Oct. 10, 2002 – A striking Innovative Communication Corp. employee broke picket lines Thursday, but instead of returning to work, he wound up behind bars.
Police arrested Glen Freeman around 9 a.m. near Innovative headquarters at Beltgen Place on St. Thomas. According to Police Chief Novelle Francis, he was apprehended after he allegedly took a bag of tools from the vehicle of an Innovative Telephone employee working to repair phone lines damaged in a recent spate of vandalism.
Francis said Freeman, 37, was at first suspected of being involved in the vandalism that has caused disruptions to phone service affecting thousands of customers in the last week. "His name originally came in as the vandal," the police chief said Thursday night. "But that's a negative, as far as I know."
Freeman, the only person arrested to date in connection with the eight-day-old strike by United Steelworkers union members against Innovative Telephone and Innovative Cable-TV, was charged with grand larceny, Francis said.
Since Oct. 3, service has been cut to more than 4,000 residential and business phone lines on St. Croix and St. Thomas because of vandalism, according to Innovative. The company had said that as of Wednesday night the phone system was 99 percent restored, but that picture changed on Thursday morning, Innovative said, when vandals damaged three cables in the vicinity of Joseph Gomez Elementary School on St. Thomas, cutting service to about 1,000 subscribers in the Anna's Retreat, Wintberg, St. Joseph and Rosendahl, and Mandahl areas.
In a release issued Thursday evening, Innovative Telephone's chief executive officer, Samuel Ebbesen, termed the action sabotage and said repair crews hoped to have service restored within 12 hours.
Some 310 unionized telephone and cable-television employees went on strike last week when negotiations over renewal of their three-year contract broke down, primarily because of rank and file dissatisfaction with ICC's benefits package.
Innovative management, until Thursday, was tight-lipped about the details of the company's final offer — in keeping with ground rules of the negotiation process, Innovative Telephone spokesman Thomas Dunn said last week.
But "because of the many inaccurate and misleading public statements now being made, we no longer feel that this is prudent," company officials said in a statement published in full-page advertisements in The Avis and The Virgin Islands Daily News on Thursday.
According to the ad, ICC's final offer to the Steelworkers included a choice of two options regarding wages and pension: wage increases of 10 percent over three years with an increase in pension benefits of 3.7 percent; or wage increases of 6 percent over three years and an increase of pension benefits of 7.41 percent.
Innovative said the offer stands as such because union members in past negotiations opted for higher wage increases rather than a boost to pension benefits.
"Now they want, in one contract period, to retroactively make up for what was not bargained for in the past," the ad read. "This is in addition to the usual wage increases. Innovative is unwilling to make pension promises that may not be feasible in the long run."
A footnote in the ad said that, "based on the average current age and service time of the bargaining unit employees, they will be eligible for retirement at age 58 with a benefit of $810 per month before the current increases."
Other terms of Innovative's offer include an increase in insurance deductibles, a life insurance benefit increase of 16.67 percent and an additional 15 sick days.
On Oct. 16 and 17, a federal mediator will sit down with both sides in an effort to work out their differences. Innovative has said its final offer is on the table. The union membership rejected that offer in ratification votes on Oct. 1 and went on strike the following day.

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Oct. 10, 2002 – A striking Innovative Communication Corp. employee broke picket lines Thursday, but instead of returning to work, he wound up behind bars.
Police arrested Glen Freeman around 9 a.m. near Innovative headquarters at Beltgen Place on St. Thomas. According to Police Chief Novelle Francis, he was apprehended after he allegedly took a bag of tools from the vehicle of an Innovative Telephone employee working to repair phone lines damaged in a recent spate of vandalism.
Francis said Freeman, 37, was at first suspected of being involved in the vandalism that has caused disruptions to phone service affecting thousands of customers in the last week. "His name originally came in as the vandal," the police chief said Thursday night. "But that's a negative, as far as I know."
Freeman, the only person arrested to date in connection with the eight-day-old strike by United Steelworkers union members against Innovative Telephone and Innovative Cable-TV, was charged with grand larceny, Francis said.
Since Oct. 3, service has been cut to more than 4,000 residential and business phone lines on St. Croix and St. Thomas because of vandalism, according to Innovative. The company had said that as of Wednesday night the phone system was 99 percent restored, but that picture changed on Thursday morning, Innovative said, when vandals damaged three cables in the vicinity of Joseph Gomez Elementary School on St. Thomas, cutting service to about 1,000 subscribers in the Anna's Retreat, Wintberg, St. Joseph and Rosendahl, and Mandahl areas.
