the forefront of everything.
With years of experience in leadership, Benavente said that even the mounting problems surrounding the mayor’s office of Saipan can be patched up with the right persons filling the important positions.
“We have to address the issues as they come, get to the very root of the issue and take on from there,” Benavente said.
He vows that if he gets elected into office, temporary solutions or ‘bandages’ will have no place in his administration.
No duplication of services
While a seemingly overlapping of authority and implementation of services exist between the mayor’s office and the government, Benavente said that this can be worked out.
“My goal is to work with the administration and the legislature to find ways to get provision that would allow the mayor’s office to retain and disperse funding for its projects, such as federal fund grants,” Benavente said.
He added that like the mayor’s office can function like the Public School System which gets funds from the CNMI government but also runs on grants.
“We have to sit down with the government and identify which areas the mayor must handle and be responsible for,” Benavente said.
PRIORITIES
Continuance of existing services
Benavente said that if he gets elected as mayor of Saipan, he will continue all the existing services of the mayor’s office to the community.
Under Benavente’s platform are issues that cover the immediate priorities of the island. These include:
Beautification of villages
In line with his approach of attacking the issue at its root to solve problems, Benavente’s stance on enhancing the tourism industry dwells on the importance of involving the community.
In fact, he stressed that the first step should start from within the villages.
“When we instill awareness in the community to work with us in getting things fixed first in the villages, the rest will follow. When the villages look nice and clean, tourists will be impressed and the effect will trickle down to the whole industry,” he said.
“Conducting outreach and awareness campaigns to stimulate the people in the villages to maintain the cleanliness of the beaches and the roads, and encourage them to clean up after using the facilities will spare the government from spending time and money for massive clean-up activities,” Benavente said.
Accomplish the animal shelter
The problem of stray dogs in the island has been a hot issue for the past years that Benavente aims to resolve.
Improve conditions of secondary roads
Conducting house-to-house campaign to get in touch with the community for the past weeks exposed Benavente to the needs of the people that require immediate attention, and one of these needs is the paving of secondary roads.
“I have already identified those roads that need to be paved, and one of my priorities is to find funding through writing federal grants, or through something that allows the mayor’s office to pave the roads maybe under the Urban Community Block Program,” Benavente said.
He added that the roads frequented by divers like Laolao and Obyan also need immediate attention.
Explore funding from federal grants
Operating on limited resources doubles the challenge for the mayor’s office to implement its services, according to Benavente.
“The problem now is that the mayor is not receiving appropriate funds from the grant and the continuing funds from the CNMI continue to deplete every year. It’s not serving the community right,” he said.
He said that the demand is getting higher, while the resources keep getting lower.
“As mayor, my priority would be to identify and find funding so the mayor’s office could start to rehabilitate itself and its performance to provide the community with excellent services.
Upgrade the performance standard of Saipan mayor’s office and its staff
Benavente’s priorities of making changes if elected into office is to start at the mayor’s office.
“Boosting the morale of the employees of the mayor’s office would automatically result to having a staff who renders better service to those who come in for assistance,” he said.
He also saw the need to review the services and departments in the mayor’s office and eliminate the non-functioning units.
Background
Benavente was elected PTA president of the San Vicente Elem. School from 1992-1996 where he initiated fundraising activities for various improvements in the school. He sat as chairman of the CNMI Scholarship board from 1998 to 2004 where he continued to lobby with the legislators and the governor for continued funding for the scholarship programs. He also revised the scholarship board policy.
As chairman for the Board of Education from 1999-2007, Benavente got all the schools in the CNMI accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, established policies that mandates testing and evaluation of all students in the PSS as well as established policies mandating all teachers to pass Praxis 1 and 11 to be highly qualified.
He also resolved the problem of overcrowding of students through the construction of additional classrooms in different schools.
Let’s do it right!
Benavente said that the government cannot continue to run on the way it is being currently run.
“Something needs to be done to solve our problems. We don’t need temporary solutions because they are just like bandages that cover the surface but the wound gets deeper inside. Let’s do the right way once and for all, and I’d gladly lead the way,” Benavente said.
“I don’t like to make promises but if I get elected as Saipan mayor, I will do my best to serve the people,” he added.
