The Executive Council consists of the Governor of the island territory, who is chairperson, and five Commissioners.
The Governor of the island territory is appointed by the Queen of the Netherlands for a term of six years. Commissioners are elected for a term of four years.
The meetings of the Executive Council are held in private, the written decisions of the Council, are however public.
The Executive Council is also authorized by the island council to establish island resolutions containing general enactment.
The administration of government departments are divided by and among the Governor and Commissioners. When carrying out tasks of the Council, the members act as a whole. The Executive Council has responsibility to the Island Council; they must jointly and or individually provide information requested by the Island Council.
Excerpts from “An Introduction to Government” by Louis Duzanson:
The Executive Council is charged with the daily administration of the Island-Territory.
The tasks of the Council include:
a) The preparation of everything that is to be presented in the Island Council for consideration on decision.
b) Execution of the decisions of the Island Council.
c) Decision on disputes which arise on such execution, unless the decision is a signed by legal regulation to organ other then the executive council.
d) Managing of the revenues and expenditures of the territory.
e) Renting, leasing or issuance for use of land for no longer then five years.
f) The auditing of the books, or having them audited and confirmation of cash funds held by officials who are charged with receiving or disbursing funds of the territory.
g) Administration and maintenance of all projects and items of property of the Island Territory.
h) Upkeep and maintenance of public roads, bridged, ferries, waters, channels, streets, gardens, squares, and other public sites of Sint. Maarten.
i) Setting of plans and conditions for contracting work and supplies on behalf of the Island Territory.
j) Care of the fire-fighting and supervision upon anything that might produce a fire hazard.
k) Taking of all conservatory measures.
l) Supervision of the administration of pawnshops and institutions of charity, supervisions which has been assigned to the island territory.
m) Maintaining constant supervision of everything that concerns the Island Territory.
Present members of the Executive Council are:
Governor Franklyn E. Richards as Chairman.
dhr. William Marlin
belast met o.a. Constitutionele Ontwikkeling, Onderwijs en Algemene Zaken
dhr. Theo Heyliger
belast met o.a. Ruimtelijke Ordening en Beheer en Directie Programma en Projecten
dhr. Frans Richardson
belast met o.a. Economie en Toerisme en Sport
dhr. Hyacinth Richardson
belast met o.a. Arbeid, Volksgezondheid en Jeugdzaken
dhr. Xavier Blackman
belast met Financiën *
* Dhr. X. Blackman is gedeputeerde buiten de raad (is geen lid van de eilandsraad)..
Island Secretary:
The Island Secretary, though not a member of the Executive Council, undertakes the following tasks: General Director of the island administration departments; assists the Governor, Executive and Island Councils in matters pertaining to the administration of the government.
The Island Secretary, together with the Governor, must also co-sign all documents deriving from the decision-making of the councils.
The current Island Secretary is Joane Dovale Meit
Profile
Commissioner Sarah Wescot - Williams
Education and Training:
Primary education: Aruba, Netherlands Antilles, 1968.
Secondary education: St. Maarten, Netherlands Antilles, 1972.
Associate in Specialized Business, National Centre for Degree Studies
Bachelor in Public Administration, Century University
Master’s in Public Administration, La Salle University, Suma cum laude.
Administrative Organization, Government of the Netherlands Antilles
Public Administration, Government of the Netherlands Antilles
Management Certificate, Executive Business Services, St. Maarten
Executive Leadership, A. Hamilton Institute, USA
Advanced Management, A. Hamilton Institute, USA
Special Assignments:
- (1986 – 1994) Member of the Supervisory Board of the Postal Bank of the Netherlands Antilles
- (1988) Member of the Committee reporting on the financial implications of the decentralization of Landsradio.
- (1988) Member of the committee charged with drafting a Netherlands Antillean vision on development cooperation.
- (1991) Advisor to the St. Maarten delegation to the summit meetings on constitutional matters.
