Prior to his election, the board, presided by acting chairwoman Camacho, discussed the financial transactions of the scholarship program under the leadership of its former chairwoman, Vice Speaker Felicidad T. Ogumoro, Saipan-Covenant.
Jeff Tomokane, the Saipan mayor’s office chief of staff and the acting SHEFA administrator, disclosed several issues which need immediate action.
Among these are the purchase order of $1,500 from a law firm for payment of a legal opinion sought by SHEFA; $2,450 payment for the printing of 100 annual reports; and $170 payment for the printing of the program’s letterhead.
Camacho said the “legal opinion” purchase order was addressed to Ogumoro who had questioned the legality of Camacho and Josephine T. Sablan’s appointments.
The nominations of Camacho and Sablan were confirmed by the Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation after the required deadline.
Former Rep. William S. Torres, the then-SHEFA adviser, also questioned the legitimacy of Camacho and Sablan’s appointments.
The board, after Camacho became acting chairwoman, decided not to renew the annual consultancy services of Torres and Sue Dris. Each received $40,000 a year for their contracts.
During the board meeting on Friday, Camacho said they didn’t have any information regarding the approval of the purchase order to seek legal opinion.
Board member Jose C. Leon Guerrero, who was elected vice chairman, suggested they have to look into the minutes of the previous meetings of the board.
Regarding the SHEFA annual report, Camacho said the board agreed on a “cost-effective” layout which would have cost less than $1,000.
However, she added, what was actually published was different from what they had agreed upon.
Her and Sablan’s names and pictures were removed from the annual report, Camacho said.
Tomokane, for his part, recommended getting additional telephone lines, a copier machine and the installation of a new office software.
“We will ask funding for these items so we could also eliminate human errors. But we have to be realistic here because of our limited operational budget,” Camacho said.
Guerrero said the board should ask the Legislature’s assistance in reinstating SHEFA’s $100,000 operational budget.
During the meeting, the board named Guerrero as the awards committee chairman. Sablan will head the policy and procedure panel while John K. Tenorio will chair the appeals committee.
Mafnas declined to accept the chairmanship of program and development committee until he sees the job description, duties and responsibilities of the panel.
The chairmanship of the finance, legislative and community affairs committee will be decided by the board in its next meeting.
The board also agreed to revisit its bylaws and require the election of officers every year.
SHEFA, a scholarship program for eligible Saipan college students, is funded by poker fee collections.
