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Mayor Sablan missed the point
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Posted on Jul 23 1999
At the recent legislative budget hearing for the Saipan mayor, Public Auditor Leo LaMotte prodded the House Ways and Means Committee to look into the mayor’s personnel costs in order to purge services which duplicate the functions of the central government.
To this, Mayor Sablan responded that he has eliminated the position of Stray Animal Control Supervisor Canice K. Taitano to boost its cash resources. With such response, the mayor missed his mark by a mile. The public auditor was referring to functions of the central government that are being duplicated by the Saipan Mayor’s Office.
The Stray Animal Control is the only one of its kind in the CNMI.
Saipan Local Law 9-12 created the Saipan/Northern Islands Dog Control Act. As required by the law, the Municipality of Saipan Dog Control Rules and Regulations was published on October 15, 1997 in the Commonwealth Register Volume 19. Number 10, pages 15703 15717. Paragraph 1.02 of the Rules and Regulations provides for the designation of Supervisor of Animal Shelter.
The 9th. Legislative Delegation saw the need to establish a dog control program on Saipan. Subsequently, the Saipan Legislative Delegation funded the program. So where have all the money gone? Perhaps the answer is in Mr. LaMotte’s closing statement, “Necessary adjustments should be made on the amount requested to reflect realistic funding needs of the Saipan Mayor’s Office and to prevent misappropriation of funds.”
Name withheld by request
Disgruntled Citizen
