Municipal council chairman George O. Hocog said they will ask Mayor Melchor A. Mendiola to “limit” the nominations to the commission.
The mayor recently appointed Vicente Atalig but the council has postponed the confirmation hearing.
Atalig has already submitted most of the documents required by his nomination.
Currently, the gaming commission has three members: Laura Maria I. Manglona, chairwoman; Ephrem S. Taimanao, vice chairman; and Abelina T. Mendiola, secretary.
Its rules and regulations provide the commission to have five members.
But Hocog said there’s no new casino investor and the current commissioners can perform the commission’s basic responsibilities.
”We also have limited funding this time,” he said.
In a separate interview, Mendiola said “it’s nice to have a full commission so it can always continue conducting business in case one or two members cannot attend due to an emergency.”
But he believes the current members can handle the commission’s operation.
However, in the future if new investors will come and the government has sufficient funds, he said he will nominate a fifth member of the commission.
On Tinian, after the three gaming commissioners retired, the municipal council told the mayor to nominate only one commissioner.
Tinian commissioners each get some $100,000 a year in salary and benefits.
The Rota commission earlier received a budget of $228,865 for the salaries of commissioners.
