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PSS wants expenditure authority over CIP projects
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Posted on Jun 01 1999
The Board of Education is seeking anew expenditure authority over infrastructure grants for the Public School System before it begins construction of Capital Improvement Projects listed under the $30 million package.
In a recent CIP meeting, board members have called for the expeditious processing of a resolution seeking to put the power of the purse to PSS. In a resolution passed last year, Commissioner Rita H. Inos was named expenditure authority for all PSS construction projects.
Such proposal, however, is expected to trigger again a debate over expending authority on CIP projects after Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio had vetoed a measure that removed from the secretary of the Department of Public Works such power.
The board resolution has never reached the Legislature since it was adopted.
“We must act on this before we will begin with the construction,” he said,” said board member Anthony Pelligrino, who also chairs the CIP committee for PSS.
According to Board Chairman Esther Fleming, PSS can seek control of its projects by rescinding the memorandum of understanding that was signed by former Commissioner of Education William Torres.
Last June 1996, Torres delegated his expenditure authority to the secretary of public works on grounds that PSS had 20 scheduled projects at that time and it didn’t have enough manpower to manage them.
Last year, however, PSS hired two in-house architects who have been working on with its construction projects.
Even with its efforts to regain expenditure control, Pellegrino has emphasized that PSS does not intend to severe its ties with DPW.
“We would like to work in consultation with DPW,” he said, as he cited the case of Dandan Elementary School where PSS and DPW pursued separate projects on campus. The PSS took charge of the classrooms, while DPW was assigned for the administration building and cafeteria.
