After 27 years with the V.I. Water and Power Authority, 10 of them at the helm, Executive Director Raymond George is retiring this month, a happy man. And he is positive about WAPA's future as well.
George feels he is leaving the authority with a reliable distribution system, "which has served the islands well and is still in effect." He helped write the plans for the system in 1983 when he was an engineer. George is also proud of WAPA's desalinization plant. "We need to be happy about the desal system; I had a lot of opposition on that."
The authority first had a small desalinization system in the early '60s, George said, which he wanted to replace in the '80s with an Israeli system. However, he met strong opposition from the WAPA board, some of whose members were pushing for a Dutch desalinization plant, like one in Aruba.
"We stuck to our guns and prevailed on the Israeli system," George said, "and it has proven to be the right one." George said the system has been in effect for about 20 years with 95 percent reliability, and "that's as good as it gets in the desal business." And, he added, the Dutch model didn't survive very long in Aruba.
Last week WAPA broke ground at Krum Bay for a $16.5 million power generating project that was seven years in the making. The system, which is to be operable this summer, will be able to maintain peak power demand with the authority's two largest units out of service.
George said the authority was able to float bonds in 1998 to pay for the new generator. "We went to the bond market and actually got an improved rating because the authority was performing well," he said.
However, problems lie ahead. "The biggest issue we are facing now is getting a qualified audit this fiscal year," George said. "We have had two qualified audits in the past two years," he said, and it would be a serious setback if the authority were to get a third qualified audit this June.
"The sole reason for this is the V.I. government's high receivables-it is an issue that has to be addressed immediately," he said.
George gave a little history on the government's crippling debt to WAPA. "In 1988, as director, I disconnected some government accounts, and I was chastised severely by the board and the administration at the time."
"Clearly," George continued, "the mandate was given not to disconnect without board approval-it came down through the administration."
Since that time, some 14 years later, George said, no government accounts have been disconnected.
"It's not a simple issue, it's serious," he said, "and it has to be handled appropriately." George said he made a request last May to go after the independent agencies, "not necessarily to disconnect, but to let them know that if they can't make some kind of payment plan, they are subject to disconnect."
Since then, the agencies-the V.I. Port Authority, University of the Virgin Islands, the Territorial Court and Magens Bay Authority-have been brought up to speed, and are keeping current, George said. "The only problem is the Housing Authority," George said, "because of its problems dealing with Hurricane Marilyn temporary housing FEMA underpayments."
The WAPA board made a decision to form a committee of board members to address the executive branch receivables, George said, and work out an agreement that should essentially say the government would pay current receivables and find a means of paying the accrued delinquent over a period of time. "If that is done, I think the authority could stay fairly solvent," he said, "however, that hasn't happened yet."
What does he see as the future management of the utility? George doesn't favor a buyout by the employees as was in the works last year, or by any outside entity, such as Southern Energy. As for the employee buyout plan, George said it seems to have lost some momentum after going full steam shortly after the Southern Energy proposal was defeated by the Legislature last year.
"Personally, I would prefer to see WAPA stay an autonomous agency. It would be nice to have more autonomy," he said. "I would like to see a board run outside the administration, with no cabinet members [currently there are three]. The members should be appointed with a reasonable expectation of expertise in the utility field, either financial or technical."
How about current WAPA power rates and the levelized energy adjustment clause, or LEAC? "Actually, we are just now starting to see a decrease in oil prices, but I don't see it going down in July," he said. LEAC rates are adjusted every six months.
"The LEAC will probably stay where it is through the end of the year. Oil prices went down from $33 a barrel to $29 plus, but we still have a huge under-collection to make up for."
George wasn't always in the director's chair. He joined WAPA as an engineer in 1968, after completing his education at Howard University and working two years for Con Edison in New York.
After serving as director from 1984 to 1988, he left the authority to work in Saudi Arabia at the Salien Water Conversion Corporation on the west side of the Red Sea. A treasure from the job sits on his desk: a white ceramic nameplate with his name in English and Arabic.
George returned to the territory in 1993 where he served as assistant director in St. Croix, moving to St. Thomas to replace director Bruno Vega in 1995.
His advice for his successor is simple and logical. He leaned forward, emphasizing his philosophy: "Look at what's good and move with it." He said when he left in 1988, Vega did just that, and when he later took over from Vega, George took the same tack, with minor adjustments, providing the needed continuity. George said the director's job is difficult, with all the politics. "But the key is to provide a reliable service, and I think we provide a very reliable service."
It wasn't always that way. George was reminded, with a laugh, of the carnival T-shirts in the late '70s which read, "God said Let There be Light, and WAPA said NO." "It's been a long haul," he admitted.
At 60 years old, the youthful-looking George's first priority now is to spend more "quality time" with Diane, his wife of 35 years. "It's been a long time, and I've always been working," he said.
Diane, a former St. Thomas teacher and principal, has accompanied Raymond on all his travels in Japan and the Mideast. "I don't travel without her."
George and Diane were classmates and "very good friends," at Charlotte Amalie High School. "We graduated together, and continued that relationship through the first year of college, but then one summer when I was home that changed," he remembered with a smile. They were married in 1965 after they both had finished college, and then they moved to Japan where Raymond served a three-year tour of duty as a Signal Corps officer.
They have two sons, Galen and Sadao. Sadao? "Yes. Sadao Watanabe was my friend in Japan. He played the sax and I played the piano." At the mention of Watanabe, a highly regarded international jazz artist, the serious utility executive suddenly beamed. "Sometimes I sit in with Louis Taylor, (of the local Louis Taylor Trio) who's a good friend-Diane's cousin." He paused. "What, you've never heard me in all these years?" he chided, grinning.
George started playing piano at about age 14 in school. Afterwards he and some other local musicians formed the group Modern Moods, led by Julian Phillip. "We got a write-up in Downbeat," he said, referring to the venerable jazz magazine. "They said we were the best group in the Caribbean."
George looked remarkably content, sitting in the
sunny corner office he has called home for all these years and reflecting on his engineering career, his musical career and his upcoming family time.
One might soon find him sitting in at the odd jazz gig, but don't look for George at a board meeting.
