The Civil Service Commission had a busy start to the new fiscal year with four meetings during the month, each of several days\u2019 duration.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a lot of projects in progress and more planned for this upcoming year,\u201d said commission chair Herman R. Deleon Guerrero. \u201cWe are working with the Legislature and the governor to accomplish some of the initiatives from this past year and to get some new ones started for this year to come.\u201d<\/p>\n
Deleon Guerrero pointed out that during the past year the commission ended the 12-year freeze on promotional increases and had been working with the governor and the Legislature on the still frozen within-grade increase and the bonus for employees at step 12.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are important issues that we are continuing to work on. It\u2019s a matter of funding, but we believe that it is important to recognize an employee\u2019s performance. The Legislature and the governor agree\u2014it\u2019s just the money that\u2019s preventing it from happening.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the chairman, the commission is also still waiting for the Legislature to act on the new compensation bill, House Bill 19-03, that it initiated last year.<\/p>\n
Charles Calvo, chairman of the Budget and Fiscal Committee, emphasized the importance of this endeavor. \u201cThe current salary schedule is 24 years old. It\u2019s outdated and can only partly be used. It\u2019s time for a change.\u201d<\/p>\n
Also, in March 2015, the commission and the Office of Personnel Management relocated to Spring Plaza in Gualo Rai.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny government employee who has not seen your new OPM office should come, visit and take a look around,\u201d said Personnel director Isidro Seman.<\/p>\n
With the move, the commission also renovated the space next door to OPM for its office, meeting place, and hearing chamber.<\/p>\n
The new commission office and hearing chamber had its grand opening on Sept. 25, with the governor cutting the ribbon.<\/p>\n
Deleon Guerrero said he was speaking to civil service employees when he said, \u201cWe had this chamber built for a purpose, to make sure that employees know we are here for their appeals and grievances when they become necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOPM and the commission are here to serve all civil service employees, Rota, Tinian, and Saipan,\u201d added Arsene Borja, the commissioner from Tinian. \u201cOur goal, both OPM\u2019s and the commission\u2019s, is to develop and have in place regulations and systems that will both help the government run smoothly and, at the same time, make sure that employees\u2019 rights are respected.\u201d<\/p>\n
The commission has a full quorum, plus one extra, ensuring it has sufficient members to conduct business. After the resignations of commissioners Augustina Kukkun and Eric L. Plinske, the governor appointed Catalina Tebit to the commission. Two positions still remain vacant: the commissioner from Rota and one from Saipan.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am grateful to the governor and the Senate for the confidence they showed in me,\u201d said Tebit. \u201cI look forward to working with my fellow commissioners on the many plans we have been discussing this past month.\u201d<\/p>\n
Commission vice chair Felicitas \u201cTee\u201d Abraham said: \u201cWe have many very important projects. I especially want to see the restoration of the public internship program. It\u2019s an important program that will help get our new graduates into the government workforce. I also want to obtain funding to help provide our employees with additional training and development to help expand their skills and abilities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Deleon Guerrero said the coming year will be a busy one, following up on actions already started and initiating new projects. Some planned emphases this year include:<\/p>\n
Working with the Legislature to finalize and to enact into law the proposed new salary schedule;<\/p>\n
Revitalizing the government\u2019s internship program for college graduates lacking work experience;<\/p>\n
Obtaining federal funding and assistance for human resource training and programs for the commission, staff of the Office of Personnel Management, and other government employees;<\/p>\n
Pushing for progress on the frozen annual within-grade increase and bonus programs; and<\/p>\n
Updating the Personnel Service Systems Rules and Regulations.<\/p>\n
Deleon Guerrero applauded the cooperation the commission has been receiving. \u201cThe tasks we face are very challenging, but with the administration and the Legislature as partners in achieving these goals, we can make them happen. We all share the responsibility to make the government and its employment practices more effective and we must all work together for the benefit of all employees and the community.\u201d (CSC)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Civil Service Commission had a busy start to the new fiscal year with four…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[747,152,257,1983],"class_list":["post-213945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","tag-csc","tag-deleon-guerrero","tag-nmi","tag-opm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213945\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}