(a) The Authority shall be governed by a Board of Directors consisting of seven members who shall be appointed by the Governor, three of whom shall be appointed from departments and/or agencies of the Government, with one being the Commissioner of the Department of Public Works and at least one with experience in environmental or physical science. Four members shall not be employees of the territorial or Federal Government and shall be appointed with the advice and consent of the Legislature. Of the four non-governmental members, one shall be a resident of St. Thomas, one shall be a resident of St. John, and two shall be residents of St. Croix. At least one (1) non-governmental member shall have business experience, one shall have engineering or construction management experience, and one shall have environmental engineering experience.
(b) The term of office for each non-governmental member shall be three years; provided, however, that for the first appointments made pursuant to this section, one shall be for one year, two for two years, and one for three years. Non-governmental members may be reappointed and may be removed only for cause by the Governor; otherwise they will serve full terms regardless of changes in the administration of the Office of the Governor. The term of office for the three governmental members, who serve at the pleasure of the Governor, shall be as long as they remain in their respective government positions, if they are unclassified employees, and for a term of three years if they are classified employees. Any person appointed to fill a vacancy occurring prior to the expiration of the term for which a predecessor was appointed shall be appointed only for the remainder of such term.
(c) Governmental members of the Board shall be entitled to no compensation for their service as members of the Board beyond their normal compensation for their government jobs. Non-governmental members shall initially be entitled to a per diem at the rate of $75.00 per day or a fraction thereof spent in the work of the Authority; except, that the per diem shall be subject to approval by the Board and may be changed by the Board upon review and consideration. In addition, all members shall be entitled to reimbursement for, or per diem in lieu of, necessary travel expenses. Travel expenses include transportation, lodging, meals, and other travel-related incidental expenses.
(d) The Authority shall be a non-profit, independent public body politic and corporate and a governmental instrumentality subject, as provided herein, to the control of the aforementioned members, acting in their capacity as members of the Board thereof, but it is a corporation having legal existence and personality separate and apart from the Government and the officers controlling it. Subject to section 500e(a) of this chapter, the debts, obligations, assets, contracts, bonds, notes, debentures, receipts, expenditures, accounts, funds, facilities and property of the Authority shall be deemed to be those of the Authority and not to be those of the Government of the Virgin Islands, or any office, bureau, department, agency, commission, municipality, branch, agent, offices or employee thereof. The Board and its individual members, and the officers, agents or employees of the Authority, shall not incur civil liability for any action taken in good faith in the performance of their duties and responsibilities pursuant to the provisions of this chapter. The Authority shall indemnify all Board members, and the officers, agents and employees of the Authority, for any costs incurred in connection with any claim for which they enjoy immunity hereunder and in connection with any lawsuits or other legal actions brought against such Board members, officers, agents and employees as a result of their official actions; except, that no indemnification shall be provided to any person who is found to have acted contrary to federal or local law.