Voerg resigns from CUC

Chretien T. Voerg

Chretien T. Voerg resigned yesterday from his current duties as acting Commonwealth Utilities Corp. executive director and as deputy executive director for water/wastewater, leaving behind a rudderless CUC that had just lost two previous heads. There was no immediate word on who will be appointed to lead CUC temporarily.

Voerg, who has been employed with CUC for about a year now, submitted his resignation just two days after being designated to assume the position of acting executive director, in place of Dr. Dallas M. Peavey Jr., who was let go from the post last Monday. Peavey himself came to the top CUC position after Gary P. Camacho resigned in February.

This developed as Gov. Arnold I. Palacios on Tuesday denied instructing CUC board chair pro tem Janice A. Tenorio to terminate Peavey’s employment.

Peavey was hired last year as deputy director for CUC’s electric power systems. He became the acting CUC executive director last Feb. 21.

In a letter to Tenorio yesterday, Voerg said his resignation as acting executive director will take effect today, Thursday, at 4:30pm.

Voerg told Tenorio that he also resigned as deputy director for water/wastewater effective June 2, 2023. He said his last day of work will be June 1, 2023. He did not indicate his reason.

Voerg cited paragraph 8.B of his employment contract to request that his 30-day advance resignation notice be waived.

“With your approval of this waiver, my last day of work will be May 12, 2023,” he told Tenorio.

Tenorio designated Voerg as acting executive director after she terminated Peavey for cause last Monday. Three days later, there has been no official word yet on what prompted Tenorio to sack Peavey.

In response to Saipan Tribune’s question Tuesday, Palacios said he never instructed Tenorio to terminate Peavey’s employment.

“I had questions also in terms of some of the stories coming out in the media about Peavey’s issues,” the governor said.

He said he had intended to talk to Tenorio about Peavey’s issues to see if those are accurate.

According to online news report dated August 2022, an indictment was filed against Peavey in Texas many years ago for three felony charges involving falsification of travel expenses and invoices.

Peavey reportedly pleaded guilty to all charges and received a deferred adjudication of guilty. He was placed on probation for five years. The case, however, was subsequently dismissed in 2014 because Peavey had fully paid his restitution and probation fees.

Deferred adjudication refers to a judge-ordered community supervision that allows a defendant to accept responsibility for a crime without an actual conviction placed on the record.

Last month, Peavey told Saipan Tribune in an interview that he is willing to serve the position of CUC executive director in a permanent capacity, but it would depend on the discussion and negotiation.

Peavey’s termination, which was done without board approval or a vote, comes after he issued notices of disconnection to the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. and Department of Public Works due to unpaid power and water services amounting to $53.6 million and $1.12 million as of March 31, 2023, respectively.