Positions:
- (1973) St. Maarten Tourist Office
- (1974 - 1985) Department of Government Finance, Island St. Maarten
- (1985 -1990) Head of the Department of Finance, St. Maarten
- (1985 -1991) Act. Island Secretary
- (1991-1994) Commissioner of the Island Territory
- (1995 - ) Member of the Island Council of Sint Maarten.
- (1995-1997) Commissioner
- (1998-1999) Member of Parliament, Netherlands Antilles.
- (1994- ) Leader Democratic Party, Sint Maarten.
- (1994-1995) Charter-president Friendly Island toastmasters.
- (2004-2005 President Soualiga Corporate Toastmasters Club
Hobbies:
• Music
• Reading
• Volleyball
• Cooking
Commissioner from 1991 to 1993, from 1995 to 1997 and for the 4-year terms 1999 – 2003 and 2003-2007.
From 1997 thru 1999 she was leader of the opposition, returning her party to victory in 1999, in 2003 and again in 2007. She is the first female on St. Maarten to lead a major political party.
Member of the Island Legislature since 1995 and chairwoman of the Permanent Commission for Constitutional Affairs of this legislature.
Member of the Netherlands Antillean Parliament from March 26, 1998 thru June 31, 1999. The realization by the Government of the Dutch Kingdom that a status change for the island of St. Maarten is inevitable, must be credited to her unrelenting drive for recognition of the Constitutional referendum on St. Maarten of June 23rd, 2000. She can look back on a long and distinguished public career spanning more than 25 years. Prior to assuming political office, she was Head of the Finance Department of the St. Maarten Government and was Deputy Island Secretary from 1985 until 1991 when she was appointed Commissioner.
She complements her experience in Public Service, with an Honor’s Associate Degree in Business and Finance, a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Administration, and a Master’s in Public Administration, suma cum laude from La Salle University in the USA.
In the area of youth, she was a member of the early YMCA on St. Maarten, member of the Olympiad sports committee, and has served on numerous PTA’s.
As a former union advisor, she occupied herself primarily with women’s issues.
She currently chairs the Foundation Computers in Education on Sint Maarten, with its goal of promoting computer literacy throughout the elementary school system.
ü Honorary member Women Awareness Movement, St. Maarten
ü Honorary member Philipsburg Mutual Improvement Association
ü Person of the Year - The Daily Herald, St. Maarten, 2000
ü Person of the Year - AVS News, St. Maarten, 2000
ü Key to the City of Tallahassee - 2001
ü Woman of Great Esteem - NY, 2002
ü Person of the year-World Star Studio, St.Maarten, 2006
ü Voted as one of the 5 “St. Maarten Heroes” by the Conscious Lyrics Foundation, 2007.
In this term as Commissioner, she is in charge of the portfolios of Education, Aviation, Women’s Affairs, General and Constitutional Affairs. The date for this much anticipated change from territory to country status has been set by the Dutch kingdom partners as December 15th, 2008. Finally??
She agrees, but stresses: “status change is a constitutional station; the process before, during and after is part of development, development of a people, to which there can be no time-line”.
End
Profile
Commissioner Theodore E. Heyliger
Theodore Heyliger, Commissioner of the Dutch Caribbean Island of Sint Maarten was born on Dutch Sint Maarten in 1970. After completion of elementary school Heyliger continued his high school education at the Sint Maarten Academy.
After, graduation in 1989, Heyliger obtained his Associate Degree in Marketing and Business Administration from Johnson and Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island.
Heyliger then returned home where he became Managing Director of Intermar Shipping, one of Sint Maarten’s leading transportation companies. Apart from Managing Director Heyliger he was also active in island business and civic affaires.
He ran for office for the first time in April of 1995 where he was elected to the Island Council. At the age of twenty-five (25), this made Heyliger, the youngest Commissioner in the history of the Netherlands Antilles.
From 1998 to 1999, during a change in the island’s coalition government, Heyliger held the position of Senator in the Parliament of the Netherlands Antilles.
However, his keen interest in and forward thinking on developing tourism, led him to return to the post of Commissioner of Tourism when his party returned to office in mid-1999.
