Lolo: If You Don’t Trust Deputy Then Stay Home

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Some directors are apparently restricting the authority of their deputies to make decisions for the department in their absence.

And the governor has gotten wind of this and has sent out a memo telling directors if they are absent from the job, the deputy director makes the decisions for their departments.

A memo from  Governor Lolo Moliga dated June 13 spells out that when a director is absent, the deputy director will assume complete authority to make decisions for their department or agency.

The governor says this will insure that the administration’s responsibility to serve our people efficiently will no be compromised in the director’s absence.

The governor says in his June 13 memo the administration has made a commitment to serve the people to the best of their ability and promptly responding to requests is paramount in satisfying this objective.

He said urgent and emergency matters require decisions to be made instantly and directors should be cognizant of the fact that their absence from the office due to off island travel to attend to meetings or to handle family matters is not going to hinder or obstruct the government from serving the public.

The governor’s memo to directors goes on to say if they don’t designate an acting director, their deputy director will take over their responsibilities along with complete authority to make decisions for their agency.

And the decisions made by the deputy director will be honored and will remain unless the director can provide justifiable reasons why the decision is to be reversed.

The governor instructed that if the director for unknown reasons decides to designate someone other than the deputy director as acting in their absence, they have to provide verbal justification.

Said Lolo, “Delegating authority to someone else other than the deputy director must be in writing and discussed with me or the lt. governor personally.”

The governor’s last words are : “If you don’t have confidence or trust in your deputy director or someone else in your office to assume the acting director designation, then the only option available to you is to stay home and manage your agency.”

KHJ News knows of one department where the deputy issued a memo regarding conduct of personnel, and the director, while still off island fired back his own memo rescinding the deputy’s directive.

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