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HomeNewsArchivesHOSTILE SENATORS ARRANGE FOR WAPA AUDIT

HOSTILE SENATORS ARRANGE FOR WAPA AUDIT

May 16, 2001 — The hostility at Tuesday night's Senate Finance Committee meeting ran almost as deep as the government's debt to the Water and Power Authority, as WAPA's new man-in-charge learned that the Legislature is slapping the authority with a govenment audit.
New executive director Joseph Thomas Jr. sat through an evening strewn with insults from Sen. Alicia "Chucky" Hansen, who chairs the committee, and Sen. Norma Pickard-Samuel. Hansen announced that she had spoken with the Senate post auditor, Maureen Rabsatt Cullar, and V.I. Inspector General Steven G. Van Beverhoudt, and said both had concluded there was a need to audit WAPA and had agreed to join forces.
"I believe this audit is extremely necessary," Hansen said. WAPA contracts a private firm to do annual audits, the last of which became public record at the end of WAPA's 2000 fiscal year last June. Hansen claimed that the government audit will "reveal things the WAPA audit does not show."
Upon getting conflicting testimony from WAPA's board members, legal counsel and management during the hearing in the legislative chambers on St. Thomas Hansen said the audit was needed.
Cullar, who served as executive director of the 23rd Legislature, is not a certified public accountant but does hold a business degree.
Much of the hearing was taken up with the same issues that occupied almost all of a May 8 committee hearing on WAPA finances – the selection of Thomas and concerns about the WAPA governing board's executive search company, Mycoff & Associates.
WAPA board chair Carole Burke, who did not attend the hearing, came under fire again from Hansen for having hired Thomas. Hansen wondered anew why the board had not selected a local person. At the May 8 meeting, Burke had said the job was advertised locally first.
Hansen again brought up a $30,000 advance, which she called a "signing bonus," for the new executive director. Thomas's contract shows the amount "will be deducted from your first year salary (of $150,000) with all applicable payroll taxes deducted."
Hansen warned Thomas throughout the hearing to proceed with caution in his new position. "Many tough guys come into WAPA," she said, "but our people can be tough, too, so be careful." Earlier Hansen told Thomas that "a lot of people think they can come in and cool down the people, but we cool them down first."
Reminding Thomas that he was under oath, Hansen asked him about laying off personnel. She wanted to know if workers would "be terminated" for discussing WAPA matters outside of work. She cautioned Thomas, "People here have some degree of protection. The V.I. people are in touch with their politicians. They know their rights. These guys aren't going to keep a secret, so watch out."
Thomas said he had no plans for any wholesale layoffs. He said he has a management team with meetings in progress. "I ask people to keep issues still in play … within the management team," he testified. He stressed that he is studying possible strategies to improve WAPA's collection methods and to upgrade the authority's disaster planning. The government owes WAPA $25.7 million, according to figures presented at the May 8 meeting by Maurice Sebastien, WAPA comptroller.
"I believe that WAPA is made up of committed and hard-working people," Thomas said. "I could feel the closeness as I made up a (management) team. I'm not a tough guy; that's not my role."
Under questioning by Hansen, Thomas said he couldn't remember specifically what time he had met with WAPA board members on his first day on the job. Pickard-Samuel immediately accosted him: "You seem to have a fuzzy mind. I'm having a problem with that. Someone in your position shouldn't have a fuzzy memory."
Pickard-Samuel's hostility peaked later in the evening when she told Thomas, "I don't think you should be here in this capacity. No doubt we could walk in WAPA and find a myriad of employees who could run WAPA."
She continued, "It's our own fault, and I think this body will move to correct it so it won't happen again."
Sen Adlah "Foncie" Donastorg asked Thomas about the memorandum of understanding signed by WAPA and V.I. Telephone Corp. (Vitelco), now renamed Innovative Telephone. Thomas said he hadn't had time to investigate the agreement, concerning the laying of underground lines, thoroughly.
Donastorg asked Thomas what he knew about AUS Consultants, the mainland firm the Public Services Commission, under the mandate of a new law, recently decided to hire to investigate the rates of Innovative Telephone and WAPA. Thomas said he was familiar with the AUS name but had no knowledge of the company.
Thomas has extensive administrative experience in the utilities field, most recently with his own consulting firm, J.R. Thomas & Associates, in Atlanta.
Hansen took issue with Burke's absence from the meeting. Initially Burke had told the senator she would attend. "Unfortunately, late on the afternoon of May 15, I received a letter from the chairperson stating she couldn't attend because an urgent board meeting had been called," Hansen announced. She added, "In future, WAPA board members must be subpoenaed so that they will not be able to duck questions by elected representatives who are fulfilling their statutory oversight responsibilities."

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