Brown starts job at Port Authority

by Mindy Aguon

Guam - Recently tapped acting Port Authority of Guam interim general manager Joanne Brown began her first official day on the job today. On Tuesday brown met with key division managers to better understand their roles and give them an opportunity to hear her expectations and how she operates. Brown says her main objective is to ensure smooth, capable, competent operations at the port.

Her first order of business is an ongoing investigation into alleged improprieties and evidence of corruption surrounding leave and workman's compensation. Brown will also be looking into hiring irregularities that were uncovered during post audits of employment at the agency.  

"Mistakes have been made. It's unfortunate.  And at the same time it's what do we do to get back on track. What do we do to properly correct it because you need to ensure certainly that the people who hired are qualified to begin with. And then once they get through the door you have to make sure they can perform and those are reasonable expectations," she said.

The Port's board of directors asked the Civil Service Commission to review the hiring of seven recent hires.  Out of the seven, four were found to be ineligible for employment because they did not meet the position requirements.

The board is expected to send over additional hires for the commission to audit.