In a release issued Thursday evening, Innovative Telephone's chief executive officer, Samuel Ebbesen, termed the action sabotage and said repair crews hoped to have service restored within 12 hours.
Some 310 unionized telephone and cable-television employees went on strike last week when negotiations over renewal of their three-year contract broke down, primarily because of rank and file dissatisfaction with ICC's benefits package.
Innovative management, until Thursday, was tight-lipped about the details of the company's final offer — in keeping with ground rules of the negotiation process, Innovative Telephone spokesman Thomas Dunn said last week.
But "because of the many inaccurate and misleading public statements now being made, we no longer feel that this is prudent," company officials said in a statement published in full-page advertisements in The Avis and The Virgin Islands Daily News on Thursday.
According to the ad, ICC's final offer to the Steelworkers included a choice of two options regarding wages and pension: wage increases of 10 percent over three years with an increase in pension benefits of 3.7 percent; or wage increases of 6 percent over three years and an increase of pension benefits of 7.41 percent.
Innovative said the offer stands as such because union members in past negotiations opted for higher wage increases rather than a boost to pension benefits.
"Now they want, in one contract period, to retroactively make up for what was not bargained for in the past," the ad read. "This is in addition to the usual wage increases. Innovative is unwilling to make pension promises that may not be feasible in the long run."
A footnote in the ad said that, "based on the average current age and service time of the bargaining unit employees, they will be eligible for retirement at age 58 with a benefit of $810 per month before the current increases."
Other terms of Innovative's offer include an increase in insurance deductibles, a life insurance benefit increase of 16.67 percent and an additional 15 sick days.
On Oct. 16 and 17, a federal mediator will sit down with both sides in an effort to work out their differences. Innovative has said its final offer is on the table. The union membership rejected that offer in ratification votes on Oct. 1 and went on strike the following day.

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Oct. 10, 2002 – After months of speculation concerning her abilities, the Senate Rules Committee on Thursday approved the nomination of Noreen Michael as Education commissioner.
Michael has served as acting commissioner since April 30, when Gov. Charles W. Turnbull fired Ruby Simmonds from the position shortly after the territory's appeal of the loss of accreditation for three high schools was rejected. The governor sent his nomination of Michael to succeed Simmonds down to the Senate Aug. 30.
At Thursday's hearing, Michael was accompanied by about 20 other Education Department officials.
The Rules Committee chair, Sen. Carlton Dowe, had voiced doubts about Michael's qualifications for the job. He put Turnbull on notice last month that he did not intend to take up Michael's nomination without proof that the Education Department had complied with legislation enacted in June setting out certain steps to be taken toward reaccreditation of the schools.
Michael told Dowe on Thursday that one major accreditation condition is being met. She said substitute teacher pools have been established in both districts — with 20 individuals on St. Croix and 15 for St. Thomas-St. John in place, and a goal of 25 for each district.
Funds have been line-itemed in the Education Department's Fiscal Year 2003 budget for the substitute teacher pools, Michael said. Each senior high school will receive $102,267. Each junior high school will receive $43,060. St. Croix Educational Complex Vocational School will get $48,422. Additionally, each school superintendent will receive $53,825 to pay for substitute teachers at the elementary level.
Dowe said he had heard that some students are using 1989 science textbooks and asked Michael how $250,000 which was appropriated for textbooks had been spent. Michael said the department bought books for various disciplines but is still in need of more.
"If you are asking if each student has a book for each subject, the answer is no," she said.
Dowe asked her to submit a list of the books needed within a week, indicating that money to pay for them would be found.
Sen. Donald "Ducks" Cole, who recently toured Addelita Cancryn Junior High School and found students sitting outside their classrooms to escape from the 90-degree heat inside, asked what has become of $280,000 in bond funds appropriated for the school's improvement. He suggested Michael ask the Public Finance Authority where the money is. Michael said the department is aware of the problem and will be dealing with it in the next two weeks.
Michael, 44, moved to the Virgin Islands at the age of 6 from her native Dominica. She is a graduate of Charlotte Amalie High School and the then-College of the Virgin Islands. She received her doctorate in education from the University of Illinois in 1985.
