Public Works Commissioner Derek Gabriel delivered a comprehensive update on the department’s efforts to restore roads, rebuild the Paul E. Joseph Stadium and ready the territory for extreme weather events during a Government House briefing Monday on St. Croix.

Gabriel said recent extreme weather events in the United States, like the devastating flooding in Texas, have local officials “in a heightened mood.” Gabriel said DPW is continuing efforts to clear drainage guts in the territory — particularly on St. Croix — and urged residents to stop illegal trash dumping.

“It is causing issues not only in our guts, but also other major drainage areas,” he said, adding that roadside maintenance and vegetation management projects have been hampered by crews having to deal with illegally discarded appliances, mattresses and other garbage. “And these cause major, major obstructions, especially in our box culverts throughout the territory.”

Gabriel asked residents to report violations to the Waste Management Authority, law enforcement or DPW.

“Let us know who the perpetrators are so that we can stop this problem that is proliferating across the territory,” he said. “Again, it just causes problems for all of us. It increases the payments that we have to make to our contractors when they, in turn, have to pick up the items.”

In the event of a hurricane or other natural disaster, Gabriel said the department has contracts in place for debris monitoring, roadside clearance, emergency roof repairs and emergency generator maintenance. He later explained that the contracts initiate upon declaration of an emergency.

“I think that two key ones that help the public are debris monitoring and roadside clearance, route clearance,” he said. “We make sure that our primary routes — especially to the ports, hospitals, fire stations, police stations — are clear, and then of course we do team with WAPA to make sure that we’re out there clearing the routes so that they can bring back power restoration as quickly as possible.”

Much of the damage caused by Tropical Storm Ernesto was later attributed to unchecked vegetative debris, which challenged efforts to quickly restore power and prompted the Virgin Islands Government to seek an emergency disaster declaration from the federal government. After the storm, V.I. Water and Power Authority leadership acknowledged the need to recruit and train dedicated tree-trimming personnel. WAPA chief executive Karl Knight said during a May meeting of the Senate Housing, Transportation and Telecommunications Committee that the utility routinely manages vegetation and is “beefing up” its tree-trimming capacity, but it still lacks a dedicated crew.

“But we do clear lines — we have to, we have no choice — we just don’t have the capacity to keep up with the level of vegetation growth that we’re experiencing right now in the territory,” he said.

Asked about preventive vegetation management Monday, Gabriel noted that the territory received record-setting amounts of rain in 2023 and 2024.

“This year, we’ve been able to make a dent. We’ve been getting a lot of rain lately, but we have been working with WAPA,” he said before acknowledging that not all of the department’s contractors are certified to clear vegetation from power lines. “But every time the rain comes back, I mean, it just grows exponentially. So … we are meeting with WAPA on a regular basis to try to help them with vegetation management — especially in those areas that we know that we get vegetation in the power lines, which really impacts the distribution.”

The territory eventually secured a major disaster declaration after Ernesto from former President Joseph Biden, but future declarations are far from guaranteed. The Trump administration initially denied requests from the state of Arkansas following a series of deadly tornadoes and storms in March. President Donald Trump eventually capitulated and issued a major disaster declaration in May after a call with Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, his former press secretary. Trump and members of his cabinet have long expressed their view that the burden of disaster recovery should be shifted from the federal government onto the states, and in his second term, Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem have pushed for a complete dismantling of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Amid devastating flooding in Texas, the administration appears to be rethinking that plan.

“FEMA has deployed multiple emergency response units and FEMA’s been really headed by some very good people,” Trump said during a press briefing in Texas last week. “You have some good people running FEMA. It’s about time, right, we get some good ones. They failed us in North Carolina, but when we got in on Jan. 20, they fixed it up in no time.”

Multiple news outlets reported last week that the agency’s relief efforts were actually delayed after Noem issued a June 11 memo requiring all agencies housed within the U.S. Homeland Security Department — which includes FEMA — to submit contracts totaling more than $100,000 for her review. Noem denied the claims.

Government House spokesperson Richard Motta Jr. said Monday that the Bryan-Roach administration has been discussing with the federal government FEMA’s necessity, particularly for rural and vulnerable jurisdictions like the U.S. Virgin Islands.

“It’s unfortunate that the administration in the White House have had to see that in this latest example, but we have been making that case — along with other jurisdictions from across the nation,” he said. “And so we’ll continue to do so.”

Paul E. Joseph Stadium Progress ‘Coming Up in the Coming Months’ 

Monday’s briefing included an update on the Paul E. Joseph Stadium rebuild in Frederiksted, which began more than a decade ago and has seen multiple delays. Gabriel said DPW recently approved design changes to the outfield wall and the roof over the stadium’s bleachers, as well as utility relocation and other site work.

“I do want to reiterate that the Bryan-Roach administration is committed to completing this project,” he said. “We understand that it is a key project — not only for the district of St. Croix, but particularly for the town of Frederiksted — and we are committed to completing that project.”

The contractor and government officials involved in the rebuild frustrated lawmakers by not showing up to a Senate Culture, Youth, Aging, Sports and Parks Committee meeting last month, during which the committee voted unanimously to subpoena: Gabriel; Property and Procurement Commissioner Lisa Alejandro; Sports, Parks and Recreation Commissioner-nominee Vincent Roberts; GEC owner John Wessel; and GEC Director of Operations Tim Demsey. All are expected to appear before the committee on Friday.

On Monday, Gabriel stressed his attendance record at the Legislature and said he was never formally invited to the hearing in June.

“I think what happened in that case … I’m assuming it was a miscommunication,” he said. “I can’t speak for the contractor, but I do know that he is planning to attend this time. We will be there — again, DPW will be leading the government’s will be leading the government’s effort in testifying, and we look forward to providing a comprehensive update.”

Gabriel said the stadium’s reconstruction has cost nearly $25.8 million since it began more than 12 years ago. Lawmakers in the 35th Legislature appropriated an additional $5 million to the project in November 2023.

Roadwork Ahead 

Gabriel said Public Works has tackled road remediation projects in Smithfield, Contentment, Mt. Welcome, Lower Love and Recovery Hill on St. Croix, and the department is continuing work on Northside Road. Upcoming projects include the East Airport Road intersection, wrapping up the Morningstar area and beginning “phase two” of La Grande Princesse and repaving Route 73 near the John H. Woodson Junior High School.

“And Frederiksted, we are still not finished,” he said. “We are committed to paving the remaining roads in Frederiksted, and that should be done through our federal highway projects later this summer as well.”

Gabriel said the department recently finished a FEMA-funded project in Mt. Pleasant near the Arthur A. Richards School and that the Clifton Hill intersection is nearing completion. The remaining light poles should be on-island within the next two weeks, he said, and installed by summer’s end.

“Meaning lights all along the Melvin Evans Highway,” he said, adding that some poles have already been knocked down by motorists. “But again, residents, I am strongly urging you: even as we are paving roads, we’re not paving them for drag strips.”

Some milling and paving is expected to begin on Mahogany Road in the next 30 days, and the contractor is currently working on drainage areas.

On St. Thomas, Gabriel said the department has completed the first phase of projects aimed at restoring Mountaintop Road and Coki Point and work continues on drainage and rehabilitation work in downtown Charlotte Amalie. The Fort Christian parking lot is expected to reopen on Aug 1.