PSS to be barred from CDBG funds

A citation that would prevent the Public School System from applying for the Northern Marianas Housing Corp.’s community development block grant will soon be issued by the housing agency.

In a board meeting yesterday, NMHC deputy corporate director Zenie Mafnas reported to the board that a letter is being drafted for PSS that enumerates several projects that NMHC has issues.

“I am almost done drafting the letter to basically disallow PSS from applying for any more CDBG funds in the future until they resolve all these matters: one, being the [Marianas High School] loss of inventory back in 2008; two, being the failure to construct the Saipan Southern High School swimming pool back in 2013,” Mafnas said.

The CDBG funding assistance comes from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which the CNMI has been receiving since 1975.

PSS basically applies for CDBG funding every year, according to Mafnas.

Mafnas told the board that PSS has been “non-cooperative since the beginning” and noted that NMHC had to reimburse HUD the $69,000 for the lost inventory.

“They basically put us at risk of losing CDBG funds every year. We’ve managed to address that except that with MHS inventory, HUD was just…basically, the CNMI needs to pay back the $69,000. The reimbursement did happen,” Mafnas said.

The amount for the SSHS swimming pool, on the other hand, is about $16,000.

“We gave them the funds for A&E. The condition when you fund an A&E project is that we must assure that the construction is completed. We communicated that with PSS but they failed to construct the pool. We funded the A&E, we gave them also money for the construction but we had to reprogram the money because they were not going to construct when already the A&E work was completed,” Mafnas said in an interview during a break in the board meeting.

NMHC may again need to reimburse the federal agency for the fund spent on A&E work done for the pool.

“Technically the amount for the A&E work should be reimbursed again but HUD hasn’t imposed that on us yet,” Mafnas said.

Asked if PSS has to pay them for the amount they reimbursed HUD, Mafnas said, “We’re going to pursue the matter for reimbursement, but if it doesn’t happen then that’s the citation that we’re going to impose. They can’t apply for CDBG in the future.”

In the meeting, NMHC board member Diego Songao suggested that NMHC try to discuss with PSS a possible project that will benefit the school system and will also be agreeable to the housing agency, instead of having PSS pay them what it owes.

“I think you should try to see the commissioner and discuss that. Once it’s agreeable, then the board would have to approve that,” Songao said.