{"id":390098,"date":"2023-04-24T06:05:14","date_gmt":"2023-04-23T20:05:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=390098"},"modified":"2023-04-24T06:05:14","modified_gmt":"2023-04-23T20:05:14","slug":"other-govt-agencies-also-got-disconnection-notices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/other-govt-agencies-also-got-disconnection-notices\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Other gov\u2019t agencies also got disconnection notices\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s not just the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. and Department of Public Works that received disconnection notices. Several other government agencies have also received disconnection notices due to unpaid power and water services.<\/p>\n

Acting Commonwealth Utilities Corp. executive director Dr. Dallas M. Peavey Jr. disclosed Friday that they are sending disconnection notices not only to CHCC and DPW, but also to all accounts that are in arrears.<\/p>\n

This developed as Peavey also revealed in an interview that he, Gov. Arnold I. Palacios, Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. chief executive officer Esther Mu\u00f1a, and others met last Tuesday to come up with a mutual agreement to resolve CHCC\u2019s unpaid power and water services amounting to $53.6 million.<\/p>\n

The CUC board of directors met Friday morning and on the agenda was the CHCC and CNMI government\u2019s payment agreement for CHCC\u2019s utility services, but the board discussed it in an executive session.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Dallas M. Peavey Jr.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In an interview with the media shortly before the executive session, Peavey stated that they are mandated by law and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to collect arrears until it\u2019s been set as receivables.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a mandate by the EPA that we must collect to be able to fund our operations and maintenance. And so that\u2019s what we\u2019ve done to go out try to make the collections,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

When asked which agencies and how many agencies owe CUC for utility services, Peavey said he does not have the listing in front of him but that each one is getting a disconnection notice. \u201cThose who haven\u2019t gotten it will get it today [Friday],\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Peavey said they absolutely want to settle with CHCC and that Palacios was \u201cvery kind\u201d to sit for two and a half hours during their meeting with CHCC last Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we want to come to some kind of mutual agreement that is beneficial to all the parties,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Peavey said they never want to disconnect anybody, but in the case with CHCC and DPW, they have no choice as they are mandated by the federal government.<\/p>\n

Peavey issued notices of disconnection to CHCC and DPW last Wednesday afternoon due to unpaid power and water services amounting to $53.6 million and $1.2 million as of March 31, 2023.<\/p>\n

In his demand for payment, Peavey informed CHCC chief executive officer Esther Mu\u00f1a and acting DPW secretary Ray N. Yumul that service will be terminated on May 4, 2023\u201414 days from the date of the notice\u2014if payment or settlement is not made.<\/p>\n

Peavey said the continued delinquent status of CHCC and DPW has adversely impacted CUC\u2019s ability to provide reliable uninterrupted services to the community and adds to CUC\u2019s already struggling financial health.<\/p>\n

Yumul earlier stated that DPW has always promptly processed payment requests with the Department of Finance when DPW receives its utility bill from CUC.<\/p>\n

As of press time, Saipan Tribune was still awaiting comment from Mu\u00f1a.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s not just the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. and Department of Public Works that received disconnection…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":390115,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[924],"class_list":["post-390098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-disconnection"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390098","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\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=390098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390098\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}