They are still at it in the mother country — developing procedures and processes where none exist.
You would think that on a small island in the Pacific we’d all be anxious to stop filling in forms, getting them signed at various offices, and then delivering them at yet another office. We’d much prefer to focus on making a living and hope there is some time at the end of the day to relax on our beautiful beaches, or in a bar on the shore and admire the sunset while the waves gently lap at the sand.
You would think our government would absolutely understand that reasoning and if we can’t get approval with a handshake, at least reduce the permitting and licensing process to a process, not a marathon of running around with paperwork and follow-ups.
Not so.
You could hear the frustration in Lt. Gov. Joshua F. Tenorio’s voice when he spoke to the Guam Chamber on Feb. 28 at the Hilton about the permitting and licensing process in Guam.
“This is not sexy work,” he said.
Nevertheless, we Chamber members were all ears to his updates on the effort to streamline this process and make it easier, or at least less tedious.
The lieutenant governor recognized that Guam’s State Historic Preservation Office may have overstepped boundaries. We ran that story in the Journal in December 2023.
He talked of the Governor’s Task Force to Reform Government Permitting Procedures, (which issued a 19-page report in August 2019). We ran that story too in January 2023.
He talked of the One Stop Center — a brilliant idea to have all agencies represented in one office at the Guam Department of Public Works throughout the business day. The One Stop Center still operates, but not all agencies are represented all the time (Call ahead).
The Guam Economic Development Authority was going to lead the effort to implement self-certification processes as per the recommendations of the Governor’s Task Force. GEDA was going to write the rules and regulations and circulate them within weeks, the agency said almost a year ago.
We not only wrote that story in March, we reached out to the City of Phoenix in Arizona to ask how the heck their Planning and Development Department was able to see their improvements to the permitting process through to the finish line.
The lieutenant governor thinks those plans could still be implemented for “low risk” projects.
That’s what happened in Phoenix. They started slowly, and then expanded after a year. In Phoenix they still have projects that require detailed approval.
But before we implement anything on Guam, we’re going to have public hearings about the idea so the government agencies can get input.
Or we could just copy the City of Phoenix’s plan. It’s all online, together with the forms and the list of projects that are not eligible and require a more detailed examination.
Applications can be reviewed and permitting completed in one to five business days in Phoenix.
(No, that’s not a mistake — one to five business days.)
The only delay is caused by essential documents not being provided, they said in Phoenix.
Fair enough.
We have rarely run a story on a business expansion or a new entry into the market without some qualification of the intended opening date — depending on the permitting process.
I do hope some of those businesses that waited months for occupancy permits while furniture and potential staff were kept on hold or lost (the staff lost, not the furniture) will give input at the public hearings. mbj
— Maureen N. Maratita is the publisher at Glimpses Media. Publications at Glimpses Media include the Marianas Business Journal, Guam Business Magazine, The Guam Guide, Wave 105.1 FM and Power98.