The re-organization of the federal government in 1995 closed the Office of Insular Affairs’ field office in the USVI and abolished the position of the OIA field representative.
Babauta, conferring with senior OIA staff regarding the increasing workload on various complex issues presently facing the USVI, concluded that it was in the department’s interest to re-establish an OIA field office and to re-appoint a field representative.
Babauta appointed Basil Ottley Jr., OIA’s current Virgin Islands desk officer, to open and staff the USVI field office.
Prior to joining OIA in 2008, Ottley was a member of the USVI Legislature. “Basil is a valuable member of the OIA staff. He brings a real competency, depth of knowledge and strong capacity to get things done. I will miss having him in my Washington office but am confident he will better serve our department as OIA’s field representative,” said Babauta.
“The re-establishment of the USVI field office is great news,” said Gov. John P. deJongh. “The re-opening of this office will be of tremendous help as we continue to develop the working relationship between the Virgin Islands and the U.S. Department of the Interior. Basil Ottley has done a tremendous job on behalf of the territory while working in Washington, D.C. and we look forward to him coming back home and leading our Department of the Interior field office. I want to thank Assistant Secretary Babauta for his leadership and his work on behalf of the USVI.”
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