Local News

Disaster recovery leader says RISE West Virginia is ‘stagnant’

Clendenin’s main street as it looked two days after the flood. Shauna Johnson/WVMetroNews.com

By: Brad McElhinny | Posted: May 29, 2018 | Source: WV MetroNews

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Jack Lipphardt, director of West Virginia United Methodist Disaster Recovery, is frustrated by the pace of long-term flood recovery.

In mid-May, Lipphardt wrote a letter to Sen. Joe Manchin’s office, asking for assistance.

Jack Lipphardt

“I write to seek your help in moving WV RISE from its stagnant dormancy to the promises made to The United Methodist Church, partner ecumenical and secular bodies, funding partners, volunteer work team partners and especially to survivors of the disaster,” Lipphardt wrote.

The letter was sent right before it became public that Gov. Jim Justice’s administration had paused a contract with a consultant tasked with managing federal flood relief dollars. The administration was concerned the contract, worth up to $17 million, hadn’t gotten appropriate oversight.

But Lipphardt, like other close observers of West Virginia’s flood relief effort, says the flow of federal relief spending was slow even before that.

“We were told the first homes would be under construction in August of 2017. Then September. Then October,” Lipphardt wrote to Manchin.

By Feb. 5 this year, Lipphardt wrote, concerned groups gathered at the Clay County Courthouse. Concerns were raised about delays and “requirements that make no sense given West Virginia’s sociology and geography.”

At that meeting, he said, a representative of the West Virginia Development Office assured everyone that 50 houses would soon be under construction.

Lipphardt concluded, “To date, not one house has been constructed. Not one house has had construction to begin. Two mobile homes have been placed but neither are set up nor yet habitable.”

Lipphardt letter to Senator Joe Manchin

Contacted this Tuesday, Lipphardt said his concerns haven’t abated.

“We’ve been frustrated with them for quite some time,” he said. “We were excited a year ago.”

RISE West Virginia, in an official action plan and elsewhere, said it would assist up to 1,200 moderate- and low-income homeowners.

West Virginia had almost $150 million to put toward long-term recovery. The money was in the form of Community Development Block Grants for disaster recovery through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

That money is also meant to help West Virginia’s business and infrastructure rebuild over the long haul.

The official kickoff for RISE was last Aug. 2. “The funds from the RISE program will help West Virginians get back on their feet and on the path to recovery,” Governor Justice stated in a news release announcing the start of the program.

But more time passed.

West Virginia made its request to start using the money this past Jan. 29. HUD gave its OK on Feb. 20.

“The delays just kept coming, people tangled up in red tape,” Lipphardt said.

“It’s a real frustration. The clients are upset and angry. People like us with the United Methodist Church and others are really bothered by this.”

West Virginia is listed as a “slow spender” in the most recent grant financial report Housing and Urban Development.

That designation means spending less than 10 percent of monthly pace required to fully use the grant by target closeout date.

Of the $149,875,000 West Virginia has available, the state still has $148,736,333 left on hand.

The perceived availability of millions in federal dollars has meant that nonprofits avoided spending money that could instead be used elsewhere, Lipphardt said.

“We’ve been told ‘Don’t spend your money on things that RISE can take care of,’ but the result is, people are stuck,” he said.

Many of those who have applied have gotten tripped up by federal regulations, he said.

RISE has a 166-page guide to policies and procedures.

“I don’t know where the brokenness is, but obviously something is broken,” Lipphardt said.

The Department of Commerce manages the RISE West Virginia disaster recovery program through the West Virginia Development Office and West Virginia Community Advancement and Development Office.

The Department of Commerce has not yet responded to emerging complaints that progress has been slow.

Lipphardt suggests a point person who reports directly to the governor might be more effective: “Somebody who would walk into the governor’s office with muddy boots and say ‘Here’s what we’ve got to do to make this happen.’”

Roger Hanshaw

Delegate Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, is one of the co-chairmen of a legislative committee meant to examine flood relief and prevention in West Virginia.

Hanshaw, too, has expressed frustrations about the pace of long-term relief.

“We’ve had duplication of services, we’ve had miscommunication, we’ve had breakdown of communication,” Hanshaw said today on MetroNews’ “Talkline.”

Hanshaw said West Virginia’s first response to the flood was good.

“But then there’s the second line of response, and that’s the response that goes on when the flood water goes down… and that’s where the real breakdown has been,” he said.

Flooding happens so often in West Virginia, the state has to get better at response, he said.

