In an interview on Wednesday, Saipan Mayor David M. Apatang said aside from restoring 80 work hours for the 35 operations employees, his office was also able to rehire the 15 employees whose job contracts had to be terminated due to the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The mayor said his office applied for grants under the Technical Assistance Program of the U.S. Department of the Interior.
The program provides grant funding for short-term projects that aim to meet the immediate needs of insular areas. Funding priorities include, but are not limited to, projects that foster the development of the insular areas in the following categories:
- Accountability, financial management, economic development, education, energy production, management control initiatives, disaster assistance, natural and cultural resources, capacity building, public safety/emergencies, information technology, health initiatives, and invasive species management.
Apatang said his office applied and was approved for over $200,000 in TAP grant “so our operations crew have been back to 80 hours since about two weeks ago.”
But the administrative employees are still in austerity, working 72 hours per pay period, he added.
Apatang said it is very important for the operations crew of the mayor’s office to work full time because they perform critical community services such as village cleanups and road beautification.
Right now, he said, his operations crew are trimming the trees along Beach Road.
The mayor said they must continue beautifying the island in preparation for the reopening of the tourism industry.
Apatang at the same time would like to thank the community for cooperating with the government in its efforts to prevent community transmission of Covid-19.
“We are very fortunate to have the Governor’s Covid-19 Task Force to make sure that we follow the directives. The end result of that is we have a very low death rate, and we diagnose and isolate people arriving at the airport. So right now we have not seen any community transmission, and that is the best thing,” he said.
SHEFA, too
Also back to 80 hours are the administrative staff of the Saipan Higher Education Financial Assistance program.
During its meeting on Wednesday, the SHEFA board voted unanimously to restore the staffers’ 80-hour work schedule effective Dec. 1.
SHEFA has four administrative staff members.
