Longtime department employee Rupert Vasquez has been appointed acting director of the Cayman Islands Lands and Survey Department.
Mr. Vasquez succeeds Alan Jones, who was promoted to chief officer for the Ministry of District Administration, Works, Lands and Agriculture.
Mr. Vasquez had been promoted recently to the post of deputy director and registrar, but the change to acting director was effective 1 February.
Juliana O‘Conner-Connolly, deputy premier of the Cayman Islands and minister of District Administration, Works, Lands and Agriculture welcomed Mr. Vasquez to his new position.
“Mr. Vasquez’s selection is reflective of the Ministry’s commitment to build and maintain a strong and dynamic management team and Mr. Vasquez’s wealth of experience will continue to be a major asset to Lands and Survey,” Deputy Premier said.
Mr. Jones, chief officer of the department, said, “His promotion is a result of his ability to think strategically, and as chief surveyor he earned the respect of his peers, customers and partners. I have every faith that Rupert will ensure that Lands & Survey maintains its reputation for excellent customer service and innovative product development.
“Mr. Vasquez is enthusiastic, bursting with fresh ideas and passionate about his job. His eye for detail has led him to his recent promotion,” Mr. Jones said.
Throughout the years, Mr. Vasquez has moved up the ranks in the Lands and Survey Department, which he joined in 1982. He held the post of Senior Surveyor in the Survey Unit before heading the Quality Assurance Unit. In 2007, after being admitted to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, he was promoted to chief surveyor.
More recently, in his role as registrar he oversaw the recording of the relevant details of all land ownership information in the Cayman Islands, and helped to maintain the registry map identifying all parcels of land. The registrar of lands also is responsible for administering the Lands Registry in accordance with the Registered Land Law, the Registered Land Rules and the Strata titles Registration Law.
Today, the Land Registry is responsible for recording all land transaction in the Cayman Islands. This role provides for the maintenance of some 29,000 parcels registers defining ownership and other interests in land such as Leases, Right of Ways, Restrictions and Charges. The primary role is to provide the public with accurate and up-to-date Land Registry information at all times.
Mr. Vasquez said he was humbled and pleased with the promotion.
“My goal is to make the system even more efficient with an emphasis on customer service and transparency,” he said. “Our Land Registry is already considered and to be the best in the region. However, no matter how good a system is, there is always room for improvement, which can be achieved by analysing and fine tuning it, and of course, by teamwork.”
Mr. Vasquez said he aims in the medium term (budget permitting) to scan in more than 35,000,000 Land Registry documents so that customers will be able to view them online, as was recently done with the survey documents.
“This will enable us to move towards e-conveyancing, which is one of the major goals for the Department in the near future,” he said.
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