While holding the portfolio of Tourism, Commissioner Heyliger’s plans to improve the tourism product included continued hotel redevelopment and expansion, improvements to port facilities, tapping into new markets, strengthening of residential tourism awareness and appreciation, a campaign to attract more airlines and direct flights to the island as well as to add cruise ships and home porting of cruise ships, increased destination awareness by securing location filming of television and motion pictures, and a study of the destination’s timeshare industry and its future.
Commissioner Heyliger is also responsible for the beautification of Front Street, the general redevelopment of Philipsburg and the upgrading of the Government Information Service.
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Profile
Commissioner Maria Buncamper -Molanus
Maria Johanna Buncamper-Molanus
Place of Birth: St. Maarten
Date of Birth: 25 Augustus, 1967
Civil status: MarriedChildren: 2
| 1985-1992 |
Summary of Education and work Experience
Education
Milton Peters College MAVO & HAVO
Dr.Titus Brandsma Middelbaar Economisch Administratief OnderwijsVelp, Holland 1985 till 1987 - Diploma
University of the Netherlands Antilles
Curacao, Netherlands Antilles - Bachelor’s Business Administration
Several management workshops and seminars
1991 - 1997
Work Experience
· Van Dorp Eddine - Administrative Assistant
· G.E.B.E - Temporary substitute ‘Accounts Payable Department’
· Motiance Dance School Foundation - Director (3 years)
· Instructor: Introduction to Economics - Civil Servants Course (Bestuurs Ambtenaren Cursus ) 1994-1995
· Instructor Public Administration - Civil Servants Course (Bestuurs Ambtenaren Cursus) 1994 until 1997
· Instructor Budgeting and Management - MBO Course ‘Day Care Givers’ 1997· Trainer for the SBO (Small Business Organization)
since 1995additional professional activities:
· Self Employed:
Marclau Purchasing & Administration, changed to Marclau Business Service Center NV in 1997 and since October 1998 merged with Carib International Trust Company N.V.
Languages
Dutch - Written and Spoken
English - Written and Spoken
Papiamentu - Spoken
Spanish - Spoken (basic)
Other Professional Activities
· 1995-1999 Member of the Island Council of the Island Territory of St. Maarten
· 1995-1996 Chairperson of the Central Committee of the Island Council St. Maarten
· 1995-1996 Member of the Permanent Committee of Economic Affairs I.C. St. Maarten
· 1995-1996 Member of the Permanent Committee of Finance/Public Works I.C. St. Maarten
· 1995-1996 Substitute member of the Permanent Committee of Health/ Hygiene I.C. St. Maarten
· 1999-2000 Member of the St. Maarten Referendum Committee
· 2000-2002 Chamber Of Commerce& Industry Board member
· - 2000 Treasurer of the Chamber of Commerce & Industry
· - 2002 – President of the Chamber of Commerce & Industry
· 2000- 2002 Advisor to the Democratic Party Faction in Parliament
· Member of the Financial Economic Sub group for the Island Government of St. Maarten (Constitutional matters)
· 1999-2002 Board member of the Princess Juliana International Airport Holding Company
· 2000 - 2002 Alternate member of the SER (Social Economic Council for The Netherlands Antilles)
· 2002 – 2003 State Secretary of Personnel & ICT Of The Netherlands Antilles
Member of Parliament of the Netherlands Antilles: 2003-2007
· 2005-2006 Chairperson of the Permanent Committee (Parliament) of Economic & Labor Affairs
· Member of Permanent Committees of Parliament of the Netherlands Antilles:
- 2003-2006: Public Health, Education
· 2006--2007: Public Health & Environment, Labor & Economic Affairs, Finance, Education, Justice.
· 2003-2006 Member of Parlatino (Parliament of Latin American Countries) Committee Public Health
Voluntary Activities
· Board member Children First Foundation until 1999
· Board member ‘Council on the Arts’ until 2003
· Board member ‘John Larmonie Center’ until 2003
· Member of the Rotary Club Of St. Maarten
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Profile
Commissioner Louie E. Laveist
Louie Laveist was born in Great Bay, Sint Maarten in 1957. He graduated from the Milton Peters College High School in 1979.
