DPW now helping mayors with junk vehicle problem
The Department of Public Works will now help mayors deal with the longstanding problem of junk and abandoned vehicles on the roadside, Mayors Council of Guam President Jesse Alig told mayors during the council's meeting last week.
Public Law 37-60, enacted in February, requires DPW to aid mayors with the junk problem, he said.
Alig, also the mayor of Piti, said he recently asked the department for help with two vehicles left in Piti, "and it worked."
The mayor said the removal took about a week, "but a week is better than never."
Village mayors have been complaining for years about the lengthy and costly process for getting rid of vehicles abandoned on the roadside, a task that's been left to village municipalities.
GovGuam in fiscal 2024 disposed of 1,377 junk vehicles, paying contractors $780,700 for the service, the Pacific Daily News reported.
Besides delays caused by procuring vendors to take care of the vehicles, a lengthy bureaucratic process requiring any car worth over $100 to go to auction has often kept abandoned vehicles on the roadside until they're either chopped up or burned.
But changes to the law made by Public 37-60, first introduced by Sen. Sabina Perez, now treat any abandoned vehicle that can't be driven on a roadway as litter that can be disposed of.
The law also requires DPW and the Guam Environmental Protection Agency to reach an agreement to help the mayors council with the issue.
"This is very important because we're all worried about junk vehicles on easements, on public easement, (and) who's going to remove the junk vehicle," Alig told his colleagues.
DPW has also found two vendors to store abandoned vehicles, Alig said.
Sinajana Mayor Robert Hofmann said he's also had three vehicles removed from his village, which he saw stored at the DPW compound.
GovGuam has been without an impound lot to store abandoned vehicles for years, which has also contributed to the problem of cars sitting idle for weeks or months after being abandoned.
But Tamuning-Tumon-Harmon Mayor Louise Rivera did raise concerns about the final destination of vehicles removed.
She said she has had a situation where she had cars put back into her village after having paid for them to be removed.
The law change also includes junked cars on private property, Alig said.
Sånta Rita-Sumai Mayor Dale Alvarez asked for a copy of the law to review himself. He said he has been trying to remove cars from two village residents who have piled up junk vehicles on their property.
"They hoard cars, and I've been fighting that with EPA. They claimed they cited them three times. I went to meet with the chief of police, he sent his men there, there's nothing they can do about it," Alvarez said.
He said officers took the license plate, but he was told it was his responsibility to remove it as mayor.
Besides aid from DPW and Guam EPA, mayors will get $1.5 million worth of money from the Recycling Revolving Fund to help pay for junk car removal in fiscal 2025.
Inalåhan Mayor Tony Chargualaf questioned whether the amount mayors get should be higher, as Recycling Revolving Fund money is collected off of annual vehicle registration.
"If the math is correct, there's about 100,000 cars at $40 a car, these guys are collecting, well, $4 million. Why are we only getting $1.5 million?" He asked.
Alig told Chargualaf his assessment was fair.
"However we cannot argue that we need the money, because we always have lapsed funds," Alig said.
In fiscal 2023, there was about $700,000 leftover from the amount mayors got, Alig said.
It was a procurement issue, according to Alig. He said the new MCOG executive director, Joyjean Arceo, is knowledgeable about GovGuam procurement, and is working to improve the processing of purchase orders.
