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‘It’s management job to consult with water task force’
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Posted on Jun 12 2004
While noting that the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. Board of Directors is not mandated to consult with the newly formed CNMI Water Task Force, CUC board chairman Herman P. Sablan said that consulting with the group is mainly the CUC management’s job.
“There is nothing in the law that instructs the board to consult with the CNMI Water Task Force,” he said Thursday, stressing that the board violated no law when it did not inform the task force on water issues.
This came after acting governor and task force chairman Diego T. Benavente said that the task force was never consulted on CUC’s reported plan to invite private vendors to supply CUC with water.
Sablan said he expected the CUC staff to relay to the task force any related information discussed during a public board meeting.
“It’s a public hearing. I would expect that the [CUC] management would make that initiative to consult with the task force,” he said.
But he reiterated in Thursday’s meeting that by law, “we’re not required to consult [with the task force].”
Sablan said that Benavente’s task force, which was created in March 2003 to put in place a 24-hour water supply on Saipan, could disappear anytime.
“A task force could be dissolved but who gets the blame if there’s no water? It’s CUC! It’s going to be CUC who will get the hammer on the head,” he said.
Toward the end of his remarks, Sablan said CUC should still be working closely with the task force. “In fact, I’m meeting with the acting governor to discuss these issues.” Sablan and Benavente were set to meet yesterday afternoon.
Meantime, board member Joseph Torres said that CUC “is the task force,” considering that its personnel are mostly from the utility firm.
He noted that task force manager Don Smith, Patrick Deleon Guerrero, and another office staff are paid by the CUC.
