Wapa

Bryan on Kupfer's Departure From WAPA: Residents Got What They Asked For, But it Won't Be Cheap to Fill Position

Governor Albert Bryan acknowledged that WAPA CEO and Executive Director, Lawrence Kupfer, who started his tenure at WAPA on March 1, 2018, has asked the board not to renew his three-year, over $200,000 a year contract, which expired on Sunday, as previously reported by the Consortium. Mr. Bryan, speaking during the administration's weekly Covid-19 press briefing Monday, said he agreed with the general consensus among Virgin Islanders that new faces are needed at the beleaguered authority, though he refrained from chastising WAPA Board Chairman Anthony Thomas and board member Noel Loftus for voting against a motion that defunded a top management position and terminated the employee holding the post, Gregory Rhymer. In fact, Mr. Bryan offered a reason for the two board members' support of Mr. Rhymer, even though the their effort to save Mr. Rhymer's special advisor to the CEO position failed 7-2. "I think that [Anthony Thomas and Noel Loftus] feel that Mr. Rhymer is a credit to the aut...