After teaching for two years in the territory, she moved to the mainland and taught on the college level. She returned to the Virgin Islands in 1991 and has since held management positions in the Education Department, most recently as assistant commissioner before becoming acting commissioner.
She told the senators that the department is on schedule in its accreditation timetable. An accreditation institute in September, she said, "provided an opportunity for the Territorial Task Force to revisit timelines" for the corrective action steps set out by representatives of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools at a meeting on St. Thomas in June.
Michael also noted that the territory's compliance agreement with the federal Department of Education has been finalized. The agreement delineates a pivotal role for school principals, she said, and outlines the process that must be followed this year to ensure federal education funding for the next fiscal year.
After Michael presented a lengthy outline of the department's accomplishments, her background, and her ideas on education, Sen. David Jones asked her, "Why do you want this job?"
Michael rose to the occasion: "My passion has always been education. This will give me the opportunity to make a contribution, and I believe I have a lot to offer."
The Rules Committee concurred, voting unanimously to approve her appointment.
Committee members attending the hearing were Sens. Cole, Dowe, Almando "Rocky" Liburd, Norma Pickard-Samuel and Celestino A. White Sr. Two committee members, Sens. Adelbert Bryan and Alicia "Chucky" Hansen, were absent for the vote. Jones, and Roosevelt David non-members, also attended.

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Oct. 10, 2002 – After months of speculation concerning her abilities, the Senate Rules Committee on Thursday approved the nomination of Noreen Michael as Education commissioner.
Michael has served as acting commissioner since April 30, when Gov. Charles W. Turnbull fired Ruby Simmonds from the position shortly after the territory's appeal of the loss of accreditation for three high schools was rejected. The governor sent his nomination of Michael to succeed Simmonds down to the Senate Aug. 30.
At Thursday's hearing, Michael was accompanied by about 20 other Education Department officials.
The Rules Committee chair, Sen. Carlton Dowe, had voiced doubts about Michael's qualifications for the job. He put Turnbull on notice last month that he did not intend to take up Michael's nomination without proof that the Education Department had complied with legislation enacted in June setting out certain steps to be taken toward reaccreditation of the schools.
Michael told Dowe on Thursday that one major accreditation condition is being met. She said substitute teacher pools have been established in both districts — with 20 individuals on St. Croix and 15 for St. Thomas-St. John in place, and a goal of 25 for each district.
Funds have been line-itemed in the Education Department's Fiscal Year 2003 budget for the substitute teacher pools, Michael said. Each senior high school will receive $102,267. Each junior high school will receive $43,060. St. Croix Educational Complex Vocational School will get $48,422. Additionally, each school superintendent will receive $53,825 to pay for substitute teachers at the elementary level.
Dowe said he had heard that some students are using 1989 science textbooks and asked Michael how $250,000 which was appropriated for textbooks had been spent. Michael said the department bought books for various disciplines but is still in need of more.
"If you are asking if each student has a book for each subject, the answer is no," she said.
Dowe asked her to submit a list of the books needed within a week, indicating that money to pay for them would be found.
Sen. Donald "Ducks" Cole, who recently toured Addelita Cancryn Junior High School and found students sitting outside their classrooms to escape from the 90-degree heat inside, asked what has become of $280,000 in bond funds appropriated for the school's improvement. He suggested Michael ask the Public Finance Authority where the money is. Michael said the department is aware of the problem and will be dealing with it in the next two weeks.
Michael, 44, moved to the Virgin Islands at the age of 6 from her native Dominica. She is a graduate of Charlotte Amalie High School and the then-College of the Virgin Islands. She received her doctorate in education from the University of Illinois in 1985.
After teaching for two years in the territory, she moved to the mainland and taught on the college level. She returned to the Virgin Islands in 1991 and has since held management positions in the Education Department, most recently as assistant commissioner before becoming acting commissioner.
She told the senators that the department is on schedule in its accreditation timetable. An accreditation institute in September, she said, "provided an opportunity for the Territorial Task Force to revisit timelines" for the corrective action steps set out by representatives of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools at a meeting on St. Thomas in June.
Michael also noted that the territory's compliance agreement with the federal Department of Education has been finalized. The agreement delineates a pivotal role for school principals, she said, and outlines the process that must be followed this year to ensure federal education funding for the next fiscal year.
After Michael presented a lengthy outline of the department's accomplishments, her background, and her ideas on education, Sen. David Jones asked her, "Why do you want this job?"
