June 15, 2009 — After settling some big business with the V.I. Water and Power Authority last week, the Public Services Commission topped off its agenda Monday with status updates from the Waste Management Authority, local ferry companies and the V.I. Telephone Company (VITELCO).
Approved by the commission Monday was the appointment of Avery K. Williams as the technical consultant on the PSC's ongoing ferry rate investigation, and a 90-day extension that would allow the WMA to work with PSC consultants and staff on a long list of action items borne out of wastewater and environmental-user-fee hearings conducted in late 2007. Within that time, the authority will come up with a proposed schedule of activities that would bring it into full compliance with the PSC's order within a year, according to the motion made Monday by commission member Donald "Ducks" Cole.
WMA has already begun tackling items in the order — such as coming up with a comprehensive solid-waste-disposal plan for the territory — but has had to deal with other priority matters, such as the closing of St. Croix's Anguilla Landfill, explained WMA attorney Iver Stridiron. The authority is currently operating under two consent decrees, and has to put in place gas and chemical collection systems at the territory's two dumps by a time certain, he said. Local wastewater systems also have to come into compliance with federal Environmental Protection Agency mandates, and WMA is in the process of closing some of its older pump stations and treatment plants and consolidating them into smaller units, Stridiron said.
The authority is also working with a smaller staff these days, he said.
"Just about everybody's multitasking here," Stridiron said. "So we're trying to prioritize what we're doing."
In late 2007, the PSC rejected the authority's controversial environmental-user-fee proposal, but gave conditional approval to a fee system for wastewater disposal. (See "PSC Sends Waste Management Back to Drawing Board.") But WMA can't begin collecting wastewater user fees until the government's ongoing property-tax case is settled, since the user fee would appear as a charge on local property tax bills, Stridiron said Monday.
Meanwhile, nothing is known about the status of legislation submitted to the Senate by the governor to restructure the authority and set it up as a new office within the executive branch, he said.
Monday's meeting started out with an update from V.I. SeaTrans principal Captain Marjorie Smith, who told commission members that the company has cut in half its Sunday and Monday runs between St. Thomas and St. Croix.
"We've reduced it to one run to see how it's going to affect our travelers," she said. "We are approved to do two trips, but for us to financially survive, we have to have a minimum of 55 passengers, and we don't have that on any day that we run."
The company will eventually cut down on its trips, but wanted to test the waters first before coming to the PSC with a proposal for a reduced ferry schedule, she said.
While PSC attorney Tanisha Bailey-Roka chastised Smith for not coming to the PSC for approval in cutting down the Sunday and Monday runs, some commission members questioned whether the franchise was financially viable. As of the end of December, the company's income statement showed a loss of $92,482, Smith said during the meeting, lamenting the absence of a subsidy check from the government for 2007.
It was understood that the franchise would be a public-private partnership between SeaTrans and the government, and it’s time for the government to start holding up its end of the bargain, she said.
However, the government subsidy is contingent upon the submission of audited financials from V.I. SeaTrans. Half of the money expected for this fiscal year has been released, and SeaTrans expects the other half once the annual audit is complete, Smith said. Meanwhile, SeaTrans is trying to tap into some federal economic-stimulus money, but is competing with the two ferry companies running the route between St. Thomas and St. John, SeaTrans attorney Frank Schulterbrandt said later.
Cole suggested that SeaTrans speak to senators about appropriating the money, since they approved the company's franchise agreement.
Meanwhile, public hearings on the sale of Vitelco, the V.I. cable system and other related properties to the Rural Telephone Financial Cooperative are on the horizon, and the commission expects to have a hearing examiner in mind by its next meeting, said PSC chairman Joseph Boschulte. The credit sale of $250 million was initially approved in April by U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Judith Fitzgerald, who will give the final thumbs up after approvals are secured by the PSC and Federal Communications Commission. (See "Bankruptcy Court Gives Initial Approval to Vitelco Sale.")
Making a brief appearance Monday, Centennial Communications attorney Jorge Bauermeister told PSC members that the proposed merger between Centennial and AT&T may not happen before July or August. Approvals are still needed from the U.S. Justice Department and the FCC, which needs to have a full board in place before the merger can go through, he said. (See "AT&T Pushing Ahead with Plans to Buy Centennial")
Commission members present Monday were Boschulte, Cole, Verne C. David, M. Thomas Jackson and Elsie V. Thomas-Trotman. Commission member Sirri Hamad was absent.
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