EPA inspector finds CUC’s continued lack of chief engineer quite alarming

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Clean Water Act inspector John Tinger finds it “quite alarming” that, with hundreds of millions of dollars of federal funds coming into the Commonwealth Utilities Corp., the agency does not have a certified chief engineer on staff for several years now.

“For any utility not to have a…certified engineer on staff, but especially for the amount of money and projects coming in, is a real concern for us,” said Tinger yesterday in his presentation before the CUC board’s special meeting.

Larry Manacop has been serving as CUC acting chief engineer with the water/wastewater division for many years now.

Tinger also disclosed that the number of sewer overflows have been significantly reduced by the improvements to the pump stations and that the wastewater treatment plants have been generally in compliance even with some of the problems caused by typhoons and other issues that keep cropping up.

“I think it’s a testament to the CUC staff out in the field to really put in the extra effort and so many ways to keep things running. A lot of real kudos to the CUC operators and staff who…keep things running,” he said.

Tinger, who has been the enforcement officer for federal stipulated orders for over 10 years now, said the chief engineer position has been particularly problematic in terms of hiring. Tinger said there hasn’t been a functioning chief engineer for six, seven years at this point.

“It’s been a quite a while. And the fact is that a chief engineer has to have a professional engineering certificate,” he pointed out.

Tinger said the federal court’s stipulated order does establish a minimum criteria and requirements for eight management positions within CUC. He said that was established early on in the program because there was a realization that certain managers didn’t have the necessary experience to lead CUC.

“So that’s an ongoing issue since I’ve been on the project, being able to retain people who meet those standards,” Tinger said.

He stated those who have stepped in, especially acting executive director Betty G. Terlaje, and others who stepped into those positions, have done an exemplary job.

Tinger, however, noted that it is incredibly important to have permanent positions in those roles and that’s a real priority for EPA to get these stipulated order positions filled.

He said a lot of progress have been made and they’ve been able to meet some of the new folks, which is good. However, Tinger said, there does remain the executive director position, the chief financial officer, and the chief engineer, which remain unfilled.

For the executive director, Tinger said Terlaje has fulfilled this role amazingly.

“A lot of thanks to her for stepping into this when it was needed. But in terms of long-term stability, we do need to have someone in this position to meet those criteria of experience,” he said.

Tinger said the stipulated orders do have timelines and those timelines have associated penalties. “We haven’t gone to penalties yet. We did send a letter a few months ago, kind of warning letter that these positions need to be filled. And also looking into kind of asking about what the problems are,” he said.

In response to board chair Janice A. Tenorio’s question, Tinger said amending the stipulated order in hiring the executive director and chief engineer is not a possibility at this time for multiple reasons.

Tinger clarified in a later interview that the stipulated order sets certain criteria and minimum qualifications for eight executive level management positions within CUC and those can’t be amended.

“And they set minimum criteria for educational and experience levels,” said Tinger, adding that all personnel hired as executive director, chief engineer, associate engineer, and chief financial officer have to be approved by EPA.

He said any candidate for those positions needs to be approved by EPA as to meeting the minimum requirements.