, because I'm trusting that you've done that already. So you could see if the structure that is on the premises is structurally intact. That's correct. I brought out structural engineers and gotten estimates to how we can shore it up. But yes, that's been done. Okay, great. 2:53:21 And that's part of the preliminary investment that you have done prior to getting this lease ratified. Part of the preliminary investment as well as what I've mentioned as investment going forward is to is to show it up okay very good so we know you have a vested interest here I really have no major oh for the firearms I almost forgot you mr. Max Sheen how are you doing today I'm good Levi machine good time firearms wonderful now you know I have had the opportunity to actually attend firearm training and i totally in agreement what you said you know sometimes it was a little bit of a challenge because we are conflicting with pd with their firearms so i really applaud you on that initiative now kindly indicate to us are you going to be putting up any sound barriers well the weather structure one minute the weather the structure is and engineered we're actually um digging into a mountain to eliminate like eliminate noise um you know so it'll be a lot of noise um um it'll be a lot of noise cancellation right have you have you uh taken a look at the site because based on the map that we just received 30 seconds the assistant Commissioner Richards it looks like it has a lot of debris or derelict items on your on the property you're leasing I don't know if you've seen it but this is the map that we just received which shows us the portion of the property 2:53:55 that you are going to be leasing yes have you had an opportunity to see this yes okay so kindly indicate for us so you are going to be responsible uh mr chairman may i thank you so kindly are you going to be able to remove you're going to have to remove all of those uh derelict or abandoned items that you're inheriting so that's fine with you yes okay okay mr chairman i have no further question i am not a member of this committee but i stand in support of these entities and their economic pursuits here in the virgin islands and i want to commend them thank you so much thank you uh senator joseph for your line of questioning Good morning, Senator De Graaf, you're recognized for your seven minutes. Thank you, thank you, Madam Chair. 2:55:45 Thank you, Madam Chair. I hear my name in here on the list. Good morning, colleagues. Good morning, testifiers of your listeners. I'm present. I vote yes. I could try to convince the 14 other senators, not me. I support these entities 100%. That's for sure. Now, I'll go straight to soccer. I was a high school tackle, football, coach, referee for over 30 years. So, athletics, I love. American football, I know. 2:56:44 Soccer, the other football, no disrespect, I don't know. Now, like you said, we're going to educate the young generation and stuff. My generation, I'd like to learn too. Would there be a chance for my generation, you know, I'm a senior millennial, you know, to learn soccer. Would that be able to be done? 2:57:21 Michael Bourne, council member. Yes, my previous comments was the primary focus is because we're a long-term organization here. We're starting and our most important focus is on the 20-year-old players. But yes, in fact, Johannes here and I have a stand-in joke that we're going to be part of the men's team. So we could make room for you, too. Okay, good. Yes, and in all seriousness, the VI soccer runs the whole gamut of from four years age beyond and it is it's similar to what I say especially on the FIFA's leadership it's a way of life good soccer is not just and I emphasize that and you saw in my presentation life pass and Johannes referred to earlier yes we all want to play soccer but there are so many career opportunities in soccer within the virgin islands as well as around the world whether it be from refereeing and administrating you name it and it's a way of life and i know we like you i'm an american football player a former american football player but fifa is truly the worldwide organization that you you should come to know because it's it's mind-boggling and yeah i just want to add some color senator John DeYoung of VI Soccer Federation. We also hold opportunities throughout the year for referee workshops, coaching workshops, you know additional player workshops. We have referees who are actually older than you who do participate in our leagues. We hold these workshops in St. Thomas, St. Croix and this facility will allow us to hold it in one space. We also send individuals into other countries for additional workshops and continuing education as well and that's part of what we do. 2:57:55 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 13 of 21 Legislature USVI · | Committee on Budget, Appropriations and Finance that's very good to know man thank you for that and and i think uh mr born you are part of the antilly school team that beat chs in football in the 70s excuse me senator michael bourne councilman but that was all saints all saints you got your you got your data right yes okay good good good so i just want to make sure we put that on the record you know great great great okay um um now for one more thing with the soccer entity now also i i didn't play soccer or cricket growing up but i see as as an athlete myself they are great sports now i i know you probably don't have anything to do but you mentioned in your testimony about the cricket organization and in helping them to get off the ground what kind of assistance are you being able to give them getting off the ground if any michael bourne council member very good question