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Govt forms committee to explore purchase of Emilio Wilson Estate
by The Daily Herald
Posted: Oct 7, 2005 20:46 UTC
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PHILIPSBURG - A three-man committee is being formed by the Executive Council to carry out the unanimously adopted Island Council motion of September 20 calling for the possibility of buying, protecting and preserving Emilio Wilson Estate to be explored.
The task of the committee will be to draw up a proposal based on the motion that will be submitted to the Island Council for approval and execution. Identifying and initiating contact with funding agencies in the Netherlands such as the Green Fund are part of the committee’s job description.
Environmental Development and Property Management Commissioner Roy Marlin announced at Wednesday’s Executive Council Press Briefing that Acting Lt. Governor Mathias Voges and former Managing Director of Windward Islands Bank Vic Henriquez had consented to be part of the committee. Marlin is still in talks with the third possible committee member.
The committee should be approved by the Executive Council on Tuesday and with this formal nod the group’s first task will be to formulate a budget that will cover the cost of consulting with attorneys, travelling, meeting with the estate heirs and other such expenses. The budget amount for the committee’s work will be covered by government.
Voges was chosen as a committee member due to his vast knowledge of the island’s historical and cultural features and his existing contacts with funding agencies that may be willing to fund the purchase of the property. Henriquez was also chosen for his financial abilities and interest in the island’s heritage.
It is hoped by persons in the committee who are in favour of protecting and preserving the last plantation-era estate that government will zone the area as the an historical and cultural site.
The recently formed foundation for the management and conservation of Emilio Wilson Estate has as one of its main goals the purchase and preservation of the estate for the people of the island. The group announced at a press conference on Tuesday that it is already looking into possible ways of financing the purchase through funding agencies in the Netherlands and the United States.
To drum up more awareness about the estate and its value to the community and to raise funds, the foundation is hosting an awareness walk followed by a cultural and historical informative family evening at Emilio Wilson Historical and Cultural Park on Saturday. The walk to the park starts at the Le Grand Marché parking lot at 6:00pm.
The foundation board members are Jadira Veen (president), Wilhelm Andre Patrick (secretary), Iris Pisas-Arrindell (treasurer), George Aurelius Scot (board member), and Rueben J. Thompson (board member).
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