Previous Story
Administration forms selection committee for board nominees
|
Posted on Oct 30 2006
Three administration officials have been appointed to form a selection committee for all government board nominations.
The committee members are John Del Rosario Jr., secretary of the Department of Public Lands; Howard Willens, special legal counsel to the governor; and Teresa Kim, legal counsel to the lieutenant governor.
“They will be tasked with seeking and presenting qualified board candidates to the governor for his selection,” acting Gov. Timothy P. Villagomez said in a memorandum.
Press secretary Charles P. Reyes Jr. noted that Del Rosario would only be continuing his role as an appointments adviser to the governor. Del Rosario was instrumental in the governor’s choice of Cabinet members when the Fitial administration took office in January 2006.
“He’s a trusted adviser for the administration. He will continue in that capacity and, this time, he will have help from two attorneys,” Reyes said.
The new committee is expected to lead the selection of members for the recently created Public Utilities Commission, a comprehensive utility regulatory agency that replaced the Commonwealth Telecommunications Commission.
Pursuant to Public Law 15-35 or the PUC Act, the commission will have five commissioners, including at least one who has training in the telephone, water and sewer utilities management; at least one with managerial or engineering experience in the field of power generation; at least one with telephone or cable television experience; and at least one who is a certified public accountant. Three commissioners should be from Saipan, and one each from Tinian and Rota.
Appointments to PUC will be subject to approval by both the Senate and the House of Representatives. Each commissioner will serve a term of four years.
“Forming the commission is going to take some time, because the qualifications are set very high. But we’re trying to do it as soon as possible,” Reyes said.
