DOJ: Four CUC key management positions unfilled

Four key management positions at the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. have remain unfilled since November 2018 and last February, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Those unfilled positions are for chief engineer, water and wastewater division manager, wastewater treatment plant supervisor, and technical manager for oil.

Acting CUC executive director William Gilmore told Saipan Tribune yesterday that CUC expects to fill the four positions no later than next week.

Gilmore said that filling the four positions has taken longer than expected, with candidates withdrawing due to better offers from competing interests, or candidates who are found not suitable for the positions because they either do not meet CUC’s requirements nor offer skills that meet CUC’s expectations.

In the U.S. government’s August 2019 status report filed in federal court last Thursday, Bradley R. O’Brien, senior lawyer at the DOJ Environment and Natural Resources Division Environmental Enforcement Section, said it continues to be critical that positions be filled by persons who meet the Stipulated Order 1 qualifications.

SO1 focuses on drinking water and wastewater and the restructuring of CUC’s organization.

O’Brien said CUC has historically sustained lengthy vacancies in management positions, thus impeding CUC’s operations and compliance with the federal court orders.

The chief engineer position has been vacant since Nov. 2, 2018, when Song Kim resigned for personal matters, while the water and wastewater division manager, previously held by Gary Byrd, has been vacant since Nov. 2, 2018, when he resigned to accept an off-island job.

The wastewater treatment plant supervisor position has been vacant since Feb. 3, 2019, when Richard Wasser left for an off-island job.

The technical manager for oil post has been unfilled since Feb. 13, 2019, when Maximino Simian resigned to accept an off-island job offer.

There is positive news, though.

Gilmore said the chief engineer and wastewater treatment plant supervisor posts should be under contract by the end of this week.

He disclosed that the drinking water and wastewater manager is to be interviewed, following vetting by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency this week, with a possible contract signing by the end of next week.

Gilmore said the technical manager position for oil had three candidates and one has withdrawn.

He said they completed the first interview yesterday, and will complete the other tomorrow, Wednesday.

“A decision should be made shortly thereafter for the hire,” Gilmore said.

Pertaining to CUC’s financial future, O’Brien disclosed that since the entry of the court-stipulated orders in March 2009 through July 2019, CUC will have received more than $107 million from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of the Interior ($102 million) and CNMI government ($5 million) for Stipulated Orders 1 and 2.

Stipulated Order 2 refers to court-mandated CUC projects that focus on oil issues and also apply to oil spills and the remediation of the contaminated power plants.