Because the grant the CNMI government applied last year amounted to $300,000, the desk audit conducted by Management Analysis Inc. covered two departments only — Community and Cultural Affairs and Public Safety.
The administration, Demapan said, would like the entire CNMI government assessed.
He said Gov. Benigno R. Fitial continues to seek funding for the project.
The findings of the desk audit on DCCA and DPS, Demapan added, are very extensive and Fitial and Lt. Gov. Eloy S. Inos are now reviewing and analyzing them thoroughly.
He said the recommendations are “non-binding,” and if the administration chooses to implement them it should be done in accordance with CNMI laws.
Demapan said certain divisions of DCCA, like the juvenile detention center and Sports and Recreation, were created by public laws.
To reorganize the department will require legislative action, he said.
The administration, Demapan added, also has to look at what personnel regulations would be affected by a reorganization.
He said the results of the desk audit should be considered a positive development because they show a lot inefficiencies that have been existence for many years, “even before we came into office.”
“The good thing about this is that now, we know exactly what areas have inefficiencies and what can be done to make them efficient,” Demapan said.
DCCA audit
The desk audit noted that DCCA was cited in a U.S. inspector general’s report as being “out of compliance” with some grant funding requirements.
Over 60 percent of DCCA employees and services are federally funded. Should that funding stream be lost or suspended, DCCA would be in serious trouble to pay for those employees and services, Management Analysis Inc., or MAI, said in its report.
The DCCA secretary must seek help in resolving those issues, and addressing the inspector general’s report “should be placed on the forefront of the administration’s concern for this department.”
Personnel costs are by far the department’s biggest expense for its locally funded positions, and 7 percent of it are from overtime, MAI stated.
Most of the overtime costs are incurred in the juvenile detention facility due to the failure to maintain proper staffing levels. Significant savings to the government will come from downsizing the department of locally funded positions.
Recommendations
Among MAI’s recommendation:
• Limit the approval and use of government take home vehicles.
• Eliminate real or perception of favoritism on items such as off-island training, conferences and work assignments as well as fear of losing jobs.
• Eliminate the deputy secretary position. The workload does not justify this position. The position has limited responsibilities and duties and as such is not fully utilized by the department.
• Eliminate the special advisor position. This position is not fully utilized, not needed and there is real confusion concerning reporting structure/chain of command.
• Eliminate the administrative officer’s position in the Division of Sports and Recreation.
• Eliminate the media specialist position of the Chamorro/Carolinian Language Policy Commission. Limited workload does not justify the position and private sources are available as needed to provide these services.
• Move the juvenile detention facility to the Department of Corrections.
• Place the Juvenile Probation Unit under the Superior Court. This unit is a court-mandated enforcement service and thus better suited under the Superior Court.
DPS
According to MAI, the Office of the DPS Commissioner is top heavy with a span of control that is cumbersome and difficult to coordinate.
The police division, moreover, is over-staffed and fragmented with the Criminal Investigation Bureau functioning as a separate and equal division with the Police Division.
Patrol and Traffic sections within the Police Division have overlapping and similar duties and responsibilities.
The Motor Vehicles Bureau is overstaffed based on the available workload data.
Career progression within the DPS is stagnated, thus contributing to employee discontent and declining morale.
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