Each commissioner gets some $100,000 a year in salary and benefits.
Norbert Hofschneider yesterday said the Tinian leadership should address first the more pressing issues that impact residents such as the municipal government’s Retirement Fund obligation and the unpaid retroactive pay hike mandated by a 1991 law.
“There’s no urgency in appointing a new commissioner since there’s no new investor anyway,” he said.
Last month three of the five commissioners — Francisco M. Borja, Peter Q. Cruz and Michael H. San Nicolas — retired.
Hofschnerider said casino investors Neo Goldwings Paradise and Bridge Investment are pulling out of Tinian.
He said the remaining commissioners, Ignacio K. Quichocho and Bernadita C. Palacios, are capable to run the commission.
As long as there’s no need for a quorum on the commission, the mayor should not appoint a new member, he said.
Hofschneider said he is hoping Mayor Ramon Dela Cruz would break the “tradition of nepotism” on Tinian.
“The immediate families of those in power always get the jobs with high salary,” he said.
He said the office of the mayor is a public office and not a family corporation.