and to tie in with madam chair's comments of we've been working with the whole neighborhood to get this off we've been working very closely with the cricket association to facilitate what they need to do um just for public record this year uh vi soccer has taken over the maintenance of the endure can infield not just to play soccer but to play american football and whatever other sports general petty deans appropriate for that field so we're not just looking in a very narrow window and well nothing soccer is a narrow window it's a very big window but we we're looking even beyond soccer of athletics and so we are working with them and we've also reached 2:59:50 out to the vialympic committee and the like because that whole area it's been a dream I don't know if a collective memory here can figure out how many years ago was this master plan developed of the sports complex I mean it's it's been around forever right and so yes senator we're we're reaching out to everybody and I just wanted to get a value for the people to hear what the value of soccer is bringing cricket is bringing to the territory you know if they've been in the dark too long time for it yeah mainstream thank you for that the movie Die Hard they mentioned about all the beacons so I'm making it so for my colleagues to understand you need to watch the movie that guy had no in regards to that is there security for those pieces of property in regards to these the leases that we're getting good one everyone territory Airport manager Jerome certain on yes sir the FA typically around those facilities in Gateman and lock it's on the lock and key with their own staff having access to that not even the airport authority one minute access to that staff usually they may if they have some reference questions or something of the port authority to get into that area or something like that they'll come to us but it's under lock and key with FA unless property and procurement has some other we're not really trying to broadcast what it on everything no good thank you for that mr. Hodge no you you have a business for storage I think you will 30 seconds in a business to sell what are you selling what are we promoting here you know for you Hugo Hodge HAT consulting group we do energy consultants so the full spectrum from a manufacturer's rep to design project management the full gamut of energy as well as a HKT has a joint venture that 3:01:38 formed both energy which is a solar installation company here in the territory so we do solar battery residential commercial you name it free advertisement thank you for that thank you if I may just wrap up madam chair no mr. machine you see I saved the best for last for me it's twofold I've been a police 26 years gun violence is mainstream in the territory what I do do believe gun education because it's constitutional right correct so I don't want that taken from anyone but again how do you gain access to your facility I know the Bavoni area I know where the police range is how do you get access to this because again a part of your business people have to be able to get to to traverse correct but voney has a gate now way down near the gas station to go in by the dump so when they close up does that restrict access to your facility levi mcsheen precision shooting range um no it don't okay so so how would i how would i get to it the same way going toward the police well yeah you you'll go um not same way going to the um police firearm shooting range and before you go all the way down on the other end of the hill you'll make a left up on the hill but where the fire department had a thing in it not that way not that way no you'll go where a nine yard is that way and they'll have a gate right there that shows you that has a huge gate that will that where the range will be okay free advertisement that's why i make sure people can find your place that's what we're here in support of you i want to make sure they they can find you. 3:03:44 Thank you for the time, Madam Chair. Thank you. Thank you, Senator DeGraff. Senator Carrion? All right, Senator Potter, you're recognized for your seven minutes. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Morning, colleagues, and a special good morning to the testifiers who are here before us today. Madam Chair, I am generally supportive of all of the initiatives, all the leases that are here before this body. 3:05:31 I don't have a vote today, but somewhere down the line, I'll have an opportunity to vote. But I wanted to start off by asking Mr. Richards, really just from my edification, what methodology was used to determine the rental rates for each property, particularly given the variation a rent per square foot just to get an understanding as to what you consider when you determine the rental rates. Vincent Richards, Department of Property and Becurement. Senator, a good question. All the properties here are different in their nature. Some are for public use and the government doesn't need a a actual cash return the government gets a return the community gets a return in in other ways whether it be the FAA you want your aircrafts to take off and land very safely so you get a return on that whether it be for the US VI soccer Association we need activities for our kids to to and our adults to engage in activities to keep them from being idle so we get a tremendous return then when we look at there's another property that we have that it's a damage property a wind damage 3:06:06 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 14 of 21 Legislature USVI · | Committee on Budget, Appropriations and Finance property it's that's that's was for lack of a better word was derelict and and was it is in poor