Michael rose to the occasion: "My passion has always been education. This will give me the opportunity to make a contribution, and I believe I have a lot to offer."
The Rules Committee concurred, voting unanimously to approve her appointment.
Committee members attending the hearing were Sens. Cole, Dowe, Almando "Rocky" Liburd, Norma Pickard-Samuel and Celestino A. White Sr. Two committee members, Sens. Adelbert Bryan and Alicia "Chucky" Hansen, were absent for the vote. Jones, and Roosevelt David non-members, also attended.

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Oct. 10, 2002 – After months of speculation concerning her abilities, the Senate Rules Committee on Thursday approved the nomination of Noreen Michael as Education commissioner.
Michael has served as acting commissioner since April 30, when Gov. Charles W. Turnbull fired Ruby Simmonds from the position shortly after the territory's appeal of the loss of accreditation for three high schools was rejected. The governor sent his nomination of Michael to succeed Simmonds down to the Senate Aug. 30.
At Thursday's hearing, Michael was accompanied by about 20 other Education Department officials.
The Rules Committee chair, Sen. Carlton Dowe, had voiced doubts about Michael's qualifications for the job. He put Turnbull on notice last month that he did not intend to take up Michael's nomination without proof that the Education Department had complied with legislation enacted in June setting out certain steps to be taken toward reaccreditation of the schools.
Michael told Dowe on Thursday that one major accreditation condition is being met. She said substitute teacher pools have been established in both districts — with 20 individuals on St. Croix and 15 for St. Thomas-St. John in place, and a goal of 25 for each district.
Funds have been line-itemed in the Education Department's Fiscal Year 2003 budget for the substitute teacher pools, Michael said. Each senior high school will receive $102,267. Each junior high school will receive $43,060. St. Croix Educational Complex Vocational School will get $48,422. Additionally, each school superintendent will receive $53,825 to pay for substitute teachers at the elementary level.
Dowe said he had heard that some students are using 1989 science textbooks and asked Michael how $250,000 which was appropriated for textbooks had been spent. Michael said the department bought books for various disciplines but is still in need of more.
"If you are asking if each student has a book for each subject, the answer is no," she said.
Dowe asked her to submit a list of the books needed within a week, indicating that money to pay for them would be found.
Sen. Donald "Ducks" Cole, who recently toured Addelita Cancryn Junior High School and found students sitting outside their classrooms to escape from the 90-degree heat inside, asked what has become of $280,000 in bond funds appropriated for the school's improvement. He suggested Michael ask the Public Finance Authority where the money is. Michael said the department is aware of the problem and will be dealing with it in the next two weeks.
Michael, 44, moved to the Virgin Islands at the age of 6 from her native Dominica. She is a graduate of Charlotte Amalie High School and the then-College of the Virgin Islands. She received her doctorate in education from the University of Illinois in 1985.
After teaching for two years in the territory, she moved to the mainland and taught on the college level. She returned to the Virgin Islands in 1991 and has since held management positions in the Education Department, most recently as assistant commissioner before becoming acting commissioner.
She told the senators that the department is on schedule in its accreditation timetable. An accreditation institute in September, she said, "provided an opportunity for the Territorial Task Force to revisit timelines" for the corrective action steps set out by representatives of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools at a meeting on St. Thomas in June.
Michael also noted that the territory's compliance agreement with the federal Department of Education has been finalized. The agreement delineates a pivotal role for school principals, she said, and outlines the process that must be followed this year to ensure federal education funding for the next fiscal year.
After Michael presented a lengthy outline of the department's accomplishments, her background, and her ideas on education, Sen. David Jones asked her, "Why do you want this job?"
Michael rose to the occasion: "My passion has always been education. This will give me the opportunity to make a contribution, and I believe I have a lot to offer."
The Rules Committee concurred, voting unanimously to approve her appointment.
Committee members attending the hearing were Sens. Cole, Dowe, Almando "Rocky" Liburd, Norma Pickard-Samuel and Celestino A. White Sr. Two committee members, Sens. Adelbert Bryan and Alicia "Chucky" Hansen, were absent for the vote. Jones, and Roosevelt David non-members, also attended.

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After months of speculation concerning her qualifications and ultimatums about conditions set for her approval, the Senate Rules Committee on Thursday unanimously endorsed the nomination of acting Education Commissioner Noreen Michael to assume the position on a permanent basis.
