The employment status of 60 emergency hires for the Department of Search and Rescue is uncertain at this time but Acting Governor Pulumataala Ae Ae Jr. has confirmed that they have not been paid since they were hired in January.
Speaking with KHJ News the Acting Governor said he learned that the department has sent all of the young men and women who were hired, home.
Some parents have complained that after seven weeks reporting to work daily their children have not been paid.
The Acting Governor called meetings Thursday with the directors of the Department of Search and Rescue and ARPA Oversight Office to discuss the status of the emergency hires.
Pulumataala said he learned from the meetings that the DSAR was of the understanding that ARPA funding can be used to pay the emergency hires. But the Director of ARPA Puialii James Faumuina said funding that had been approved for DSAR was to build a new headquarters for marine patrol, not to pay for personnel.
The emergency hires were assigned to EMS, Marine Patrol and Fire Division and were intended to address a shortage of manpower. Director of DSAR Utumoe Alefosio said at the time that they would be trained in the department’s first academy which was to be held this month.