condition and necessitates a hundred plus thousand dollars of repairs that the government doesn't have or ready to invest in that property and someone is willing to step up and make the investment we allow them a discounted rate for around 10 years for them to recoup that investment and then the rate is accelerated from there and And then we have another property that's, it may be raw land, but they themselves are going to make another significant amount of investment in the property as well to upgrade it and bring it to where it is. So the methodology is not very simple. It's different with each and every one, but we do have a, there is an industry rate per square foot for raw land that's market driven, but the complexity of the development, the complexity of the investment, it does weigh into making sure that all of these entities, all of these organizations are successful at what they do, and the government does get a return in multiple ways, whether it be through taxes, employment, opportunities, and just public service, so. 3:08:00 I'm comfortable with your response. Senator, if I may, just to butcher what Sister Commissioner Richards was saying about, it's been particularly about the lease with the FAA. Right now, on December 12th, we're about to introduce new service with JetBlue San Juan in St. Croix and one of the things that you know the Virgin Islands Port Authority as well as partnering with tourism is that when we add these systems we have the government of the Virgin Islands making these leases for areas for certain type of specialty systems at our airports we are then now in turn able to market this as a viable destination for certain other aircraft that may not be able to use may not have may have have the ability to land here now can now land here with these more advanced systems being at our airports and of course everybody knows what we're doing with the p3 and the development there and things that happen in the future that we will have in st thomas as well as st croix um it's important that you know we all together partner in the virgin laws to try to you know improve the facilities both thank you appreciate the response what mechanisms are in place um ac richards to ensure the proper the promised investments are actually made? Is there a system that you have in place and you have these agreements and we're gonna make certain amount of monetary investments or whatever, is there a way for you to ensure that there is some follow-through? Senator, good question. If Star Time Firearms does not do what they're supposed to do there are mechanisms in the lease agreement to terminate the lease in here in it same thing goes for HKT if they do not improve the building there's mechanisms in there to terminate same thing goes for the soccer Association if they do not perform we have adjusted 3:09:10 our template of our leases over the years to basically make sure there are triggers in there that allows us to terminate if they're not if they do not perform so there's a way for you to once these leases are effectuated you're saying that there is a follow-up protocol at PMP to ensure that there is the promised follow-through you have the staffing and the personnel to ensure that this happens yes senator on the Department of property procurement throughout the territory has four or five property inspectors that visits our entire portfolio of properties which exceeds 250 every single month and they inspect to see what's going on and see what's happening what's being done what's not being done all these properties they all these are potential lessees have given us time time frames and schedules and timelines and we intend to to visit every single one every 30 days. There are some lessees in our portfolio who have not performed or are not performing and we do have mechanisms where we give them gentle nudges to let them know we are paying attention, we are documenting, you're not doing what you promised or you're doing something that's outside of your lease agreement for use of the promised premises and make adjustments accordingly. And we do speak more now with other sister agencies, DLCA, Department of Licensing and Consumer Affairs, as well as the Department of Planning and Natural Resources. 3:11:02 When we do feel that we need other resources for enforcement, we do share and interact with them as well. Very good. Star Time, I wanted to ask you, I know my colleague mentioned or asked about noise. I wanted to get you again to sort of elaborate a little bit on that. And I understand that the issue of lead contamination is something that... Thirty seconds? 3:12:45 You know, a gun range person would be conscious of and how that is managed. Levi McShane precision shooting range in terms of the noise like I said we dug into the mountain approximately five to ten feet down into the mountain so it's a lot of noise reduction the the noise will not be going east he'll be going to the west where it's no homes time in terms of I perceive you see in terms of lead contamination is that's more for like let's say indoor okay yeah but outdoor it's really not a hazard factor in that sense okay senator vincent richards if i may i would suggest i mean your questions is very good i would suggest you visit the site and tour the site i would be happy to take you out to the site as well the direction in which it is oriented the noise bounce back towards another mountain another hill and or out to the ocean so but we'd be happy to take you out there to take a look at it I'll take you up on the offer thank you madam chair just one final question I want to ask about the I know the Cricket Association was mentioned today I don't have the discussion took place