Philipsburg: ---- Leader of Government William Marlin has advised members of the public to wait until next week before trying to reach any of the new commissioners of the executive council. Marlin said that the office spaces for the commissioners are now being prepared since they needed to be painted over. He further explained that some of the offices would need additional furniture; he said the staff for these commissioners should be behind their desk by Monday morning. The new leader of government said persons wanting to reach the commissioners would have to meet them in the corridors of the government administration building. The only commissioner that can be reached immediately is Commissioner Theo Heyliger who maintains his previous office. Marlin said the new executive council held their first executive meeting. He said the council did not handle any new pieces or documents. He said the only thing handled on Tuesday was the offices of the new commissioners as well as the allocation of portfolios.
Marlin said he would be responsible for constitutional affairs and already he has a number of meetings scheduled for the next two weeks. One of those meetings is the official meeting of State Secretary for Interior and Kingdom Relations Ank Bijleveld-Schouten which will take place on June 22 in Curacao. The new leader of government said his work is cut out for him since this is an ongoing issue for St. Maarten and the rest of the Kingdom. He said he would be meeting with the advisors on the constitutional process so they can prepare for the upcoming meetings which are to be held in Curacao later this month.
Marlin said he already met with the incoming Dutch representative who should be taking office by September 1. He said he gave the Dutch representatives the breakdown of the present government and also assured them that nothing will change as to the constitutional process. He however, promised that the Dutch will see a stepping up of the process locally. He said even though they supported the former government with the constitutional talks they did not agree on the slow pace on which things were moving on St. Maarten. He said there are a number of organic laws that have been prepared by the advisors but to date they are not finalized by the island council.
Marlin said the new government would be looking into having an Ombudsman put in place and to regulate the gaming board situation which raised some issues.
Marlin said matters such as these do not have to wait until the island attained its country status because the earlier one puts these in place the better it would be for St. Maarten.