“Mistakes will happen. There will be breakdowns. That’s just the nature of a natural disaster,” he said. “Once the immediate urgency fades, we’ve got to get this stuff right. Paperwork glitches and administrative nightmares shouldn’t keep people from returning to normalcy.”

Brad McElhinny is the statewide correspondent for MetroNews. Brad is a Parkersburg native who spent more than 20 years at the Charleston Daily Mail. Contact him at brad.mcelhinny@wvmetronews.com or on Twitter @BradMcElhinny.

May 29, 2018 in 2016 FLOOD, Community News, Local News, Long Term Aftermath & Recovery, NEWS, Politics

UPDATE: Elk River Clean Up postponed due to weather

By: Jessie Shafer | Posted: May 29, 2018 | Source: WOWKTV

KANAWHA COUNTY, WV (WOWK) – The Elk River Clean up, scheduled to take place on June 2 has been postponed to June 9, 2018.

Mayor Shana Clendenin said the decision was made to switch up the dates as a result of the weather forecast and river access.

According to the Facebook page for the event, the Town of Clendenin along with the Kanawha County Commission, Chuck Grishaber with the Kanawha County Planning Department, and 25045- A New Clendenin are still looking for volunteers.

“Everyone will meet at Smith’s parking lot in Clendenin at 9 a.m. and be disbursed to gather the garbage”, the page states.

Anyone interested in helping may check out the Facebook event page by clicking here. 

May 29, 2018 in Community News, Life & Style, Local News, NEWS, Outdoors & Recreation

Multiple Kanawha County schools dismiss early after power outage

Schools in the Elkview and Frame areas of Kanawha County are without power and have dismissed for the day. (MGN Online/Pierce Womack / Twitter)

By: Anna Taylor | Posted: May 29, 2018 | Source: WVAH

KANAWHA COUNTY, W.Va. (WCHS/WVAH) — Several Kanawha County schools have closed for the day due to a lack of power.

Herbert Hoover High, Elkview Middle, Bridge Elementary and Clendenin Elementary schools closed at 8 a.m. Tuesday.

Appalachian Power’s website listed a tree as the source of the problem. The power is out for 2,169 customers in the Frame and Elkview areas. The outage occurred about 5:30 a.m.

It is estimated that power will be restored about noon.

Countywide, Kanawha has 2,519 customers reported to be without power.

May 29, 2018 in Education News, Local News, NEWS

Jack Lipphardt: RISE WV must help flood survivors (Gazette)

By: Jack Lipphardt | Posted: May 28, 2018 | Source: WV Gazette-Mail

WVUMC Disaster Recovery Team in Clendenin

Disaster Recovery team members of the West Virginia Conference of the United Methodist Church pause during work on Feb. 9 at a flood-affected home in Clendenin. Pictured from left are Construction Coordinator Buck Edwards, WVCUMC Director of Disaster Recovery the Rev. Jack Lipphardt, “A New Vision with Hope” Executive Director J.F. Lacaria, case managers Miranda Nabers and Grace Msisha and Construction Coordinator Chad Faris. Courtesy Photo

Thank you for your editorial Friday, May 25 regarding the failure of RISE West Virginia to keep its promises to survivors of the storms and flood disaster of June 23, 2016, as well as to the United Methodist Church of West Virginia and our ecumenical and secular partners.

I hope your essay helps in moving RISE West Virginia from its stagnant dormancy to the promises made. From increasing and more frustrating conversations with our disaster recovery partners, particularly those of us active with funding, volunteer work teams and disaster case management, I know the United Methodist Church is not alone having trusted what we were told by RISE West Virginia, West Virginia Development Office officials and the consulting firm of Horne LLC while disaster survivors have been told to wait — and wait.

We were thrilled to hear that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, through the Community Development Block Grant program, would provide $104 million for disaster recovery. As news unfolded, the amount increased to $150 million.

It was a mystery to me why this important grant was lodged in the Development Office in the state’s Commerce Department, where there is no organizational motivation to address disaster recovery and no one with any experience or expertise in disaster response. The Resiliency Board is composed of eight people, but do any of them have any knowledge or experience in disaster recovery? Have they met?

At a meeting held June 15, 2017, at the Sports Performance Center at The Greenbrier resort, people from the Development Office and the consulting firm excitedly described the RISE West Virginia program and provided training for disaster case managers, including our United Methodist disaster case managers. They provided iPads programmed to provide easy intake for client referrals to RISE. At the meeting, we were given details of the grant and how it would be used.

