St. Eustatius
If municipal politics in the Netherlands seem complicated to you, you should take a look at St. Eustatius. Since 2010, the windward island, just like Saba and Bonaire, has been a ‘special municipality’ in our country. The more than 3,000 islanders of ‘Statia’ are governed by a lieutenant governor and deputies, just as we have a mayor and aldermen here. The island council – say the city council – has five members.
What makes the island government really complex at the moment is that the Dutch government intervened hard in 2018. The Island Council and the Board were dissolved on charges of abuse of power, financial mismanagement and discrimination. They would have neglected their duties. A government commissioner must now restore democratic order. This process takes place in legally defined steps. In 2020, the Statians were allowed to go to the polls again. They elected the exact same five councilors who had been sent home earlier.
The powers of the council are still limited. There is much resentment about the role of the government commissioner and the pace at which the independent administration is returning. Recently there are two deputies again. When a lieutenant governor can be appointed again, the role of the government commissioner will lapse.
Council members now carry out their monitoring task by asking questions, debating with the Executive Board and submitting motions. In the meantime, local ordinances must be re-established, procedures and municipal administration must be put in order, and supervision and enforcement must also be better organised.
Shortly before Melissa Robins-Spaner was appointed as a clerk last year, the head of her department passed away. The deputy clerk left eight months later. Melissa was largely on her own at the time. She is currently following the Starting Registrar course at the Administrative Academy of the Netherlands. She is doing an internship with Marcella van Esterik, the council clerk of Soest.