ORANJESTAD- Melissa Robins-Spanner has been officially installed as Island Registrar last week. During its meeting on 14 December, the Island Council voted unanimously to appoint Melissa to the post. 

The Island Council has the responsibility under the WolBES law for the appointment, promotion and termination of registrars and staff of the registrar’s office. WolBES defines how the public bodies are organised.

Robin-Spanner’s rise to the position has been steady. After serving for five years as a judicial clerk at the public prosecutor’s office, she began working at the registrar’s office as an office clerk in May 2021. Within six months, she had been promoted to second deputy registrar, largely due to her dedicated efforts as the sole worker at the office. 

Robins-Spanner has a diploma from the administrative academy in the Netherlands, known in Dutch as Bestuursacademie, which offers professional training and practice-oriented courses for employees of public and semi-public organisations. There, she pursued a specialised course for registrars, a programme she embarked on in 2022. 

Training

The curriculum included six months of intensive job training at the registrar’s office in central Netherlands municipality of Soest, under the expert guidance of the registrar, Marcella van Esterik.

 It also included classroom sessions in Utrecht, where Robins-Spanner interacted with various registrars and staff from registrar’s offices across various municipalities in the Netherlands.