At the age of fifteen he was already a founding member of the Cole Bay Theater Company (CBTC), named after his native village. Throughout the theatrical hey-day of the 1980’s Laveist was directed by CBTC’s guest directors Victor J. Martin, David Edgecombe, Ian Valz, and landed leading roles in “The Game”, “Old Story Time”, “Son of A Bitch”, “Nite Box” and “Moon on a Rainbow Shawl.”
In 1991, he founded the United Theater Company, wrote and directed his first play “Who’s fooling who” and became the drama coordinator at the Government’s Department of Culture in Great Bay.
In the early 1990’s, he took courses in acting and writing plays at Jamaica’s Little Rock Theatre and attended lectures by noted Author/Playwright Earl Lovelace. Laveist directed his Forbidden Love (1992) at Trinidad’s Little Carib Theatre for Carifesta VI in 1995. That same year he completed “The House that Jack Built”. In 1996 he attended the drama workshop of the Caribbean Writers Institute, University of Miami. It is out of that workshop, conducted by distinguished Fred D’Agiar that he wrote Bondage (1997), his fourth play.
The early 1990’s environmental activism of this cultural worker might have inspired his political activities in 1995 leading to his 1998 election as one of Three (3) Sint Maarten representatives to the Parliament of the Territory of the Netherlands Antilles and his 1999 election to the island council in Great Bay. He was reelected to parliament in 2002.
Laveist has been largely absent from the theatre and from his seven year old weekly radio magazine Culture Club since holding political office. However in 2002 Laveist wrote his fifth play entitled “Love you to Death!! This looks at domestic Violence in the Caribbean and was preformed in St. Martin and Cuba that same year.
His work commands a serious enough presence in the fledgling literature of Sint Martin (North and South) and “The House that Jack Built” and other plays in Laveist’s first book.
Awards include “Best Actor” (1986) and “Best Supporting Actor” (1983) from Aruba’s Caribbean/Latin American Drama Festival. Laveist was profiles in the book “St.Maarten Massive! A Snapshot of Popular Artists (2000) as one of the nation’s 20 most popular artists at the turn of the century.
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Profile
Island Secretary Joane Dovale Meit
Joane Dovale-Meit, Island Secretary for the Island Territory of St. Maarten was born on Dutch St. Maarten.
One of two children she spent her childhood on St. Maarten before leaving to further her education in the United States in the early 1980’s.
At the University of Texas Joane received a B.A. in Psychology in 1985 and a B.B.A. in Management & Marketing in 1988. Driven, she also received her M.A. in Organization & Industrial Psychology from St. Mary’s University in 1988.
Before being appointed to the function of Island Secretary of the Island Territory of St.Maarten in August of 2005, the first woman to hold the function, Dovale Meit held various positions within the government and in the private sector.
In 1989 after returning home from her studies, Dovale Meit worked as an Associate Consultant for two years at a local firm. She then entered government service as the first Executive Assistant to the then Commissioner of Finance in 1991. This position became the stepping stone for many other functions within Government and Government related entities; including Research and Development at the Tourism Bureau, Strategic Policy Advisor at the Cabinet of the Lt. Governor, Head of the department of Strategic Policy Planning and Development, Director Project Bureau; reconstruction Luis, Director of Management Support Services and most recently Chief of Staff at TELEM N.V.
Dovale Meit has served St. Maarten on various boards such as Princess Juliana International Airport Operating Company N.V., the Economic Development Corporation and the Princess Juliana International Airport Financing Company.
From 1993, she has been involved in constitutional affairs and remains a member of the work group for constitutional affairs. Most recently, she has served as one of the representatives from St. Maarten in the Federal Commission for the preparation of the Round Table Conference (RTC) and currently continues to represent the Island Territory as a member of the Kingdom Preparatory Committee for the RTC.
In addition to her professional and educational accomplishments, Joane Dovale Meit, a licensed pilot, enjoys flying and enjoys, when time permits, traveling, reading, and technology.
End