Its lone archaeologist, Ronnie Rogers, has decided to vacate his post.
Federal law and regulations require that states or territories must have a review board and qualified personnel for it to be eligible to receive the Historic Preservation Fund.
Rogers, who’s staying with the office until April 20, said for HPO to be considered a functioning historic preservation office, it must have a director, archaeologist, historic preservation officer, grants manager, and historian.
With Rogers leaving, the office is left with a historic preservation officer and grants manager.
Department of Community and Cultural Affairs Secretary Melvin Faisao is the historic preservation officer while Merti Kani is the grants manager.
Variety tried but failed to get a comment from Faisao yesterday.
Rogers told Variety that other offices in the states are required to have an architect but this requirement was waived for the CNMI.
Variety learned that with the significant positions remaining unfilled, it is a possibility that the National Park Service may require HPO to return a portion of the historic preservation fund allocated for salaries among other expenditures.
Rogers said it’s also a possibility that HPO may face reduced federal funding next year.
Rogers filed his resignation on April 4 and has accepted a position with the U.S. Navy on Guam.
“With payless Fridays — with austerity — I could not make ends meet,” he said.
His annual contract with HPO was $41,000 plus $600 housing allowance per month before taxes.
Rogers said the agency suffered 40 percent cut in salary for the past several months.
He said he could not pass up the opportunity to work for the Navy and given his age, “I may not get this opportunity again.”
Rogers served HPO for five years having seen the progress of the underwater program of the HPO, among other projects. Prior to relocating to Saipan, he worked for the state of Georgia HPO for 12 years. He leaves the HPO at the time when the Underwater Heritage Trail project is in progress and the Garapan Heritage Trail project is set to commence.
Meanwhile, HPO had to let go of its archaeology technician II and master diver John Castro whose contract was not renewed.
Castro, according to Rogers, was a valuable asset to the agency.
HPO has not hired a historian yet and its Historic Preservation Review Board has yet to be filled as well.
According to Public Law 3-49 or the Historic Preservation Act of 1982, the five-member review board, whose members are appointed by the governor, “shall review all requests for permits upon private land and all proposed land leases or uses in which the areas to be leased or used are determined by the board to contain cultural and historic properties which would be designated for permanent historic preservation pursuant to the act.”
Each member of the board will serve without compensation abut will be reimbursed for “reasonable and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their duties.”
Based on the latest NPS data, HPO has received $7.3 million from the Historic Preservation Fund of the National Park Service since 1979 when it first received $254,000 in funding.
Last year, the agency was awarded $409,971 which was slightly higher than Guam’s $408,291 with California receiving the biggest funding at $1.4 million for 2010.
In 2009, the CNMI’s Historic Preservation Fund came in two apportionments: $296,675 and $105,204 or a total of $401,879.
Meanwhile, based on a report by Hampton Tucker, chief, Historic Preservation Grants Division, National Park Service, he said the CNMI HPO continues to face challenges in complying with the National Historic Preservation Act, Section 106, Public Law 89-665, amended 1992 (USC 470) requirements, and coping with austerity measures pursuant to CNMI PL 17-21.
In that Feb. 23, 2011 report, Tucker stated that HPO archaeological field surveyors are non-critical employees and are operating on reduced hours and HPO staff provides an essential role by reviewing and commenting on all development permits issued in the CNMI.
Due to the austerity measure, CNMI HPO may impede locally and federally funded construction projects because HPO has not been exempted as a regulatory agency, said Tucker.
The Division of Environmental Quality, for its part, cannot legally issue earthmoving permit without HPO’s comment and approval.
This may result, Tucker said, in delay or disruption of federal undertakings and local infrastructure projects and the potential loss of local revenue generated from construction projects.
The Historic Preservation Offices of the Pacific area territories and the Freely Associated States are annually appropriated Historic Preservation Fund grants pursuant to the National Historic Preservation Act for protection and preservation of National Register eligible historic properties and National Historical Landmarks.
Financial assistance extended to the CNMI and the other territories does not require matching share. In FY 2010, grants received by the three Pacific area territories totaled $1,213,896.