before I came but I know that the Cricket Association has a lease also that's before you and I think they've submitted their documentation if I can recall early this year so I'm curious as to where we are with regards to their lease are the issues 3:13:15 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 15 of 21 Legislature USVI · | Committee on Budget, Appropriations and Finance that they are you know dealing with when do you anticipate the finalization of their of their lease agreement. Vincent Richards again for property and procurement. Senator up to last night last evening at seven o'clock I met with the president I met him downtown and and and they have submitted all the supporting documents that they need from us and we're gonna be focusing laser focusing on getting that done within the next few weeks and hopefully before this body as soon as possible there was some trouble with that with getting some supporting documents that we needed from them but it is a priority thank you for that I'm Madam Chair, thank you very much for your generosity. 3:15:02 Thank you, Senator Potter. So, I'm glad Senator De Graffi recognized your point of information. Thank you, Madam Chair. I just wanted to know in regards to the soccer and I guess the range, mainly disabled persons access. You know, I'm big on access for everyone, soccer, firearms. Would you have where you have for disabled access to the range and, excuse me, Assistant Commissioner? Finish your questions and I apologize. And for the SACA organization. 3:15:38 Senator Vincent Rich's property in Becum, if I may, before they do, in the lease agreements, there is a paragraph that deals with ADA compliance and access, so it's written in the agreement. So I'll- I just want it on the record too, you know. Firearms and SACA, if you don't mind. Yeah. Machine is a machine. Levi machine precision shooting range. Yes, we will have wheelchair accessibility. And for soccer, Jeffrey Bisholta, project architect for USVI Soccer Federation. Yes, we will have accessibility compliance with ADA. 3:16:12 How many parking spaces? parking handicap parking spaces as well as provisions for wheelchairs in the viewing stand thank you thank you thank you Senator DeGraff so before you ask your point I was going somewhere and I can't remember so it's tied to It's tied to the question that Senator Potter asked. So Mr. Richards, and I know that we're not here today to talk about the development of the master plan. I know that we're not here for that today. 3:16:54 Senator Potter asked specifically about the Cricket Association and we are aware that the central government through this body has appropriated I believe $1.4 million for that particular site. So I was under the understanding that we were going to engage in an MOU with the Cricket Association because they have not shown that they have the available resources to build out that facility. So what is your, what is there a resource issue? 3:17:46 Because they have not shown and proved that they are able to in fact do that. That's one of the reasons why we appropriated the 20-something million dollars to make sure that we are able to below the facility, and if individual entities want to have exclusive use if you will, then they engage in an MOU because they have to at minimum take care of some of the common area expenses. They have to have some skin in the game. So I want to make sure that we are not muddying the waters with this master plan that we put together. The SACA Association is an anomaly because they have funding. 3:18:32 They are able to fund this themselves 100%. So if you have a lease, you can't come back to the government to expect to get for the government to do your build out. So just I mean we're not here for that today but my good colleague brought it up so I think it's important that we put it on the record what's really going on here. Senator, good question, good point. Vincent Richards, Property and Becurement. The Department of Property and Becurement has engaged in a revocable license agreement with the soccer association and we are prepared to one extend the life's revocable license agreement with them and or to enter into a or and or to enter into a long-term lease agreement with them I I you know so that that's yeah so therein lies my concern we have to be very mindful of how we approach this we don't need like I said any challenges with what the vision is around that particular project now let Let me ask the Saka Association folks, or yourself, Mr. Richards, the parking spaces, the 5.82 acres, are we having common area spaces, communal spaces, or Saka Association has their own parking and that's exclusive to them? Because then it says to me that the space that's available, we're going to have some challenges is like who getting in the game for us. 3:19:20 So we're going to have some challenges with space if there is exclusivity with space, with parking, et cetera, with the SACA Association. I'm very concerned about that. must be some shared common areas in order for this to work for everyone so what is what is in that agreement what is that I mean Saka you could answer I'm not certain that mr. Richards knows specifically what's included or is it in the lease but we have to be very very the deliberate or intentional is the word with how we lay this out we have to think about everything to prevent any issues down the road so we try to use space for parking for all the space for parking and then cricket can't park the softball can't park the who else tennis can't park the we have to have communal spaces in order for this to work our Our land mass here is not vast in this district. 