CUC to recognize long-serving and outstanding employees

THE Commonwealth Utilities Corp. will recognize its employees who have served 10 years or more as well as the outstanding employees of the year on May 6 as part of the 2022 Public Service Recognition Week celebration.

CUC Executive Director Gary Camacho expressed his appreciation to all CUC employees on the three main islands: Rota, Tinian, and Saipan.

“I think it’s important that we recognize what they do in the mission of providing utility services for the Northern Marianas,” he said.

“Everybody is a part of CUC — we are all interconnected, somehow, someway, through funding sources or support. Everybody is doing a good job. I truly appreciate everything that they have done in the past, and currently do, and will do in the future. It’s their efforts that we need to appreciate,” Camacho said.

Interviews

Variety interviewed some of CUC’s employees who talked about how they serve the community through the work they perform for the utilities corporation.

Jubal Slayer is the recently hired Technical Manager for Oil or TMO. He is responsible for oil at Power Plants 1, 2, and 4.

As TMO, Slayer said, he oversees the testing of ground water, making sure drainage is appropriate, and used oil is properly incinerated.

He said he is the single point contact for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regarding the federal-court-mandated Stipulated Order Number 2.

In Nov. 2008, the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency signed and lodged two stipulated orders in federal court “seeking to reform and bring into compliance [CUC’s] wastewater plants and collection systems, public drinking water systems, five power plants and an oil transfer pipeline.”

Stipulated Order 1 focuses on drinking water issues while SO2 pertains to oil issues.

According to Slayer, “We’re looking a lot better, we’re continuously improving, we’re following through the bullet points of the stipulated order. We are right on track currently for all deadlines.”

He added, “CUC is really committed to working with EPA, and getting both SO1 and SO2 finished and sorted out. We are certainly committed to the environment…. We also want to provide excellent customer service and utility services to the people of CNMI.”

Unsung heroes

For Anthony Dela Cruz, he and the rest of the 60-person team of the CUC power generation division are doing their best to keep the lights on despite limited resources.

According to Dela Cruz, who has worked for CUC for 24 years, the power plant parts are already obsolete. “Whenever there’s a breakdown, we can’t just get parts off the shelves. We have to reach out to companies to manufacture parts,” he said.

Another essential employee is Bernard Keremius of the water division. He has worked for CUC for 18 years.

“We provide water to the community,” he said. “We provide services from the well pumps going to the tank, going to the pipe lines, then going to the consumer tap. In our section, we have people who take care of the wells, we have people out there repairing leaks, we have people out there installing new meters, and we have a chlorination crew to make sure that adequate chlorine is provided to deliver safe water to customers.”

He said the water division has 42 staff members.

“We stagger our crew to work 7 days a week, so we can be able to serve customers. We also have people on standby, an emergency response team, to respond to any emergencies,” Keremius said.

As for the water interruptions experienced by the community the past few days, Keremius said, “These water interruptions are due to the leaks in our water system.”

Wastewater division

Luke Changar has worked for CUC for the last 14 years. “I’m responsible for the wastewater collection system, and the lead operator of the Sadog Tasi treatment plant,” he said.

The wastewater division has two sections: treatment and collection, he added.

“The collection system conveys wastewater from lift station to lift station all the way to the treatment facility where we do the treatment process — after that the treated water is released to the ocean,” he said.

The wastewater division has 20 employees.

“Right now, we’re maintaining some collapsed sewer lines which are all running on bypasses. We have collapsed lines because most of our sewer line infrastructure is more than 40 years old, and some are made of asbestos or clay,” Changar said.

CUC is trying to replace most of the collapsed pipes with PVC pipes.

As for challenges, Changar said they are experiencing what they call “FOG” — fat, oil and grease — in the sewer lines.

He asked members of the public not to clog the sewer with debris or oily substances.

“Please don’t throw those things in the sewer,” he said. “It’s really a big problem for the wastewater when they do that…. Sometimes you find big chunks of grease with a diameter of six inches and as long as 10 feet clogging up the sewer line,” Changar said.

Human resources

Carol Chargualaf, CUC human resources generalist, said she is mostly focused on recruitment.

“I think my job is the most boring in CUC,” she said in jest. “Because most of the jobs in the power, water, and wastewater divisions are critical. My job is to make sure the different CUC divisions are fully staffed to accomplish their goals and objectives.”

 She said Public Service Recognition Week “is an opportunity for us to recognize our employees and everything that they do for CUC, and how they serve the community.”

She added, “Our crews go out after a typhoon and try to restore water and power services as soon as possible, and I think people have seen that after Typhoons Soudelor and Yutu, and I know what it’s like to see those bucket trucks coming in and trying to restore power. I was just really, really grateful. But their jobs are not easy,” referring to the power, water and wastewater divisions.

Chargualaf said power plant employees  “cannot go out for lunch, and there’s a lot of time when they are working out there in the hot sun, all day long, or sometimes they have to fix engine parts in uncomfortable positions while I just sit in front of the computer most of the day. So I have to hand it to them. They come in every single day and they do their jobs and that is something that we are very proud of and we know that we have really good employees here.”

Customer service

Kevin Tudela said he has worked for CUC’s customer service division for four years now.

“Our division is the customer’s first contact with CUC whether they are applying for power or water connection,” he said.

“We are the first people they see when they come in. It’s a very interesting job. We have all types of people coming in with all different types of inquiries that we have to know the answer to because if we don’t know the answer then we are not knowledgeable. We need to know the workings of CUC so we can serve customers at the customer service division.”

CUC’s day starts at its customer service office, Tudela said.

Sacrifices

Rota CUC Resident Manager Alvin King has been with the utilities corporation since November 2019.

“For the past two years and four months that I have been with CUC Rota, I have seen a lot of sacrifices especially during this pandemic,” he said.

“ ‘Resilient’ is how I would describe the hardworking employees of Rota CUC,” King added. “ ‘Teamwork’ is another word to describe them.”

He said Rota CUC employees “have made sacrifices to keep doing what they know is their responsibility; that is to continue to provide reliable power and water to our community even during a pandemic. Just when the CNMI economy was on a rebound after two major typhoons, the global coronavirus pandemic took a toll on the CNMI by shutting down businesses, and CNMI residents had to stay home also due to the lockdown.”

King said during the lockdown,  “our dedicated employees worked bravely…so that the community could continue to have power and water. Even today, as the pandemic continues, the staff continue to work to better our services.”

And with that said, he said, “I recognize and salute all the dedicated staff of CUC Rota for their sacrifices and dedication and for their hard work during these past two years of pandemic. Lastly, I would be  remiss if I did not mention all the support coming from our executive director, Gary Camacho, and the hardworking staff at Saipan CUC. The staff on Saipan have also supported CUC Rota by ensuring that we get the necessary materials and parts to keep our power plant and water system running.”

Strength and resilience

Tinian CUC Resident Director Evelyn Manglona said CUC employees “deserve the recognition and the appreciation for their dedication and commitment in providing effective and safe water and power services to the island of Tinian.”

She said CUC Tinian personnel “have shown their strength and resilience by working together as a team, especially after Super Typhoon Yutu and during the pandemic to ensure services are provided to the people of Tinian.”

She also expressed her appreciation for the leadership, guidance, support and assistance of CUC Executive Director Gary Camacho, his management team, as well as all CUC employees.

According to its mission statement, CUC, a non-profit public corporation, is “dedicated to excellent customer service and providing reliable, environmentally sensitive and effective power, water and wastewater services for the people of the CNMI at the lowest reasonable cost while ensuring the safety of our employees and the community.”