by Michele Catahay

Guam - While the Government of Guam waits for Balli Steel to start moving forward, village mayors are stepping up to the plate to ensure white goods and abandoned vehicles are properly collected. The Talofofo Mayor's Office is working hard to rid the village of these goods.

Program coordinator Josh Naputi says for the past several weeks, he and his fellow staffers have been working to dispose of junk metals and cars from the village. Naputi says Mayor Vicente Taitague has found every avenue to gain resources necessary to keep the village clean. "We've been waiting for about at least six months, almost a year and it's starting to pile up. We want our village to be clean, so instead of waiting for the authorities to get the stuff together, we decided to take it upon ourselves to go out and grab the resources to get it done."

As KUAM News reported, a tentative timeline to jumpstart the Abandoned Vehicles Program has finally been announced. Balli Steel spokesperson David Bell says the projects should hit the road this month. The company recently word that its notice of violation was temporarily lifted by the Guam Environmental Protection Agency.

While this is good news for mayors, Naputi says that's not stopping workers from doing the job themselves. "We'll go out and we'll extend our arms and our branches in order to get the job done," he explained.

According to Naputi, Formosa Recycling Center has been accepting the scrap metals from them, saying, "It's not difficult. You just have to want to do it. Our government, not only the mayor's council but every division of the government and we're not getting any of that any time soon so we have to find a way to take care of the situation."

Naputi says the Talofofo Mayor's Office has also been helping neighboring villages by providing equipment to haul the goods away from residential areas and homes.