A judge has upheld the license suspension of the Virgin Islands’ former public surveyor and an associate after a requested judicial review, according to court records.
The board overseeing surveyors and engineers suspended Wayne Callwood, the former Department of Planning and Natural Resources commissioner and longtime head of the territory’s cadastral office, in January after he acknowledged using a colleague’s identification on his own surveys.
Callwood had hoped to avoid allegations of impropriety in approving and recording his own work, according to court records. The subterfuge worked for many years until fellow surveyors, joined by estate attorneys and realtors, complained that Callwood was giving his private surveys priority. They complained of secrecy, favoritism, and other irregularities in the office.
Callwood, who was paid for his private surveys and his public cadastral work, did not dispute the facts of the accusations against him in his request for judicial review. Instead, he alleged a member of the V.I. Board of Architects, Engineers and Land Surveyors had unfairly influenced the board’s decision.
Board member Ryan Wisehart sent an email to fellow surveyor Larry Best in October 2020 complaining Callwood had been using the stamp of Francisco Nadal for more than a year. Nadal, who has an engineering license but not a surveying license, later testified he had allowed the use but did not review any part of the work done, according to court records.
Wisehart testified before the board about the email and then recused himself from voting on Callwood’s fate.
Callwood told the Virgin Islands Superior Court that the recusal was not enough, and that Wisehart had unfairly influenced the other board members. On May 8, Judge Denise Francois disagreed, saying Wisehart’s testimony “… proved unnecessary in light of the total evidence presented before the board.”
Francois also turned down Callwood’s assertion that the law itself was unconstitutionally vague.
Callwood had told the Source he didn’t believe his actions to be illegal and that he had received approval from Government House to conduct and record his own surveys.
He told the court the laws — 27 V.LC. § 286, which governs using another person’s identification, and 27 V.I.C. § 289(3), which governs how seals and other identifying markers are used — were at odds with each other and too convoluted for an average person to understand.
“Under 286(b) a signing or sealing done without evading or attempting to evade is not unlawful while under 289(3) any signing or sealing is unlawful,’” Callwood told the court.
Judge Francois turned down the argument for several reasons, including its striving to imbed confusion.
“When the options before the court are a plain and straightforward reading of a statute that results in a rational, easy-to-understand scheme, or an intricate and convoluted reading of a statute that results in an irrational and unworkable scheme, the answer is simple, do not do the latter,” she wrote. “Callwood’s conduct fell within the bounds of what was clearly proscribed by the statute. As such, Callwood lacks standing to challenge the statute on the ground of purported vagueness.”
Callwood’s professional license suspension will end June 15. He retired from the Cadastral Office in February.
