PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – In order to have a good functioning parliament, there must be a good functioning organizational secretariat of the Parliament of Sint Maarten, which is a department within Parliament that provides legal, administrative, and logistic support to the Members of Parliament (MPs) as a whole.
Back in June 2015, the Central Committee of Parliament discussed the “Function Book” of the Parliament Secretariat, and agreed to the content. A Plenary session of the House was held on August 6 and in that session the “Function Book” for the secretariat was approved.
Effective September 1st, 2015, the “Function Book” is being used to guide the daily running of the secretariat of the House of Parliament, and the previous document from October 10, 2010 is no longer in use.
Prior to Sint Maarten becoming a country in 2010, a number of organizational resolutions for different sectors within Government were established based on the Organizational Ordinance Island Territory Sint Maarten.
As of October 10, 2010, the legal basis was turned into a National Ordinance and sectors became ministries. Each ministry had a “Function Book” that listed the tasks for each department or section within the ministry.
Since the inception of the Parliament of Sint Maarten, the function book secretariat has been in existence. The presidium throughout the years discussed on several occasions the revision of this “Function Book” for the secretariat.
The Presidium of Parliament comprising of the President and the two Vice Presidents, requested a human resources assessment of the “Function Book” for the Parliamentary Secretariat in early 2015 to start up the process to revise the aforementioned book.
The Presidium of Parliament comprises of the President of Parliament Dr. Lloyd Richardson, 1st Vice President MP Leona Marlin-Romeo, and 2nd Vice President MP Cornelius de Weever.
The objective of the human resources assessment was to gain insight into which functions were necessary for the proper functioning of the secretariat, and based on the outcome, some adjustments were made to the “Function Book.”
A separate “Function Book” for the Cabinet of the President of Parliament was also established on August 6. This function book contains the functions of Secretary and Driver, and the positions are defined in the aforementioned document.
The Secretariat of Parliament calls for 14 staff members. The positions within the secretariat formation plan are: Secretary General; 1st Secretary General/Legislative Lawyer; 2nd Secretary General; Section Head Operational Support; Section Head Administration and Facility Services; Management Assistant; Communication Worker/Media Interaction Designer; Information and Communication Technology Worker; Records and Information Management Worker; Public Relations Worker/Assistant to the Secretary Generals; Administrative Worker A; Messenger/Concierge; Administrative Worker C/Receptionist; and a Restauratief Worker.
The Management Team comprises of the three Secretary Generals.
PHOTO CUTLINE: Staff of the Parliament of Sint Maarten during one of the workshops about the parliamentary secretariat “Function Book.”
