Greetings to all in the Virgin Islands and especially to the members of the public service, for whom I have a message that should be encouraging: The Government of the Virgin Islands continues to make progress on the project to retrofit the Central Administration Complex. You would have seen yesterday, a message from the Minister of Transportation, Works and Utilities Honourable Kye Rymer which spoke to the importance of this project and the partnership we share in ensuring the execution of the works in the best interest of public officers and the public we serve. I am pleased with the progress Honourable Rymer and his team have made since receiving responsibility for the renovations.

I must say at this point that Honourable Rymer and I share a collective passion to see the Central Administration Complex repaired with urgency to ensure public officers and the public we serve have a space that is suited to the needs of a modern public service with health and safety as a priority.

Guided by the best interest of Public Officers at the Central Administration Complex, a collective recommendation was made to relocate public officers who are ordinarily based at the Complex during the period of construction.  Please expect to hear more after final decisions are made. As we prepare for this work to begin, many of you would already be working with the Chief Records Management Officer, Mr. Christopher Varlack and his team to ensure the protection of government documents that must be relocated from the Central Administration Complex basement; or with Mrs. Ishma Rhymer of Project Support Services Unit regarding equipment that may be stored there. Much as we all wish to speed up what processes we can when it comes to clearing out what needs to be removed from the Complex, I appreciate your thoroughness and thoughtfulness with these documents and equipment.

As the Deputy Governor my priority is protecting the safety and welfare of public officers. I take this duty very seriously, and so it is quite encouraging to know that Honourable Rymer and his team are treating the project to rebuild your working home base to the highest standard as a top priority as well.

I also use this medium to inform other public officers and the public that work continues to ensure other offices outside of the Central Administration Complex are safe and healthy spaces to work.  For example, you would have recently seen the advertisement for the renovation works at the Administration Buildings on Virgin Gorda. Our efforts will continue to ensure we are all situated in appropriate accommodations.

Please be on the lookout for further details on the retrofitting of the Central Administration Complex from the Ministry of Transportation Works and Utilities.

I thank public officers and the public for your patience in seeing Government services delivered in suitable accommodations following the 2017 hurricanes.

Thank you for your commitment.