Senators pressed the V.I. Water and Power Authority Board to improve customer service and do more to investigate and resolve customer complaints, during a Rules and Judiciary Committee meeting on their re-nominations to the board on Friday. The committee approved, without opposition, the re-nominations of WAPA Board Chairman Gerald Groner, Vice Chairwoman Juanita Young and Secretary Noel Loftus.

It also gave initial approval to a new volunteer for the St. Croix District Historic Preservation Commission and sent on a bill naming the Supreme Court building on St. Croix for retired U.S. District Judge Raymond Finch, all without opposition from the committee. The full Senate will vote up or down on the measures at its next session.

Sen. Judi Buckley recounted a constituent’s several-year struggle with WAPA over a billing dispute and asked what the recourse would be. She pointed out that a court ruling stopped the V.I. Public Services Commission from resolving customer complaints and asked what they could do.

Groner agreed the board should do more and would – now that major projects like converting the plant to propane and bringing on a portion of solar power production are well under way.

"That is an area that has not had enough attention from the board, no question about it,” Groner said. There have been "other fires," to address he said. "But I think that those fires are pretty much on the way to being put out,” and it is time to focus on customer service, he said.

Loftus added that there is no reason the board cannot meet with WAPA’s customer service division and revise its manual.

"Please do it," Buckley said.

Sen. Nereida “Nellie” Rivera-O’Reilly said she continued to receive complaints about bills being estimated instead of having the meter read monthly. She asked the members to put a stop to it, saying it was unfair and directly affected customers’ checkbooks.

"I can’t argue with that," Groner said, and all three nominees agreed the board should and would focus on addressing those issues.

The three nominees spoke at length about WAPA’s ongoing conversion to propane, improvements to the grid, and status of various projects on both the electrical and water production sides of the utility.

Concerning complaints of rusty brown water on St. Thomas, Groner said the problem is rusty water lines and "the cost of replacing all our pipes is beyond anything that WAPA can afford."

"I have heard estimates as high as $300 million," Groner said, adding that there is a new technique to extend the useful life of the pipes by spraying PVC on the inside of the pipes.

"We have a pilot program testing this technique on both St. Thomas and St. Croix. If it works, we will come up with a plan to strategically utilize the technique on pipes throughout the territory," Groner said.

Although not a member of the committee, Sen. Craig Barshinger attended and said he would vote against Groner’s nomination when it comes to a final vote, accusing Groner of "lying" and "intimidation to the Legislature" on the televised broadcast of the hearing.

He said Groner gave false testimony in June 2013 concerning the heat rates of generators. Barshinger said he recalled that Groner sent a letter to the Legislature in 2013 saying privatizing the utility would cost more money than not privatizing it. "I perceived it as veiled intimidation to the Legislature," Barshinger said, without explanation of how expressing his opinion about the economics of privatization intimidated or coerced the Legislature.

Groner was not initially allowed to respond to the televised accusations of lying and intimidation on camera, but later approached Barshinger during a short recess, telling Barshinger that although he made a mistake about efficiency rates in his testimony he had believed it to be true at the time.

"I said it because I believed it was true. I’m not a liar," Groner said.

Barshinger said Groner should have known, turned and walked away.

Groner has served on the board since 2008 and Loftus and Young since 2007.

Groner is an attorney who has lived and practiced law on St. Croix for more than 30 years. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Antioch College and a law degree from Northeastern University School of Law.

He has served on Our Town Frederiksted, the V.I. Bar Association, Good Hope Country Day School, the Frederiksted Health Clinic, V.I. Legal Services Corporation, the V.I. Legal Assistance Foundation and the Trust for Virgin Islands Lands.

Young, a St. Thomas resident, has a bachelor’s degree in applied science and bioengineering from Hampshire College/University of Pennsylvania. She has been an accounting manager at Trust Asset Management LLP since 2006 and Chief Operations Office at Globalvest Management before that.

Loftus received a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Northern Illinois University. He is majority owner of Floor Specialists and Tropical Plumbing Supply. He also has a stake in One Stop Plumbing on St. Thomas. He said neither business bids on government or WAPA contracts.

The committee voted without objection to send on the nomination of Colette Woodson Burgess to the Historic Preservation Commission. Burgess was born and raised in Christiansted and graduated from St. Croix Central High School. She attended Southampton College of Long Island and taught at Central for a time before going to work for American Airlines on St. Croix, for 27 years as a gate and weight and balances agent.

It also sent on a bill, sponsored by Sens. Shawn-Michael Malone and Alicia “Chucky” Hansen, naming the V.I. Supreme Court building on St. Croix after retired judge Raymond Finch.

All votes were unanimous, with Sens. Diane Capehart, Myron Jackson, Kenneth Gittens and Sammuel Sanes voting yes. Sens. Shawn-Michael Malone, Janette Millin Young and Donald Cole were absent.