Contractors licensing board talks pulling back on executive director approval powers

During a board meeting, the Guam Contractor's Licensing Board approved the resignation of former Executive Director Cecil "Buddy" Orsini, and appointed Linda Ybanez as the Acting Executive Director. A resolution passed by the Board in 2019 allowed Orsini to authorize the renewal of licenses, testing, essays, and written decisions and findings without the quorum of the board, but the Board now wants to rescind this.


"That authority was given with the understanding that there was no issues with the application, that no red flags that are raised, that if all things are in good order that the director would have the authority then to approve and this was also in an attempt, with the intend to be more effective, expeditious in the renewal of process," board member Selina Ashland said. "So I want to clarify that it wasn't a blanket authority to approve any applications that came across to . . . if there was even one question it was to be brought to the Board."

The Board also rescinded the Findings a

nd Decisions for JMI Edison and G4S Security because they exceeded Orsini's authority.

Last month, the Public Auditor dismissed appeals made by both JMI Edison and G4S Security after they alleged their competing winning bidders lacked a specialized contractor's license. Both companies also emailed proposed findings to the former Executive Director, who signed off on the documents without the presence of other CLB board members. Orsini later resigned after Public Auditor BJ Cruz alleged fraud.


"What we've got in these two findings and decisions that were issued by Mr. Orsini, both parties being the contractors, were afforded no opportunity to appeal to the Board, or to make an argument that the CLB staff was incorrect," Assistant Attorney General Tom Keeler said. 

However, during the meeting, CLB investigators confirmed that JMI Edison's competing bidder, Menzie's Aviation, did in fact lack the appropriate contractor license and that the only potential error in the prior investigations were the titles of the document. JMI Edison has since taken their case to court. The matters of JMI Edison and G4S remain open and will be revisited when the board reconvenes on March 16.