Legislature committee subpoenas officials and contractor in long-delayed Paul E. Joseph Stadium probe

The Committee on Culture, Youth, Aging, Sports and Parks of the Legislature of the Virgin Islands voted unanimously June 11 to issue subpoenas to the Department of Public Works commissioner Derek A. Gabriel, Department of Property and Procurement commissioner Lisa M. Alejandro, acting Department of Sports, Parks and Recreation commissioner Vincent Roberts, and two GEC LLC representatives — owner John Wessel and operations director Tim Dempsey — ordering them to appear in person and produce project documentation at a July 18 hearing in St. Croix.

The vote followed committee members' repeated complaints about a stadium project that has stretched more than a decade, multiple supplemental appropriations, and what senators described as insufficient progress and a lack of transparency. Senator Franklin D. Johnson said, "I have no intent on giving a next dime to the Paul Joseph Stadium," and other members said subpoenas and possible further legal steps were necessary to…