April 4, 2001 – – After six hours of often grueling questioning, the Legislature's Rules Committee voted unanimously Wednesday night to hold action on confirming Wayne D. Callwood, Gov. Charles W. Turnbull's nominee for Public Works commissioner.
The committee wants Callwood to provide copies of numerous contracts and other documents.
At the center of the heated hearing was a contract between the government and Jost Van Dyke Water Co. giving the company use of a barge and the water plant on it. The equipment came from the federal government. The contract was executed in March.
Senate President Almando "Rocky" Liburd raised the issue in the context that the barge should have been used to provide water to St. John. Sen. Adelbert Bryan hammered away at Callwood and other Public Works officials who accompanied him, especially Verne Callwood Jr., who is his cousin.
Senators questioned whether it was legal to contract with a British Virgin Islands company, why the deal was made without bids, whether Callwood knew that the man signing the contract on behalf of the contractor, David Blyden, was Attorney General Iver Stridiron's brother-in-law, why the commissioner of Property and Procurement had not signed for himself on the contract and whether the person who initialed it on his behalf witnessed her own signature, who initialed the contract on behalf of the Attorney General's Office, who actually negotiated the contract and why it seemed to be fast-tracked.
"We can give away a whole power plant in seven days," Bryan said, but it takes months to get a teacher's Notice of Personnel Action processed to be hired.
Sen. Norma Pickard Samuel told Callwood, "You're being set up for a fall."
She also told him that many people believe Turnbull adviser Leroy Marchena is actually running Public Works. "Get familiar with what's going on around you because the buck stops here."
The hearing began about 3 p.m. and continued without a break until almost 9 p.m. Senators began augmenting their own questions with ones they said were called in by residents who were watching the proceeding on television.
Rules Chairman Carlton Dowe said he will resume the hearing after he has received all the documents that have been requested. The committee also voted to invite all the signatories on the water barge contract to testify.
Callwood is to produce: all roadside contracts for the past year; requests for proposals for work on Scott Free Road; contracts for the Bovoni landfill for the past 2 ½ years; and an inventory of what was reported missing from the barge and any police report of the vandalism he said took place to the barge.