Oct. 10, 2002 – After months of speculation concerning her abilities, the Senate Rules Committee on Thursday approved the nomination of Noreen Michael as Education commissioner.
Michael has served as acting commissioner since April 30, when Gov. Charles W. Turnbull fired Ruby Simmonds from the position shortly after the territory's appeal of the loss of accreditation for three high schools was rejected. The governor sent his nomination of Michael to succeed Simmonds down to the Senate Aug. 30.
At Wednesday's hearing, Michael was accompanied by about 20 other Education Department officials.
The Rules Committee chair, Sen. Carlton Dowe, had voiced doubts about Michael's qualifications for the job. He put Turnbull on notice last month that he did not intend to take up Michael's nomination without proof that the Education Department had complied with legislation enacted in June setting out certain steps to be taken toward reaccreditation of the schools.
Michael told Dowe on Wednesday that one major accreditation condition is being met. She said substitute teacher pools have been established in both districts — with 20 individuals on St. Croix and 15 for St. Thomas-St. John in place, and a goal of 25 for each district.
Funds have been line-itemed in the Education Department's Fiscal Year 2003 budget for the substitute teacher pools, Michael said. Each senior high school will receive $102,267. Each junior high school will receive $43,060. St. Croix Educational Complex Vocational School will get $48,422. Additionally, each school superintendent will receive $53,825 to pay for substitute teachers at the elementary level.
Dowe said he had heard that some students are using 1989 science textbooks and asked Michael how $250,000 which was appropriated for textbooks had been spent. Michael said the department bought books for various disciplines but is still in need of more.
"If you are asking if each student has a book for each subject, the answer is no," she said.
Dowe asked her to submit a list of the books needed within a week, indicating that money to pay for them would be found.
Sen. Donald "Ducks" Cole, who recently toured Addelita Cancryn Junior High School and found students sitting outside their classrooms to escape from the 90-degree heat inside, asked what has become of $280,000 in bond funds appropriated for the school's improvement. He suggested Michael ask the Public Finance Authority where the money is. Michael said the department is aware of the problem and will be dealing with it in the next two weeks.
Michael, 44, moved to the Virgin Islands at the age of 6 from her native Dominica. She is a graduate of Charlotte Amalie High School and the then-College of the Virgin Islands. She received her doctorate in education from the University of Illinois in 1985.
After teaching for two years in the territory, she moved to the mainland and taught on the college level. She returned to the Virgin Islands in 1991 and has since held management positions in the Education Department, most recently as assistant commissioner before becoming acting commissioner.
She told the senators that the department is on schedule in its accreditation timetable. An accreditation institute in September, she said, "provided an opportunity for the Territorial Task Force to revisit timelines" for the corrective action steps set out by representatives of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools at a meeting on St. Thomas in June.
Michael also noted that the territory's compliance agreement with the federal Department of Education has been finalized. The agreement delineates a pivotal role for school principals, she said, and outlines the process that must be followed this year to ensure federal education funding for the next fiscal year.
After Michael presented a lengthy outline of the department's accomplishments, her background, and her ideas on education, Sen. David Jones asked her, "Why do you want this job?"
Michael rose to the occasion: "My passion has always been education. This will give me the opportunity to make a contribution, and I believe I have a lot to offer."
The Rules Committee concurred, voting unanimously to approve her appointment.
Committee members attending the hearing were Sens. Cole, Dowe, Almando "Rocky" Liburd, Norma Pickard-Samuel and Celestino A. White Sr. Two committee members, Sens. Adelbert Bryan and Alicia "Chucky" Hansen, were absent. Jones, a non-member, also attended.

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Oct. 10, 2002 – When a team of enforcement officers took on the task of removing abandoned vehicles from the outskirts of Charlotte Amalie, it sent the group leader on a trip down Memory Lane.
Among the 40 abandoned cars hauled away in the last week under the direction of the Government House Abandoned Car Task Force, spokesman James O'Bryan said, he came face to face with an vintage Volvo that once belonged to his father.
"We made a move on what would be the eastern side of the Lionel Roberts ballpark and we removed a considerable number of vehicles in that area," O'Bryan said at the end of the day on Wednesday.
Task force personnel also loaded hundreds of axles, tires and engine blocks into a Public Works truck and drove them off to the Bovoni landfill.
The pre-election campaign to improve the quality of life for residents of St. Thomas also yielded drums of used motor oil and a rotting mahogany tree that was sitting in a patch of oil-soaked ground.
