The governing board of the Virgin Islands Port Authority voted to continue negotiations with Tibbar Energy on the leasing of a 15-acre parcel on St. Croix where the biomass energy company proposes to build a power plant.
The parcel is in Estate Bethlehem Middle Works near the Randall “Doc” James racetrack.
Attorney General Vincent Frazier, who heads the board’s property committee, said it was essential for the company to have a lease on the land as it seeks the requisite permits and a power purchase agreement with the V.I. Water and Power Authority.
The price for the land has not yet been determined, but board member Gordon Finch was adamant that Tibbar should pay fair market value for a piece of industrial-zoned land.
The measure passed by the board directed the Port Authority staff to conduct an appraisal of the property, to write a terms sheet and to continue negotiations with the company.
Voting in favor were board members Finch, Frazier, Albert Bryan, Manuel Gutierrez, Beverly Nicholson-Doty and Darryl Smalls. Robert O’Connor Jr. abstained.
The board tabled a second lease request from Tibbar on approximately 400 acres of undeveloped land near the Henry E. Rohlsen Airport, where the company wished to cultivate giant king grass, the main fuel for its biomass generator.
Bryan spoke in favor of the lease, saying that even if they offered the lease at a low yearly rate, it would do more good for the Port Authority than leaving it overgrown and undeveloped.
Opponents, led by Finch, questioned the long-term ramifications of putting that land into cultivation. They questioned what quality the soil would be in when the land was returned to them.
Citing a report produced by Tibbar’s own consultants, Finch said that the roots of king grass are so dense and matted that the Port Authority would have to remove the first foot of soil before the land could be built upon. Allowing that to happen, he argued, would run counter to his responsibility as a board member.
“I am committed to do no harm to the Port Authority, now or in the future, and I don’t have enough facts in front of me to tell me that we’re not damaging 400 acres of Port Authority property by planting king grass there,” he said.
Gutierrez suggested the staff inquire whether cultivating this plot of land was essential to Tibbar’s business plan or if it could establish its king grass fields elsewhere.
No votes were taken on the matter.
During the financial report, Valdamier Collens, the Port Authority’s recently hired chief financial officer, told the board that VIPA had failed to file its audits with the Federal Audit Clearing House since 2007. He said he discovered the lapse while doing spot checks of the Port Authority’s finances.
The Port Authority is required to file audits in order to receive federal grants of over $300,000.
Collens said it would be relatively easy to file the missed audits from 2007-2009. Those audits were completed by the Port Authority’s outside auditing firm, Ernst and Young, but were never submitted to federal overseers.
He said the 2010 and 2011 audits would be more difficult because elements of the audits were left unfinished and would need to be completed by the staff. He said he hoped to complete work on the 2010 audit by the end of July and the 2011 audit by the end of August.
The 2012 audit, which is due on June 30, should be complete by the end of September, he said.
Gutierrez said he was shocked to hear of the oversight and laid the blame at the feet of their auditor.
“It’s a situation where the auditor really dropped the ball,” he said.
Collens said he planned to issue a request for proposals from other auditing firms to possibly replace Ernst and Young.
In other business the board voted to:
– award a pair of consulting contracts to CDR Maguire for work on the Wilfred “Bomba” Allick Port Facility. The company will receive $40,980 to prepare a plan to upgrade the lighting at the cargo apron and $89,310 to study replacing the cathodic protection system, a device that delays rusting by running electrical current through metal structures.
– reject a third contract slated for CDR Maguire that would have paid the company $51,285 to prepare a plan to restore the south tender landing at the Frederiksted pier, which is frequently used by dive operators. Board members said the cost was too high for the work being done.
– allow sculptor Susan Luery to place a statue of a Crucian coal worker on the Frederiksted pier. She is offering the artwork for free to the Port Authority.
– renew its auto, property and terrorism insurance policies.
– hire a consultant to study the possibility of creating a self-insurance fund, which could lower the premiums the Port Authority pays to outside insurers.
– accept a payment plan proposed by Native Sons Inc., a ferry service, to pay $103,561 in past due operating fees to the Port Authority.
– establish a $2 a day customer facility charge for cars rented from the Cyril E. King Airport. The charge was recommended by the rental car companies and money raised through the program must be used on capital improvement projects that benefit the rental car industry.
– issue a request for qualifications for the development of housing on Port Authority property.
– and begin advertising for a staff attorney.
