HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — The search for a permanent Mayors’ Council of Guam executive director continues, as the committee charged with finding a new administrative head for the MCOG has made no decision to recommend any applicant to the council for consideration.
“There were various reasons, not that no one was qualified,” MCOG President and Piti Mayor Jesse Alig said Wednesday during a special meeting for the executive director selection.
“It was that the issues and the complexities of the problems that we have for the Mayors’ Council of Guam are vast, and they also vary. It was also determined at the committee level that perhaps we could manage it on our own in the interim and get us … to a place where all of us … are content with the process and procedures of this council. And once that is done, the appointment of an executive director will occur,” Alig added.
Whatever the MCOG needs to tighten up to appoint an executive director, the MCOG president said he hopes those issues will be sorted within a month and, hopefully, not beyond that.
He acknowledged, however, that a month is “not a generous amount of time” but is “a goal.”
In the interim, Alig, as the MCOG president, was voted to serve as the council’s acting executive director. This action was done based on advice from the human resources division at the Department of Administration, according to MCOG Vice President and Sinajana Mayor Robert Hofmann.
“We got the advice from the people that, we feel, are most qualified to give us that advice. So, we’re not all going to (be) indicted or something for appointing an acting director,” Hofmann said jokingly.
Alig said the first thing he did was email DOA and the attorney general for guidance.
“That is how we ended up at this point,” he added.
Angel Sablan, the former MCOG executive director, resigned effective Dec. 1. He was hoping to retire after working for 15 years at the council but was quickly tapped by the governor to lead the Department of Parks and Recreation.
His appointment to Parks and Rec began Dec. 18.
The Mayors’ Council of Guam discuss selecting a new executive director in a special meeting Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2023, in Hagåtña.