Those of us present that day were told that 1,000 homes would be built in the 12-county disaster zone (80 percent in the counties of Greenbrier, Clay, Nicholas and Kanawha) in less than a year.

We were also told that RISE expected to serve 600 to 800 households. That math doesn’t work very well, but I report to you what we were told to indicate the magnitude and efficiency of work that was promised: 1,000 houses to be built, preferably by local construction contractors, in less than a year.

Numerous other details were provided, including Social Vulnerability Index priorities, single-family home construction or rehab, mobile-home replacement, elevation remediation, temporary rental assistance and flood insurance.

We were told the first houses would be under construction in August 2017. Then came the delay to September. Then October. Christmas passed with no RISE activity.

On Feb. 5 of this year, after numerous concerns were raised about RISE’s delays and requirements that make no sense, given West Virginia’s sociology and geography, a meeting was held at the Clay County Courthouse to discuss this. I attended, along with ecumenical and other partners, because we were being embarrassed by RISE, being caught in the web of RISE’s delays.

We further wanted to let the citizens who attended know what we were doing to assist recovery apart from and in spite of RISE. Representatives from the offices of Sen. Manchin, Sen. Capito, Congressman Mooney and FEMA were present. A staff member of the Development Office assured everyone present that, during that month, February, 50 homes would be under construction. When pressed about that number, he said that 30-some for sure would be under construction.

To date, not one house has had construction begin. I understand that two mobile homes have been placed, but are neither set up nor yet habitable.

In Roane County, I can point to three RISE applicants who are held up for unexplainable reasons, all three elderly women, two in their 70s and one 85. Ecumenical and voluntary organizations have been told by RISE West Virginia not to spend donated dollars on projects that RISE could take. This is a fast-growing immorality, as we see it, keeping people from recovery while HUD and RISE fool around with this.

One of my case managers has a large family whose house was destroyed in Kanawha County. The Elk River undercut the land where their home sat. Their lot stretches up the hill from the precise site of the former home. RISE West Virginia has told them it will not build unless it is on the exact previous site, which is now consumed by the reformed river’s edge.

With generous gifts from three Charleston United Methodist churches to fund their new house, and with help from our friends with Mennonite Disaster Services who will provide the labor to build it, we will see to their recovery.

Our other case manager has a person in Nicholas County whose house was destroyed by the flood but which now has mine drainage washing the site. As with the case above, a new house could be built on his land farther up the hill from the house that was destroyed, but RISE has disqualified him because he does not want to live in a house that RISE would build on the mine-drainage-affected former house footprint.

As I write this, the United Methodist Church has begun construction to care for this survivor and get him into a home on suitable land that is his.

Our United Methodist case managers have other clients who have been disqualified by RISE’s crippling rules or are caught in the unconscionable and strangling delays. To reiterate, we are not alone with this problem that is affecting ecumenical and secular partners, especially our survivor families.

The West Virginia United Methodist Church, our ecumenical partners and other volunteer organizations have been active since day one, from early response to recovery, and continue to move forward to help survivors move from untenable, dangerous situations into residences that are safe, secure and sanitary. We hope for the day when RISE West Virginia executes its promises.

Jack Lipphardt, mayor of Wheeling from 1992 to 2000, was senior pastor of Johnson Memorial United Methodist Church. After the June 2016 floods, he has been director of West Virginia United Methodist Disaster Recovery.

May 28, 2018 in 2016 FLOOD, Local News, Long Term Aftermath & Recovery, NEWS, Politics

Kanawha main library purging 51K items ahead of renovation, expansion

Kanawha County Library Facilities Manager Tim Venitsoras looks over boxes of books in the basement of the main library in Charleston. The books are ready to go to a warehouse for storage before the annual book sale in October. Chris Dorst, Gazette-Mail

By: Ryan Quinn, Education Reporter | Posted: May 28, 2018 | Source: WV Gazette-Mail

In November, the Kanawha County Public Library system’s board unveiled and voted for an estimated $27 million renovation and expansion of the main library in Charleston.

Despite the planned 20,000-square-foot size increase, the system had begun working to remove about one-fifth of the 252,745 items in the Charleston library’s physical collection, and system Director Alan Engelbert said it probably will remain at about 200,000 items when the revamped main library opens.

Engelbert said the items are being sold, donated or, in certain cases, simply discarded.

