I LOVE your letter! Let me know when you plan to run for governor, and I will rally for you. Do not worry; I do not wish to be a member of your cabinet, I just like your ideas. I will settle for being the mayor of Tinian. Yeah right!
Should it take place I would like nothing better than to join you at the public forum that you mentioned. However, because I live on Tinian perhaps I will just share my own thoughts with you and the rest of the people reading our newspapers so my humble ideas can be analyzed during your forum.
There should not be any question as to the necessity of mayors and municipal councils. They are important in that they SHOULD, and I say should because they do not, have authority over local matters. It is time to clearly define what are state and local matters so that public concerns can be addressed promptly and efficiently.
Unfortunately, when the CNMI Constitution was drafted much of what it contains should have been left to future legislative actions accommodating the growth of our community. Such that the municipalities can be given authority, through municipal councils and mayors, to levy and collect local taxes to finance its own municipal government and local public services. Currently, this authority lies with what is called a local legislative delegation consisting of members of the legislature from respective senatorial districts and the governor. Consequently, the focus of the Legislature as a whole is not CNMI issues. Members of the Legislature are more interested in what is best for their respective districts than CNMI matters. And, this is where communication and working together toward a common goal for the betterment of the CNMI ends. When the interests of their local constituents clash with what is best for the CNMI the former takes the lead. CNMI matters become secondary if they do indeed exist in their lists of priority.
Representation in the House of Representatives was never intended to divide each island or municipality into several voting districts having direct representation into the legislature. It is intended to represent at state level the interests of the people from each senatorial districts and the population base should be, at the very least, 30,000. In this scenario the islands of Tinian and Rota will not have another representative until their population base reaches 30,000. The island of Saipan should now have two and the Northern Islands one.
There is not a definitive line between state and municipal jurisdictions at present. I feel safe in saying that the islands were better organized during the Trust Territory time. Now, duties and functions overlap. This leads to confusion and redundancy, which of course leads to costly and inefficient government operation.
A population of 60,000 necessitates mayors and municipal councils. It does not, however, require 18 representatives in the lower house of the state legislature. It would be a daunting challenge to change the number of representatives at the upper house, because this number is protected by the Covenant, but we can, on our own, reduce the number of representatives in the lower house thereby greatly reducing the cost of government operation.
Municipal councils should not be a full time office and should start with three members not to exceed five as the population grows. The office of the mayor should remain the executive officer of the municipality managing local public programs.
I wish you luck on your endeavors.

JUANITA M. MENDIOLA
Marpo Valley, Tinian