3:21:17 Vincent Richards, property and procurement. Senator, that's a very, very good point, again, that you continue to make. I remember in working with Mr. Baschelti in the master plan agreement, master plan concept, the communal communal parking was definitely a part of the of of the concept and and I just made note of it and your idea in terms of an MOU was noted I did take a note of it and I will be working on that as well to make sure that everybody works together um I like I 3:22:29 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 16 of 21 Legislature USVI · | Committee on Budget, Appropriations and Finance just say is good point again and and you know. Yeah, okay, so these things are very important in order for this to work. So I know I had a meeting with the association as well as the soccer, the cricket folks, and I made my, the vision was clear. So I know, you know, everybody want their piece, but we have to figure out how to have shared space on this. You know, if there is a need for MOU, you know, I'm a firm believer in what gets monitored, gets done. And in some instances, we have to do some over legislation to make sure things happen. So if it is that it requires an amendment, then we need to amend and indicate that the property and procurement and the sports parks and recreation shall engage in MOUs with these entities for common area spaces, the parking, the et cetera, lighting all of that stuff so again what's also equally important is as we build this out we have set aside the funding for this and um once the what you call it the infrastructure work that's what you call it the infrastructure work the government need to put in make an agreement with the association and get the infrastructure work done one time the electrical the culverts or whatever those things is all I need to happen at the same time so we could make sure that we have a project that is a that that we don't have challenges with that we don't we don't repeat history and see what's happening at um the Polly Joseph Stadium it's taken us I think it's going on 20 years so we don't need to go down that same road so we have to be very intentional 3:23:15 about how we're doing this I'm in full support of whatever we're doing but I know that we change players and you know people see things differently but it's important for us to make sure that this project is in fact one that is meaningful. Now Senator Potter asked some really good questions about you know how we determine square footage and the like. Now Mr. Hadj share that you have your investment is what 150,000 approximately if you include some of the investment made already yes okay investment okay in total aggregate okay um i have a question i wanted to ask property and procurement my mind is a little fuzzy today it's a good question too okay let me just go to mr machine quickly um what type of personnel are you is going to be required uh at this at the the precision shooting range um we'll have range offices um levi machine precision shooting range range offices can be more specific in type of personnel what type of people you're hiring uh trained people that are cheering like range offices um secretary um cashiers okay um you know um range masters stuff like that okay and of course security okay um i had a question for pmp and it was tied back to what senator potter asked uh i think mr richards do a you know you have to do shazam i think he does shazam so i will forget Okay, I am not seeing my colleagues on St. Croix. I believe that we have a quorum. Where's Senator Fonseca? 3:25:01 Okay, we're going to move on. Pardon? Motion? We have motion? Senator? Motion, we are here, motion. Senator, the graph, you recognize your motion. Thank you, Madam Chair. I move bill number 35-0382, an act approving the lease agreement between the government of the Virgin Islands, acting through the commissioner of the Department of Property and Procurement and HKT Energy Consulting Group, LLC, for reconfigured parcel number 114, submarine base number four, South Side Quarter, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, for the purpose of operating an office and warehouse and for no other purposes, be voted on favorably in the Committee of Budget, Appropriations and Finance, and forwarded to the Committee of Rules and Judiciary for further consideration. I so move. 3:26:59 Motion on Bill No. 35, that's 0382, has been properly moved by Senator Dwayne M. de Graff, seconded by Senator Marvin Blyden and Senator Ray Fonseca. Roll call, please. Senator Marvin A. Blyden? Yes. Senator Blyden, yes. Senator Samuel Carrion? Yes. Senator Carrion, absent. Senator Dwayne M. de Graaff? 3:28:01 Yes. Senator de Graaff, yes. Senator Ray Fonseca? Yes. Senator Fonseca, yes. Senator Novelli Francis, Jr.? Yes. Senator Francis, Jr., absent. Senator Donald A. Fred Gregory? Yes. Senator Fred Gregory, yes. Senator Javani James, Sr.? Yes. Senator James, Sr., yes. Madam Chair, five yays and two absent. Thank you, Madam Clerk. 3:28:32 Bill number 35.0382, an act approving the lease agreement between the government of the Virgin Islands acting through the Commissioner of the Department of Property and Procurement and HKT Energy Consulting Group, LLC, for reconfigured parcel number 114, submarine base number four, Southside Quarter, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, for the purpose of operating an office and warehouse and for no other purpose, has been favorably approved by this committee and will be forwarded to the Committee on Rules and Judiciary for further consideration and action. Do I hear a motion? 3:29:03 Senator Blighton, you recognize your motion. Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that Bill Number 35.0386, an act approving a lease agreement between the government of the Virgin Islands and Star Time Firearms, LLC, DBA Precision Shooting Range for a portion of parcel number 1A Estate, Bovoni, numbers 1 and 2 Frenchman's Bay Quarter, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, be voted on favorably in this committee and forward to the Committee of Rules and Judiciary for further consideration, I so move. 3:29:40 Second. Second. Second. Second. Bill number 35-0386 has been properly moved by Senator Marvin Blyden, Seconded by Senator Dwayne M. DeGraff. Seconded by Senator Javon James Sr. Senator Ray Fonseca. Here are no objections. Rule call, please. Senator Marvin Blyden? Yes. Senator Blyden, yes. Senator Samuel Carrion? Senator Carrion absent. 3:30:14 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 17 of 21 Legislature USVI · | Committee on Budget, Appropriations and Finance Senator Dwayne DeGraff? Yes. Senator DeGraff, yes. Senator Ray Fonseca? Yes. Senator Fonseca, yes. Senator Novelli Francis, Jr.? Senator Francis, Jr., absent. Senator Donna Fred Gregory? Not voting. Senator Fred Gregory, not voting. Senator Jaffani James, Sr.? Yes. Senator James, Sr., yes. Madam Chair, four years, two absent, one not voting. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Bill number 35.0386, an act approving the lease agreement between the government of the Virgin Islands and Star Time Firearms LLC, doing business as precision shooting range for a portion of parcel number 1A, Estate Bovoni, numbers one and two, Frenchman's Bay Court of St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, to operate a firearm training facility and shooting range and for other related purposes, has been favorably approved by this committee and will be forwarded to the rules, Committee on Rules and Judiciary for further consideration and action. Do I have a motion? Senator Fonseca, you recognize your motion. 3:30:45 Madam Chair, I move Bill No. 35-0387, an act approving the multi-year lease agreement between the United States of America and through the Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, and the Government of the Virgin Islands, acting through its Commissioner of the Department of Property and Procurement for Plot No. 10, Estate White Lady, West End Quarter St. Croix, Virgin Islands, to be used for the continued operation of a locator, outer marker, and Federal Aviation Administration activities in support of the National Airspace System and for other related purposes, be voted upon favorably by this committee and forwarded to the Committee on Rules and Judiciary for further consideration and action. I so move. Bill number 35-03-87 has been properly moved by Senator Ray Fonseca, seconded by Senator Javon James Sr., Senator Marvin A. Blyden. Hearing no objections, roll call please. Senator Senator Marvin Blyden, Senator Blyden, Senator Samuel Carrion, Senator Carrion absent, Senator Dwayne M. DeGraff, Senator DeGraff, Senator Ray Fonseca, Senator Fonseca, Senator Novelli Francis Jr., Senator Francis Jr. absent, Senator Donna Fred Gregory, Senator Fred Gregory Yee, Senator Javani James Sr. Yes, Senator Javani James Sr. Yes. Madam Chair, five years, two absent. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Bill number 35.0387, an act approving the multi-year 3:31:54 lease agreement between the United States of America by and, I remember what it is, by and And through the Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, the government of the Virgin Islands, acting through its commissioner of the Department of Property and Procurement for Plot No. 10, Estate White Lady, West End Quarter, St. Croix, Virgin Islands, to be used for the continued operation of a locator, outer marker, and Federal Aviation Administration activities in support of the National Airspace System and for other related purposes has been favorably approved by this committee and will be forwarded to the Committee on Rules and Judiciary for further consideration and action. 3:33:44 Do I hear a motion? Senator Blight, do you recognize your motion? Thank you, Madam Chair. I move Bill 35.0385 and act approving a multi-year lease agreement between the government and the Virgin Islands, acting through its Commissioner of the Department of of Property and Procurement, and USVI Soccer Federation, Inc., for parcel N-1-Remainer of Track No. 1, Estate Nazareth, No. 1 Red Hook Quarter, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, for a soccer field stadium with concessions and soccer-related activities. Be voted on favorably in this committee and forwarded to the Committee of Rules and Judiciary for further consideration. I still move. 3:34:31 Bill number 35, that's 0385, has been properly moved by Senator Marvin A. Blyden, seconded by Senator Javon James, Senator Ray Fonseca. Here are no objections. Rule call, please. Senator Marvin Blyden? Yes. Senator Blyden, yes. Senator Samuel Carrion? Yes. Senator Carrion? Yes. Senator Carrion? Senator Dwayne DeGraff, Senator DeGraff, Senator Ray Fonseca, Senator Fonseca, Senator Novelli Francis Junior, Senator Francis Junior absent, Senator Donald Fred Gregory, Senator Senator Javani James Sr. Yes. Senator James Sr. Yes. Madam Chair, five years, two absent. