By Aurora Kohn
Delegate Michael San Nicolas on Tuesday vowed to provide Guam a more efficient and responsive government if elected governor.
“We will earn back the public’s trust in our government and thereafter initiate bold action plans to tackle the cost of living, affordable housing, economic diversification and highly skilled workforce development, all to make living on Guam actually livable,” San Nicolas said during his speech before members of the Rotary Club of Tumon Bay at the Lotte Hotel in Tumon.
San Nicolas will challenge Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero in the Democratic primary in August.
He said the first 100 days of any administration is a “critical” time.
“Laying the necessary foundation is what will give us the footing to be able to deliver on everything that our people are expecting us to deliver on,” San Nicolas said.
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He outlined some of the steps he intends to implement to achieve his goals, if elected governor.
“We will establish at the office of the governor a secretary of health, education and public safety, in each area, to evaluate recruitment, retention and capital improvement needs, align local, federal, nonprofit and private partners around each core mission and laterally integrate related agencies under their care and target poverty, drugs and economic disenfranchisement,” he said.
In addition, he plans to establish an inspector general in the governor’s office.
The inspector general “will receive all service and process concerns from the public” and will “make daily random agency site visits to make sure that management of agency operations in in accord with the governor’s standards.”
San Nicolas said he will also establish a “rapid response staff team” to augment high frequency constituent services during surges.
San Nicolas said he will harness the office of technology to “deliver simple, user-friendly solutions” to provide online services to the public.
The office of the governor’s legal team will “review all GovGuam regulatory processes” and will work to eliminate delays by determining “what can be resolved or expedited with self- attestation or third party providers.”
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San Nicolas said his lieutenant governor will oversee a “full assessment and inventory of public assets” for the purpose of identifying cases of “underutilization” and identify ways of maximizing the use of these assets, including use of these assets by non-profits and private entities.
“After 100 days, phones will be answered, lines should be a thing of the past, high performers will be recognized, asset utilization will be maximized, the public will be empowered, and health, education and public safety will have a transparent, actionable and accountable system in place,” he said.
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San Nicolas said all his plans are intended to transform the office of the governor from a “political operation for the dispensation of favor “ into one that “will be in active management operation, taking full responsibility for what works and what doesn’t.”
While acknowledging that his idea of a government is not “extraordinary,” San Nicolas said Guam cannot afford to continue without the kind of government he intends to put in place if he is elected governor.
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