Longtime volunteer signs up for Municipal Council seat

Lareina Castro Camacho submits her petition for a seat in the Saipan Municipal Council last week surrounded by family members and supporters. (Contributed Photo)

Surrounded by family members and supporters, Lareina Castro Camacho filed for candidacy for the Saipan Municipal Council last week in her first try for a political seat.

“I enjoy public service and I would be grateful for the opportunity to start at the Municipal Council,” said Camacho.

Camacho is currently the manager for the Pesticides and Storage Tank Branch at the Division of Environmental Quality within the Bureau of Environmental and Coastal Quality of the Commonwealth Northern Mariana Islands.

As manager, she and her team have made significant improvements with enforcement actions issued, reduced the number of unregistered (illegal) pesticides sold or imported in the CNMI, and took the lead in conducting pesticide residue testing on locally grown fruits and vegetables.

If elected as Municipal Council member, she plans to work with the mayor of Saipan to provide policy decisions that benefit the community as a whole and provide quality service.

“To meet this goal, I shall serve the community by promoting and initiating public functions and community meetings so that local ordinances and resolutions are not only applicable to the residents of Saipan but shall improve our quality of life,” said Camacho.

Her areas of focus would include:

n Community Safety: Linking neighborhood watch associations with each other and helping to establish more neighborhood watch associations and more lighting in villages;
n Village Development: Instill pride through the creation of village festivals, showcasing sights, sounds and delicacies of the island such as breadfruit festival and mango festivals; and
n Environment: Working with current trash haulers to develop a recycling incentive for residential customers.

Camacho joined BECQ as its public information officer. Prior to that post, she served as the special assistant to the president at the Northern Marianas College. She’s also occupied posts with CREES at NMC, CNMI Council on Developmental Disabilities, and the Division of Public Health.

She received her bachelor of arts degree in Public Administration at the Seattle University, Seattle, Washington in 1998.

Camacho is very much a public servant of the NMI, having served and continues to remain active in various private and public organizations since she returned home to Saipan in 1999.

Most notable is her decade-long service to the Marianas March Against Cancer, the signature fundraising event of the Commonwealth Cancer Association. Camacho is also currently the secretary to the Rotary Club of Saipan and was the Rotarian of the Year for 2013. (PR)