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Bill 35.0385, an act approving a multi-year lease agreement between the government of the Virgin Islands, acting through its commissioner of the Department of Property and Procurement and the USVI Saka Federation Incorporated for parcel number, for parcel N-1 remainder of Track 1, Estate, Nazareth No. 1, Red Hook Quarter, St. Thomas, Virginia, Answers, Soccer Field Stadium with concessions and soccer-related activities has been favorably moved by this committee, favorably approved by this committee, and will be forwarded to the Committee on Rules and Judiciary for further consideration and action. All right. Thank you, colleagues. I did remember what the question was that I had for, and this question is for the Department of Property and procurement and the um how do you determine it was tied to the question that mr senator 3:35:14 potter asked how do you determine what a entity receives a 30-year lease with five-year extensions to five-year extensions as opposed to a 20-year lease with extensions um madam president uh madam chair good question um we basically uh accept all offers and whatever they ask us for is basically once it's within reasonableness, we usually comply and it's justified, we usually comply, so. Thank you. 3:37:09 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 18 of 21 Legislature USVI · | Committee on Budget, Appropriations and Finance All right, colleagues, we have exhausted our committee work for today. I wanna thank everyone that contributed. We're gonna ask the commissioner of the Department of Property and Procurement to give a quick, everybody, we're gonna ask everyone to give a quick closing. 30 seconds, closing and we're gonna start with, actually we're gonna start with the soccer association and we're gonna go to my right. Let's start with the soccer association, close. 3:37:40 Yes, Johannes Wadade, USVI Soccer Federation. We're extremely humble and appreciative of y'all giving us the opportunity to present ourselves today. We're looking forward to a favorable decision from all of which you guys have and hopefully going forward we'll be able to execute with the full expectation of having a good comprehensive plan for the betterment of the whole project thank you thank you uh mr hodge a good day again hugo hodge junior hkt energy consulting group of the positive make sure i don't say another entity i used to say we need to come in here but um i i truly appreciate the confidence displayed by the body today um i think that it's important for us to have more local vi businesses here in the territory um there is nothing that we need done in our territory that we don't have the talent to do our own you know and i i i truly believe in us as a people and i i appreciate you and your colleagues demonstrating the same belief in what we are trying to do here as well. I'm pro-VI, pro-local, and pro-all of us. I'm pro-business all the time and thank you for your favour of consideration. 3:38:10 Absolutely. Thank you. Mr. McSheen. Levi McSheen, precision shooting range. I just want to say thank you for the opportunity and thank you for your votes. That's it. Thanks. All right. I didn't really say much today other than focusing on Osaka because you know what's happening there is very dear to me but you know we did have two entities here today that's tied to our economic development and I want to share with you that recently the legislature again one of the things that we don't do here enough is we don't talk about the work that we've done and in the when we moved our 2025 budget one of the things that we did is that we set aside we utilize that opportunity to very strategically to set aside funds to support our community and because we have small businesses here today I think it's important for me to put this on the record because it wasn't widely talked about we set aside ten million dollars to support small businesses here in the territory. Small business loans, so you can go to the Economic Development Authority. I don't live this started a program yet, but you can go to the Economic Development Authority if you need a small business loan. There is also the SBA, but it's what we do here locally, we want to make sure that our small businesses have the opportunity to, you know, to open their doors and provide business services to the community. So again, well, the legislature gets a We do a lot of good work here. We just don't, you know, toot our harm enough. 3:39:31 But what's equally important is the importance of the executive branch actually running, laying out the program. Program implementation is important. So one of the things that we're going to do is make sure that when it comes to those FCDN dollars, we're going to apply pressure. Okay? Although I'm not going to be here, I still go apply pressure. all right um colleagues legal counsel uh the media are uh i hate doing this because you're getting trouble our security our legal our legal counsel my staff of course and our testifiers today there's a lot of hard work that went into this although we ended early um a lot of hard work trust me vince knows mr richards knows so um i just want to thank everyone for the work that they've done and I believe that I'm gonna have one more committee meeting before we're up. I'm not gonna leave you talk last month. One more committee meeting before we wrap up the 35th legislature. I hope that I don't have too much more committee meetings to have because we're heading right into the holidays so I'm not gonna see folks again I think oh yeah we are we are we have a session coming up so mr richards um thank you thank you madam chair i just want to say thank you to commissioner lisa alejandra for having a conference and confidence in me to be down here and representing her in the department i'd like to thank my property team my entire property team that does the hard work i'd like to thank this body each and every one of you um you guys uh actually make us uh better at what we do um the hard and tough questions that you ask it makes us improve our processes and make this uh go much easier uh other than that i'd like to thank all the uh lessees um for their uh