Most notably, according to Fernandez, is the college’s successful efforts to resolve 11 of the 14 findings that were identified in the financial audit. The findings involve the periodic review of receivables, monitoring of interdepartmental funds, fixed asset valuation, accounting procedures, and others.
As case in point, Fernandez reported, the college has made considerable progress toward resolving its accumulated debt to the Retirement Fund, which was one of the other issues raised by the financial audit.
The audit finding regarding NMC’s accumulated debt of about $3 million to the Retirement Fund has been corrected through the efforts of Gov. Benigno R. Fitial’s assumption of debt for fiscal years 2005-2006 and approval of Public Law 16-2, which reduces NMC’s employer share from 36.77 to 11 percent.
During her presentation to ACCJC officials, Fernandez also highlighted the following:
• NMC completed the development of a compliance action plan that consolidates all accreditation-related activities required with timeframes for completion. The document has been shared extensively with the community at large.
• The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Office of Insular Affairs approved a $375,000 federal grant for consultative services to facilitate and support NMC’s program review, student learning outcomes, planning, and evaluation efforts.
• Recent campus visits, presentations, and training sessions made by off-island guests have helped guide the campus community toward full compliance with accreditation standards. These guests have included Dr. Wilson Hess, president of the College of the Marshall Islands; Doug Dykstra, vice chancellor for academic affairs at Hawaii Community College; Dr. Ray Somera, Academic vice president for Guam Community College; as well as ACCJC Commissioner Floyd Takeuchi and ACCJC President Dr. Barbara Beno.
• The college has made remarkable progress with the collection and analysis of institutional data in support of program review and assessment. Already, NMC’s Office of Institutional Effectiveness has made strides in attaining and distributing student achievement data and other key information.
DFS honors top employees
(DFS) — Marieta Sapong of the Galleria leather department and Stanislaus Monmog of the DFS airport shop were recognized as May DFS employees of the month during a recent awards ceremony held at the Downtown Galleria.
Recommended by her manager Tatsu Chubachi, Sapong received top honors in the sales category by being an all-around employee. She has ability to think outside of the box and always looks for opportunities to produce better results. Her actions truly reflect her daily sales performance that she was also recognized as the highest percentage of sales goals achieved. Sapong was hired in Dec. 1999.
Monmog, a stock handler at the DFS airport shop, won the award in the sales support category. He is known to be a very reliable employee with great initiative. He has ability to complete any given tasks with minimum or no supervision. He is also an excellent team player as he always makes sure that sales associates have everything they need to make sales on the floor. Monmog has been with DFS since Dec. 1999.
Both employees received employee of the month certificates and a $100 cash award. They are now eligible candidates for the 2008 employee of the year awards in their categories.
Red flag raised at 1 Rota site
(DEQ) — The Division of Environmental Quality says water samples collected from Rota’s Coral Garden contained excessive concentrations of fecal indicator bacteria — enterococci — that exceeded the CNMI’s marine water quality standards.
These bacteria can indicate the presence of human and animal waste in the water.
To adequately address public health concerns, DEQ has given this location a red flag and advises the public not to fish or swim within 300 feet of this location for the next 48 hours or until otherwise notified.
