(a) The Director of Administration in collaboration with the Department of Public Health and Social Services shall establish a new series of positions, called Environmental Public Health Officers, within the Division of Environmental Health to replace the Division’s Environmental Health Specialist, Engineer, and Public Health Inspector positions.

(b) The new specifications shall be based on the following criteria and then implemented as stated:

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(1) The nature of work; summary statement of examples of duties performed; a statement of minimum qualifications; and the minimum knowledge, abilities, and skills needed to perform the work of the Environmental Public Health Officer positions, which shall be the various combination of the class specifications of Public Health Inspectors, Environmental Health Specialists, and Engineers that are specific to the mission and mandates of the Division of Environmental Health of the Department of Public Health and Social Services;

(2) Hierarchical position levels of the Environmental Public Health Officer series shall begin with the Environmental Public Health Officer I, followed by Environmental Public Health Officer II, Environmental Public Health Officer III, Environmental Public Health Officer Supervisor, Environmental Health Officer Administrator, and concluding with the Chief Environmental Public Health Officer;

(3) The minimum education requirements of all positions within the Environmental Public Health Officer series shall be of the following three (3) standards: a bachelor’s degree in any field of study from any accredited college or university; a college algebra course of higher level math; and basic science courses of thirty (30) semester or forty-five (45) quarter hours;

(4) The Director of Administration shall reclassify existing Environmental Health Specialists, Engineers and Public Inspectors of the Division of Environmental Health in the Environmental Public Health Officer series in the following manner:

(A) Environmental Health Specialist I and all Public Health Inspectors shall be reclassified as an Environmental Public Health Officer I;

(B) Environmental Health Specialist II and Engineer I shall be reclassified as an Environmental Public Health Officer II;

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(C) Environmental Health Specialist III shall be reclassified as an Environmental Public Health Officer III;

(D) Environmental Health Specialist Supervisor shall be reclassified as an Environmental Public Health Administrator; and

(E) Environmental Health Specialist Administrator shall be reclassified as a Chief Environmental Public Health Officer;

(5) Existing Division of Environmental Health employee reclassified pursuant to § 6233(b)(4) shall possess the minimum education standards of § 6233(b)(3,) except that the basic science course requirements may be substituted for a minimum of ten (10) semester or fifteen (15) quarter hours; however, the full education requirements of § 6233(b)(3) shall be met to qualify for any other future position within the Environmental Public Health Officer series;

(6) Existing Division of Environmental Health employees who do not possess the minimum education standards of § 6233(b)(3), or the substitute standards of § 6233(b)(5), shall remain in his/her current position until such time the Department of Public Health and Social Services
and the Department of Administration complete an evaluation of the employee in determining whether he/she
possesses the capabilities to perform the duties and responsibilities of an Environmental Public Health Officer,
and

(A) If such employee is deemed capable, the employee shall be reclassified into the new position that best reflects his abilities, but shall be required to meet the full minimum education qualification standards of § 6233(b)(3) for any other future position within the
Environmental Public Health Officer series; and

(B) If an employee is deemed unable to perform the duties and capabilities of an Environmental Public Health Officer, he/she shall be transferred to another

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position in the government of Guam in accordance to established laws and rules and regulations;

(7) The Chief Environmental Public Health Officer of the Environmental Public Health Officer series must possess a master’s degree in the field of environmental health, environmental science, environmental engineering, biology, chemistry, public health, physical science, or natural sciences; and

(8) A pay structure consistent with a government-wide pay plan, shall be implemented for the new position series to provide competitive salaries and compensation to the employees.

(9) An incentive pay shall be provided to employees holding the Environmental Public Health Officer positions who obtain and maintain professional certification based on the following:

(A) The professional certification that allows the employee to receive the incentive pay shall be the Registered Environmental Health Specialist (REHS), the Registered Sanitarian (RS), or its equivalent, issued by the National Environmental Health Association, or its succeeding association.

(B) Provided it is reasonable, justified, and relevant to their duties and responsibilities, the Department of Public Health and Social Services (DPHSS) may at its discretion include one (1) or more additional certifications, in addition to the REHS, RS, or its equivalent, for the Environmental Public Health Officer to receive the incentive pay.

(C) The incentive pay amount for Environmental Public Health Officers shall be fifteen percent (15%) of the employee’s base salary, which shall be calculated and paid each pay period for every pay period that the employee possesses the required certification(s).

(D) DPHSS shall be responsible for maintaining and monitoring the current list of Environmental Public

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Health Officers qualified to obtain the incentive pay, and shall keep the Department of Administration apprised of these employees’ statuses.

(E) The employee must possess a valid and current required certification(s) to receive the incentive pay, and any lapse in time that the certification(s) is not current or valid shall prohibit the employee from receiving the incentive pay for that period; however, upon re-obtaining a valid and current certifications(s), the incentive pay shall be instituted again for the employee but not for any period while the employee did not possess a valid and current certification(s).

(F) The incentive pay shall be retroactive to Fiscal Year 2014, provided the employee had held such title while employed in the Division of Environmental Health of DPHSS and obtained and possessed the required certification(s) as established pursuant to the criteria in this Subsection.

(10) Basic sciences referred to in § 6233(c) of this Article shall mean any of the courses in Biological Science, Natural Science, Physical Science, and Health Science, as established by the National Environmental Health Association, or its successor.

(11) The incentive pay for Environmental Health Officers within the Division of Environmental Health, Department of Public Health and Social Services, shall be funded from the Environmental Health Fund, and/or the DPHSS Sanitary Inspection Revolving Fund and subject to the availability of funds.

SOURCE: Added by P.L. 30-138:3 (May 17, 2010). Amended by P.L.
31-233:XII:37(b) (Sept. 9, 2012). P.L. 33-185:XII:24 (Sept. 10, 2016) added subsections (i), (j), and (k), renumbered by the Compiler as (b) (9), (10), and (11).

2016 NOTE: Subsection/subitem designations added/altered to adhere to the Compiler’s codification and alpha-numeric schemes pursuant to authority granted by 1 Guam Code Ann. § 1606. Internal references were amended to correspond to the additions/alterations.

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