“CUC plans on weighing in…after consideration of…legal considerations and the management’s opinion,” CUC board member Matthew Holley said.
Another issue for the CUC board is whether CHCC’s request will be retroactive, Variety learned.
CUC Executive Director Gary Camacho, for his part, declined to comment, saying that it is an issue between the CUC and CHCC boards.
Payment agreement
CUC chief financial officer Greg Cruz told the board that CHCC made payments for September and October, and these include the government’s share of $150,000.
“We appreciate that and we are confident and hopeful that it continues,” Camacho said.
According to a payment agreement signed by CUC and CHCC in September, CHCC owed CUC a total of $34,087,471.31 as of Aug. 25, 2020, including a penalty of $10,238,146.53 that had accrued over the course of almost a decade since 2011.
Under the agreement, the payment will remain at a minimum of $219,000 per month unless there is an increase in CHCC’s consumption or a rate increase in the fuel adjustment clause or FAC. CHCC’s payment will also decrease along with the FAC.
If CHCC misses its payment after 30 calendar days, CUC will disconnect CHCC’s utility services pursuant to the regulation under Title 50 of the Northern Mariana Islands Administrative Code.
On Sept. 8, 2020, CUC disconnected the hospital from the CUC power grid for six hours after CHCC failed to pay $250,000 for utilities.
This prompted former Rep. Stanley T. Torres to say that the governor should have fired the CUC board members for “endangering the lives” of hospital patients amid a pandemic.
