Guam Visitors Bureau membership election postponed

Guam Visitors Bureau (GVB) President & CEO announced the decision to postpone the membership election scheduled for Monday, February 13.

The announcement came via a letter issued to GVB members as the President reiterated his commitment to fighting for transparency and integrity in government.

The letter addressed several concerns with the nomination process for membership elected board members to the GVB Board of Directors that deal with eligibility, conflicts of interests, and lack of clarity with corporations sitting on boards. GVB members were also anticipated to ratify revisions to its bylaws that are consistent with its enabling law.

Gutierrez stated, “these complexities may have been ignored in the past, but it is clear that they pose unacceptable risks to the nominees, the membership and the Bureau which make it necessary to consider postponing until more clarity and predictability is achieved in a fair and transparent process.”

Oversight hearing canceled

Gutierrez also addressed the scheduled oversight hearing today at the Guam Legislature. The hearing was called by Acting Tourism Chairman Senator Jesse Lujan due to Senator Amanda Shelton being off island. However, Sen. Shelton returned from her trip early and abruptly canceled the hearing 6 minutes before it was to start by a memo.

Gutierrez noted that Shelton “had the microphones in the public hearing room turned off, prohibited the broadcast from the legislative channel, and kicked 5 senators and the public out of the public hearing room—for a hearing that was duly noticed and would have gone a long way to bringing transparency and resolution to GVB’s issues.”

He committed to members that he will work closely with the new board and holdover directors to resolve GVB’s issues and seeks to hold a fully transparent, free, and fair membership election in the next 90 days.

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JOSH TYQUIENGCO