Babauta said retaining Huesman on a monthly basis instead of paying an outside legal counsel on an hourly basis is in the best interest of the department.
“It’s less than what he was paid as a salary employee. I made that choice based on the legal needs of this department,” Babauta told the Variety.
Huesman was previously assigned to DPL before working in private practice in early 2010.
He is now connected with the law firm Fisher Huesman, LLC.
Babauta said Huesman reviews all legal documents like contracts, complaints, among other things, pertaining to land use in the commonwealth.
“He deals with land claims settlement issues. Requests from a variety of clients for certain land leases, permitting process and other legal issues that normally comes into my office almost on a daily basis,” said Babauta.
Additionally, Huesman works with the DPL compliance officer and the real estate division.
The real estate division is in charge of permits for public land use as well as public land leases.
DPL is a semi-autonomous agency under the executive branch.
It was formerly known as the Marianas Public Lands Authority which was governed by a board of directors.
In 2006, Gov. Benigno R. Fitial signed a bill abolishing MPLA and creating DPL.
