Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Afalava Eliki Afalava is now officially the director of the Department of Administrative Services, following his endorsement by the Senate yesterday in a 15-1 vote while the House gave its approval earlier this week.

Prior to the Senate vote, Afalava appeared earlier in the day before the Senate Government Operations Committee for his confirmation hearing where, Sen. Fonoti Tafa’ifa Aufata noted “drug testing” for all employees was mentioned in the nominee’s resume. She asked about this issue.

Afalava responded that it was last month that drug tests came back positive for two employees of the department. One employee works for maintenance and the other is a security guard. He explained the two employees went through the process required under the law when someone tests positive and this includes suspension for a period of time. (Samoa News notes that the drug testing policy is overseen by the Department of Human Resources.)

It was learned two-questions later from Fonoti that she was looking at a resume belonging to a different cabinet-nominee.

Another issue raised during the 15-minute hearing, was the lack of parking at the A.P. Lutali Executive Office Building in Utulei. Afalava said that everyone is aware that ASG doesn’t have sufficient land space around the building for more parking areas and that a request has been made to the governor to expand parking space — probably at the front of the building, he said.

Several senators who spoke during the hearing commended Afalava for his long service in government and supported his nomination to the department, where he has served as deputy director since 2009.