The expanded library will have more spaces, he said, for people to meet and create, including a cafe, craft room and an expanded children’s area. He said it will include lower shelving and wider aisles that won’t be able to fit as many books but will “be a really nice collection to browse and use.”

He provided a breakdown by “broad collection type” of projected total items to be removed. He said the numbers represent the “minimum that we need to achieve in order to be able to fit our collection” in the new space.

The projected 51,478-item reduction is anticipated to include removing the following (original collection numbers are as of September):

  • 24,078 (33 percent) of 72,614 “reference nonfiction” items
  • 15,381 (16 percent) of 94,335 “children” items
  • 6,630 (20 percent) of 32,896 “fiction” items
  • 2,084 (29 percent) of 7,238 “young adult” items
  • 1,854 (35 percent) of 5,350 “mass-market paperback” items
  • 1,085 (13 percent) of 8,406 “audiobook/Playaway” items (Playaways are audiobooks with their own MP3 players)
  • 314 (3 percent) of 10,915 “DVD” items
  • 52 (1 percent) of 7,517 “CD music” items
  • 0 out of 13,474 “miscellaneous” items

“We are reaching a balance between spaces for people and other types of activities libraries are engaged in while maintaining a very strong collection, both physical and electronic,” Engelbert said.

He said some of the children’s items are from the 1950s and ’60s; young-adult items tend to change rapidly in popularity; paperbacks tend to have condition issues and the reference collection is shrinking “because of the ever-increasing reliance on electronic sources.” He also said “nonfiction will not have as much space in the renovated building.”

Engelbert said between 30,000 and 35,000 items have already been withdrawn, with the majority currently in a warehouse, awaiting futures outside the county library system. He said he thinks there are, easily, 3,000 boxes of books there.

He said most removed — “weeded,” in library jargon — items are put up for sale at the annual book sale in October. He said relatively few of the withdrawn books were likely sold at the 2017 sale, and with the larger amount of recent weeding and Charleston Civic Center renovations limiting the size of last year’s sale, he expects this October’s sale to include an unusually large number of books.

After the sale, nonprofits may take what they want, Engelbert said. He said some items the system doesn’t think would be bought are given to Better World Books, a company whose website says it has “donated over 21 million books to partner programs around the world.”

Engelbert said other books are given to the West Virginia Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority or donated to local entities. He said items typically discarded straightaway include beat-up books and outdated travel, medical, legal and tax books.

Monika Jaensson, president of the library system’s board, said a “significant” number of books have gone to the new Clendenin branch, which is opening Wednesday. The June 2016 flood wrecked the previous branch there.

She also said local entities, like The Bob Burdette Center, are receiving books.

“If people can’t walk in the library because the shelves are too tight, then we’re not [serving] anyone,” Jaensson said.

She said she anticipates that the collection reduction is “going to actually increase the circulation,” while allowing space for lectures and presentations.

“We cannot continue to have the massive amount of books that we have in order to be a new library, to be a 21st-century library,” she said, noting that many now use electronic devices to pick up books. “We’re going to bring conversation back into the library. Important. Dialogue. Important. Learning.”

Pam Smith, president of the Public Library Association, a division of the Chicago, Illinois-based American Library Association, said it’s “very predominant that there’s competition for space in libraries when it comes to how people use space.”

“We need to be much more than a warehouse for books,” Smith said. “I think the focus on serving people and building skills and community, that’s the most important thing libraries can do. That said, part of that role is connecting people with ideas and books.”

But she noted that information comes in various ways, including through physical books, digitally and through people.

Monica Garcia Brooks, Marshall University’s associate vice president for libraries and online learning, said she has seen libraries change, including at Marshall, to where patrons are still using collections, but they might be doing so “on a device or camped out on a comfy chair using our wireless.”

“Libraries would prefer to buy, I don’t know, 30,000 e-books in one fell swoop, knowing that all of their patrons could use those materials 24/7, no matter where they are,” Brooks said.

Reach Ryan Quinn at ryan.quinn@wvgazettemail.com, facebook.com/ryanedwinquinn, 304-348-1254 or follow @RyanEQuinn on Twitter.

May 28, 2018 in Education News, Life & Style, Local News, NEWS

Roger Wolfe: Turning a painful tragedy into a legacy

By: Roger Wolfe | Posted: May 27, 2018 | Source: Williamson Daily News

On a fateful evening in August of 2012 in Roane County two West Virginia State Police (WVSP) Officers were gunned down during what should have been a routine traffic stop. Corporal Marshall Bailey and Trooper Eric Workman were killed in the line of duty.

