The senior engineer, for example, will get $75,000 to $90,000, exceeding the salary cap for the same position based on the 2006 CUC salary rate pay scale which was $43,000 to $65,000.
CUC needs two senior engineers for the water and wastewater division. Their contract is for two years.
All of the JVAs have a salary description of “un-graded and un-classified.”
When sought for clarification, Frankie Cepeda, CUC human resources manager, said these positions are not in the CUC salary rate classification.
Cepeda said eight of the 18 JVAs are required by the stipulated orders issued by the federal court, and CUC must comply with these orders.
These positions include one drinking water and wastewater division manager, one wastewater treatment plant operations supervisor, two wastewater treatment level 2 certified/direct responsible charge operators, two wastewater collection level 2 certified/direct responsible charge operators, one water distribution level 2 certified/ direct responsible charge operator for Rota, and one water treatment level 1 certified/ direct responsible charge operator for Rota.
All these positions will have two-year contracts with negotiated relocation costs to and from the CNMI if those hired are from outside the commonwealth.
The positions not required by the stipulated orders are one grants officer, one grants specialist, five engineers, two senior engineers and one internal auditor.
Except for the internal auditor, who will be assigned to the chief financial officer, the rest are for the water and wastewater division on Saipan.
Right people
CUC Assistant Executive Director Utu Abe Malae said they need to “hire experienced and sharp managers who know how to identify needs and address them without being told by the [Environmental Protection Agency], for example, what to do.”
Malae said they need to beef up grant writing and management to avoid asking their engineers to drop their engineering work and do grant work preparation.
“When the organization is in trouble you cannot dilly-dally around. You have to secure the right people to form the right team to solve problems and to vastly improve customer service,” he said.
He said they will hire personnel on contract because once CUC reaches a decent level of performance, they will reevaluate the need for the contracts.
Current CUC personnel can apply for the announced posts, Malae said.
For the positions required by the stipulated orders, he said CUC was able to secure funding from the EPA and the U.S. Department of the Interior.