commitment for their patience and working with us and um in their investments and uh madam chair we will be back we have a quite a few more things to send down and bring down before the year is over so thank you guys very very much um you know one last thing 3:41:18 Madam Chair thank you so much as well for I remember when we were here with soccer you stopped me in my tracks and um made us go back to the drawing table with that master plan and it you know it I told you what our obstacle was and you made the obstacle go away with appropriating the funds for the master plan and just by doing that made it easier for us to be here with uh the u.s soccer association today and it makes it easier and and what's going to happen uh in the estate nazareth is not going to be a um a a hodgepodge of of different things going on it'll make it easier make my job easier going forward so i just like to humbly say thank you as well and i appreciate you all you your the discourse or the discussion your input um it does make us better by having the discussion, because I don't know everything. 3:43:25 I'm going to report that. So thank you very much. I appreciate all of you. I'm going to take that snippet. Okay. Thank you. I'm going to definitely take that snippet. All right. Having no further business, the Committee on Budget Appropriations, 3:44:23 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 19 of 21 Legislature USVI · | Committee on Budget, Appropriations and Finance everybody spoke, right? Yes. The Committee. And again, thank you to the SACA folks for really, you know, staring the course on this, because we know it was an uphill battle, but I wanted to make sure that we got it right. Okay, so thank you for steering the course. We have no other business for today. The Committee on Budget Appropriations and Finance stands in adjourned, actually. I was gonna recess. Is it recess? No, I have to come back out of recess. I have to come back out of recess. The Committee on Budget Appropriations and Finance is adjourned. To be continued... Thank you. 3:45:00 People named in this transcript SUSPECTED, and a finding aid only. Names were matched by machine against the spellings used across all 426 of our transcripts, and the title is the one used in the room. Being named here is NOT evidence that a person attended or spoke · only that the name was said. Speech recognition mishears names, so a spelling may be wrong even where no alternative is offered. 18x Senator Ray Fonseca heard in this transcript as: Fonseca 17x Senator Marvin Blyden heard in this transcript as: Blayden, Blyden, Marvin A. Blyden 16x Senator Dwayne DeGraff heard in this transcript as: De Graaf, De Graffi, DeGraff, Dwayne M. DeGraff, Dwayne M. de Graaff, Dwayne M. de Graff 13x Senator Novelle Francis heard in this transcript as: Francis, Francis Jr, Francis Jr., Novel E. Francis Jr., Novelli Francis Jr, Novelli Francis Jr. 13x Senator Samuel Carrion heard in this transcript as: Carrion, Carriong, Samuel Carriong 11x Senator Javan James heard in this transcript as: Jaffani James Sr., Javani James Sr, Javani James Sr., Javon James, Javon James Sr 8x Senator Milton E. Potter heard in this transcript as: Milton Potter, Potter 4x Senator Carla Joseph the surname alone also matches: Clifford Joseph; Karla J. Joseph heard in this transcript as: Carl J. Joseph, Joseph 4x Senator Donald Fred Gregory the surname alone also matches: Donna A. Frett-Gregory; Donna Frett-Gregory heard in this transcript as: Donahue Fred Gregory, Donald A. Fred Gregory 4x Senator Fred Gregory the surname alone also matches: Donna A. Frett-Gregory; Donna Frett-Gregory 4x Senator Marise C. James the surname alone also matches: Javan James; Giovanni James Sr heard in this transcript as: James Sr, James Sr. 3x Commissioner Lisa M. Alejandro 2x Senator Donifred Gregory the surname alone also matches: Donna A. Frett-Gregory; Donna Frett-Gregory 2x Senator Donna A. Frett-Gregory heard in this transcript as: Donna Fred Gregory 2x Senator Francis Junior 2x Senator Giovanni James Sr the surname alone also matches: Javan James; Marise C. James; Neville James 2x Senator Kalaji Joseph the surname alone also matches: Carla Joseph; Clifford Joseph 2x Senator Marvin A. Blighton heard in this transcript as: Blighton 1x Senator Donna Frett-Gregory Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 20 of 21 Legislature USVI · | Committee on Budget, Appropriations and Finance heard in this transcript as: Donna A. Frett-Gregory Bills and acts referred to Matched by number against our own acts corpus. The number is what the recognition heard, so it may be wrong; where it resolved, the title is the one the Legislature gave the act. Bill 35-0385 Act 8945 · An Act approving a multi-year lease agreement between the Government of the Virgin Islands, acting through the Commissioner of the Department of Property and Procurement, and U.S.V.I. Soccer Federation, Inc., for Parcel N-1-Remainder of Tract 1 Estate Nazareth, No.1 Red Hook Quarter, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, for a soccer field stadium with concessions, and soccer- related activities Act 8945 Act 8945 · An Act approving a multi-year lease agreement between the Government of the Virgin Islands, acting through the Commissioner of the Department of Property and Procurement, and U.S.V.I. Soccer Federation, Inc., for Parcel N-1-Remainder of Tract 1 Estate Nazareth, No.1 Red Hook Quarter, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, for a soccer field stadium with concessions, and soccer- related activities Referred to but not found in our acts corpus: Bill 35-0382, Bill 35-0386, Bill 35-0387 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 21 of 21