One month after High Court Registry employees were seen sporting breathing masks at work, Government Information Services released a statement admitting that there are air quality issues in the building.
On Tuesday, the HCR appeared to have finished preparing.
“The government of the Virgin Islands is taking urgent action to assess and address the air quality situation at the Registry of the Supreme Court,” the GIS press release stated. “In the interim, measures are being put into effect to ensure continued service to the public.”
Those measures include reducing the registry’s public hours from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m., due to limitations in space and to allow the registry to continue processing documents offsite, according to the press release.
The registry’s new schedule will begin on Friday and continue until further notice.
“Clients are also asked to note that all court documents are to be filed by 1:30 p.m. and apostilles are to be collected at 10 a.m. and at 1 p.m. daily,” the press release stated. “Commissioning of documents will occur between 1:30 to 2 p.m. only.”
Though she declined to comment in December, Ms. Smith did complain about the registry’s location in the former administration building early last year during the most recent deliberations of the Standing Finance Committee, according to the SFC’s 2016 report.
Ms. Smith Penn reportedly expressed concern to the committee of lawmakers about the building’s structure and air quality, which she said was causing HCR officers to become ill.
{fcomment}