SENATORS and House members attended the Public School System’s Legislative Summit at Kensington on Friday morning to discuss the delay in the completion of PSS’s federally funded projects.
Lawmakers expressed concern that the federal funds for some of these projects will “lapse” on Sept. 30, 2023, the end of the current fiscal year, which will further delay the completion of projects.
Regulatory requirements, processing and other factors on the federal government’s side are the primary causes of the delay.
“What can the legislature do to help PSS in releasing the funds from FEMA? Can we call FEMA?” Sen. Celina Babauta asked PSS officials.
“Can you let us know what the Legislature can do to help PSS move these projects…and get them completed?” she added.
“I am offering my office’s assistance to expedite the completion of these projects. I am sure that my colleagues will feel the same. We want to spend this [federal] money.”
Senate Vice President Donald Manglona who chairs the Senate Health, Education and Welfare Committee, and House Committee on Education Chairman Manny Castro, earlier asked Commissioner of Education Dr. Alfred Ada to hold a “summit” to discuss the status of all public education initiatives and projects.
Joining Senators Babauta and Manglona during Friday’s summit were Sen. Dennis Mendiola, House Speaker Edmund Villagomez, Vice Speaker Joel Camacho, House Floor Leader Edwin Propst, Reps. Roman Benavente, Marissa Flores, Vince Aldan, Angelo Camacho, Diego Vincent Camacho, Joseph Flores, Thomas John Manglona, John Paul Sablan, and Ralph Yumul.
Also attending the summit was the governor’s authorized representative for the Covid-19 disaster or GAR and head of the Public Assistance Office, Patrick Guerrero.
Lawmakers said they are concerned that some agencies and departments of the CNMI government are partly causing the delays of some of the PSS projects due to overlapping functions, conflicting or lack of regulations and standard operating procedures.
Supportive
Commissioner Ada said the Legislature has been supportive of PSS’s needs, adding that the school system will continue working with lawmakers.
“We are willing to sit down with all of you and go over every detail of our project records making sure that we don’t leave any stone unturned so we can meet all project completion dates. We need everyone’s support and that’s why we are here,” Ada said.
He added that he also met with U.C. Congressman Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan to discuss FEMA-funded projects.
“I met with our congressman, and he is very aware of our FEMA situation. He is working with us in helping us communicate with FEMA,” Ada said.
For his part, GAR Patrick Guerrero said, “I’d be very honest: That’s the first time I’ve ever heard a [lawmaker] ask that question: How can we help? Thank you. Yes, when we all band together, when we work together, we can make things work at a faster speed.”
Guerrero said FEMA-funded projects were delayed mainly because of the pandemic. “The pandemic, which I hate to use as an excuse, was a factor in many of the delays…. Certainly, there have been delays from federal agencies as well. And they too have been dealing with the pandemic.”
Guerrero said FEMA has been handling close to 25,000 different projects for 2022 alone throughout the U.S. “There is a bottleneck, and we are working with FEMA,” he added.
“And it’s not only PSS but also NMC. Yes, there is no doubt that it has been four to five years [of delay] and we cannot deny that fact,” Guerrero said.
Rep. Marissa Flores noted that there are “many other [local] agencies that are involved…but the way the plans were written…we don’t have a system in place [in case of]…disasters. We don’t have standard operating procedures to move the projects faster especially for our schools,” Rep. Flores said. “The bottleneck situation prevents PSS from completing these projects. We should have SOPs that do work in every disaster. To me, this is the biggest issue, at least to my understanding.”
“We will work with you, PSS,” she added.
Rep. Vince Aldan said there is also a lack of construction workers and other manpower.
“The CNMI as a whole…needs manpower…to complete [these projects] in a timely manner. All major construction companies are working on several projects but there are not enough construction companies to work on projects for PSS,” he added.
FEMA projects
FEMA’s public assistance projects for PSS are worth $54 million.
These project include Chacha Oceanview Middle School (80% complete), Dandan Middle School (90% complete), Garapan Elementary School (50% complete), GTC Elementary School (100% complete, reimbursement pending), Kagman High School (90% complete), and Koblerville Elementary School (pending architecture and designs notice).
There is also $10.354 million in Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery funds for Tinian Elementary School and Marianas High School, both projects in phase 1, and William S. Reyes Elementary School and Francisco M. Sablan Middle School, both projects in phase 2.
In February, Gov. Arnold I. Palacios told the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources that there is a need to “break the bottlenecks holding up” federal assistance.
He said the CNMI needs “fixes in federal policy to help us move hundreds of millions of federal dollars in stalled projects.”
Commissioner of Education Dr. Alfred B. Ada introduces the Public School System’s leadership team during a summit with lawmakers on Friday at Kensington Hotel.
Commissioner of Education Dr. Alfred B. Ada, right, fields questions as Rep. Marissa Flores, foreground, listens.
