Senate committee subpoenas agencies and contractor over Paul E. Joseph Stadium delays

ST. CROIX, U.S. Virgin Islands — On June 11, 2025, the Senate Committee on Culture, Youth, Agents, Sports and Parks voted unanimously to issue subpoenas to the Department of Public Works, the Department of Property and Procurement, the Department of Sports, Parks and Recreation and to two executives of GEC LLC as part of an oversight hearing on the long-delayed Paul E. Joseph Stadium construction project.

Committee Chair Senator Angel Boulkos Jr. opened the hearing and told attendees the panel was convening to “receive an update on the Paul E. Joseph Stadium construction project,” a program he said has “spanned almost a dozen years” and suffered “repeated delays, shifting timelines, and escalated costs.” He said invited officials had been repeatedly contacted and that their absence at the hearing was unacceptable.

The subpoenas set an in-person hearing date of July 18, 2025, and require specified documentation from each recipient. The committee directed subpoenas to Derek Gabriel, commissioner of the Department of Public Works (DPW); Lisa M. Alejandro, commissioner of the Department of Property and Procurement (DPP); Vincent Roberts, acting commissioner (commissioner nominee in correspondence) of the Department of Sports, Parks and Recreation (DSPR); and to GEC LLC owner John Wessel and GEC operations director Tim Dempsey. Each motion to issue a subpoena was moved by Senator Angel Boulkos Jr.; the motion to subpoena Derek Gabriel was recorded as seconded by Senators Franklin D. Johnson and Carla J. Joseph. All recorded motions carried on recorded roll-call votes of seven yeas and zero nays.

The committee’s requested documentation was extensive and similar across subpoenas. It included: a written statement outlining each entity’s role and statutory authority related to the stadium; a recent, full project update and project schedule; construction milestones and schedules; a funding-sources and allocations breakdown and financial summary showing total budget, obligated funds and expenditures to date; change orders and contract amendments with explanations for scope or cost adjustments; procurement records and the executed contract documents with GEC LLC; and past bimonthly reports submitted to the Legislature. For GEC LLC the committee additionally requested a detailed construction program report covering the last 10 years and a listing of all change orders between 2014 and 2024.

Committee members repeatedly described frustration and concern that years of appropriations have not produced a finished facility. Several senators referenced prior appropriations, including a November 2023 supplemental of roughly $5.1 million, and said they had seen “little to none” in manifest progress despite millions of local tax dollars spent. Senator Franklin D. Johnson said he was “tired of it” and that he had “no intent on giving a next dime to the Paul E. Joseph Stadium” absent accountability. Senator Novelle E. Francis Jr. called the situation “an embarrassment” and supported subpoenas and possible further legal steps if the hearing responses do not satisfy the committee.

The committee paused briefly to consider next steps and then approved each subpoena in separate motions. The motions specifically set the July 18 hearing in the Fritz Ilowitz Conference Room on Saint Croix and asked recipients to produce the listed documents in advance and to appear in person.

No formal determination of contractual liability or remedial measures was made at the June 11 session; the committee’s action was to compel records and sworn testimony for the July 18 hearing. Chair Boulkos said the committee’s goal is transparency and accountability so the territory’s youth can access modern recreational facilities and so that public funds are used as intended.

The committee adjourned after reiterating the July 18 date and thanking staff and the viewing audience.