V.I. Water and Power Authority board members approved a $341,500 contract with Zenon Construction to install streetlight bases on St. Croix as part of the continuing work on the Christensted underground street light project.
The action was taken Thursday during the board’s regular monthly meeting.
Installing the bases will allow WAPA to remove the existing lights and overhead wires and replace them with decorative, energy efficient LED lighting, according to a WAPA news release.
A contract with Patrick Charles Enterprises, which would provide WAPA power plants in both districts with additional manpower and equipment when necessary, was also approved. The cost of the contract is $375,000 per district, and the company will provide both the services and equipment, the release said.
A contract that would allow for cleaning and inspecting Tank 7 at St. Croix’s Richmond Power Plant was also approved Thursday. The $264,429 contract calls for the company to not only inspect and clean the tank, but dispose of the sludge inside.
In other action, the board:
• Renewed WAPA’s health insurance policies with Cigna Healthcare, effective Sept. 1, at a total cost not to exceed $6.36 million for health insurance and long-term disability;
• Authorized WAPA Executive Director Hugo Hodge Jr. to enter into a contract with FTI Consulting Services to help WAPA with a public outreach effort focusing on the authority’s upcoming switch from oil to propane. The contract will run through Dec. 31 at a cost not to exceed $273,396, which will be split with the propane supplier; and
• Unanimously re-elected its current officers for another one-year term.
In his monthly report to the board, Hodge said the authority received week its first shipment of propane, with eight storage tanks being unloaded at the St. Croix container port on Wednesday. Two additional shipments, with the final 10 tanks, will follow. They will be stored at the container port until they can be moved to the Harley and Richmond power plants, according to the release.
Attending Thursday’s meeting were board members Elizabeth Armstrong, Wayne Biggs, Donald Francois, Gerald Groner, Noel Loftus and Juanita Young.