The task force involves the Police Department and enforcement agents of the Public Works, Planning and Natural Resources, Licensing and Consumer Affairs, Health, Housing Parks and Recreation and Agriculture Departments, and the Fire Service. Agriculture "came in handy where the tree was concerned," O'Bryan noted.
The cleanup effort in Hospital Ground took about a week, and the task force left behind citations and warnings to property owners to get rid of such eyesores on their own property or face fines of up to $200 a day. They also were warned not to move wrecks from their property onto spaces vacated by the derelict cars removed by the task force — as had happened during cleanup drives in other parts of the island, O'Bryan said. ("We move one there, two or three more show up in the space," he said.)
According to O'Bryan, who is the governor's special assistant for public affairs and initiatives, nearly a thousand abandoned cars have been taken off the streets and lots of St. Thomas since the task force began its efforts in May. And there has been no need to sock it to the pocket of any property owners, he said; the threat alone has been enough to get the job done.
Satisfied at the end of supervising one day's work in the field on Wednesday, he said the effort resulted in visible improvements, fewer places for drug dealers to hide their merchandise, and fewer places for mosquitoes to breed in standing water — at a time when health experts are concerned about the West Nile virus making its way to the territory.
"There were vehicles that had been there since the 1960s," he said.

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French Consul in St. Thomas Mme. Odile de Lyrot announces that the French ocean-capable patrol vessel Ventôse, based in Martinique, will not be visiting St. Thomas Oct. 11-14 as expected.
"Due to major operational reasons," the Consul said, the French Navy headquarters canceled the visit.
More details are in the Community/Other section of the St. Thomas Source.

Hugo Dennis, president of Advocates for the Preservation of the Retirement System, invites the public to its first public political senatorial forum, from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, Oct. 19, at Charlotte Amalie High School auditorium.
Light refreshments will be served in the cafeteria after the forum, for an informal visit with the candidates.
APRS invites all incumbent senators and aspirants to participate and let V.I. people know specifically about issues to protect the future of government retirees and senior citizens.
The release notes that 15 percent of registered voters in the St. Thomas-St. John District are government retirees.
Telephone 777-7030 or fax 714-0909 or email aprs@yahoo.com for more information.

Oct. 10, 2002 – While Majestic Construction Co. doesn't have much to say about the Public Works Department's failure to pay it for paving part of the Fish Bay Road, a sign at the junction of Route 104 tells all. The company is threatening to rip up the road if the government doesn't fork over the money.
"If you did a job wouldn't you expect to get paid," Fish Bay resident Beverly Biziewski said.
A Majestic employee, who did not want to be identified, said Public Works owes the company more than $300,000 for 5,280 square yards of concrete used to pave the road.
The employee said the paperwork to make the payment appears to be in the pipeline, but no date's been set for sending the check.
The first request was sent July 27, with subsequent duplicate requests sent since then.
Deputy Public Works Commissioner Ira Wade said the delay came because Public Works made a clerical error. It was corrected and the paperwork is moving through the system, he said.
Wade said he's had several calls from Fish Bay residents urging that the problem be solved so they don't have to give up their newly-paved road.
Biziewski wondered how Majestic could operate without getting paid. "They have to pay their men," she said.
The dead-end Fish Bay Road is partially paved in other areas, including part of the public road. However, the Fish Bay Homeowners Association funded those paving projects.
Before this section of the road was paved, it created dust storms and suffered from major ruts and potholes.
Wade said the road was always on the list of roads to be paved. "I can't tell you why or how it moved up the list so fast," he said.
He said the section of Fish Bay Road that runs from Route 108 to where the road flattens out adjacent to Fish Bay has always been a local road. The Fish Bay Estate Road continues beyond that point.
Wade said Public Works has help maintaining its portion from Fish Bay resident Jim Sturgis, who heads Majestic projects on St. John.
The road does not have a federal road number, so it is not eligible for Federal Highway Administration funding.
Wade said paving projects are in the works for Cactus Hill in Cruz Bay. The roads in that area were patched after a sewer project in 1994 and remain in bad repair.
He said work is also slated for about a mile of Bordeaux Road that runs from Spice Hill. The section between Spice Hill and the intersection of Centerline Road at the Bordeaux overlook is already paved.
Public Works Commissioner Wayne Callwood did not return a phone call requesting comment.

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