The death of the officers marked a dark day, one of the worst losses the WVSP has experienced in the existence of the agency as it lost two officers in the line of duty. The loss of the officers is felt by many still today.

Both officers were known as great role models for all that knew them. Trooper Workman was known in particular for his many athletic accomplishments and his love for the outdoors.

Workman was an avid hunter and fisherman and spent a great deal of time pursuing the muskies anywhere they could be found. Since his death, his family and friends have found a fitting way to honor the young man and help promote the things he felt so passionate about.

Shortly after his death, the Trooper Eric Workman Foundation was formed to honor the fallen officer and the first Eric Workman Memorial Muskie Tournament was held. This year will mark the 6th Annual occurrence of the tournament.

The growing muskie fishing community across the state has gotten behind and gotten involved with the annual event and it is an enormous success each year. This year the event will kick off at 12 a.m. on Saturday, June 2, 2018 on waters all over the state of West Virginia.

The event culminates on Sunday, June 3rd at 2 p.m. with a banquet and awards ceremony. The contest and the prizes aren’t the end of the story for this tournament.

The proceeds from the event are used for the betterment of the resources that Workman loved and for educational outreach and drug prevention programs around the state.

The Foundation also provides a $1,000 scholarship for a deserving Clay County High School student in Workman’s honor.

Over the previous years, the foundation has gone above and beyond to help the WVDNR improve muskie fisheries all over the state. The foundation has provided much needed items such as fathead minnows, a favorite food of growing muskies, to state hatcheries to help grow out fingerling muskie to be stocked all around the state.

The foundation has also donated various equipment to help the fisheries biologists do their job and monitor the progress of muskie statewide.

Equipment such as electric fish handling gloves which greatly help the biologists in the harvesting of eggs from wild muskie to be raised at hatcheries for stocking.

The foundation has also purchased PIT tag readers that enable anglers to scan tiny tags that have been implanted into previously caught fish and identify the fish, so they can collect data about the particular fish to help the WVDNR keep track of growth rates, fish movement and event harvest information.

The foundation is continually finding ways to help promote and protect the resources that Trooper Workman cared so deeply for. Each year the tournament continues to grow proving that even in tragedy, good things can continue to prosper.

The tournament is catch and release only and each angler is encouraged to quickly snap the required picture and return the fish to the water unharmed. It is great when anglers come together for some great fun and it is even better when it is for a wonderful cause.

Our officers and first responders aren’t thanked enough for all that they do and for putting themselves in danger to protect us and the resources we all hold dear.

Even in the horrendous event that took two dedicated officers, it is comforting to know that in the memory of those lost they are being honored by promoting the things that were near and dear to them. Even in the absence of Trooper Eric Workman, he continues to make an impact on fish that he loved.

For more information on the Trooper Eric Workman Foundation or the upcoming tournament, check them out at www.eworkman.org or look them up on social media. There is still time to get registered and get out and chase some muskies at your favorite fishing spot and help a great cause in the process.

Roger Wolfe is an avid outdoorsman and has spent most of his life hunting and fishing and writes a weekly outdoors column for HD Media. He is a resident of Chapmanville and can be reached via email at wolfeii@hotmail.com.

May 27, 2018 in Community News, Local News, NEWS, Outdoors & Recreation

WV Homeland Security can’t account for trailers, vehicle, water pumps, radios

MetroNews staff photo

By: Brad McElhinny | Posted: May 26, 2018 | Source: WV MetroNews

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — State officials have been trying to make sure the Department of Homeland Security can find all its equipment.

A Legislative Audit published this past week shows that the agency hasn’t been able to account for $254,000 in trailers. The most expensive of those is a Pepro Trailer valued at $113,075.

The agency also is responsible for a utility task vehicle valued at $8,999 that can’t be found.

“Additionally, the Legislative Auditor was informed that assets of considerable value have been loaned out to other state agencies in the past,” the audit stated.

“However, due to the lack of inventory management over the years, Homeland Security is currently unable to locate or account for these items.”

And the agency indicated it has items located in remote locations that haven’t been inventoried. Those include items such as water pumps, valued at about $1,500 each, or radio equipment.

“The Legislative Auditor concludes that this is problematic not only because the Division uses millions of dollars in state and federal funds to purchase items, but also because the federal government gives the Division items of considerable value to be used to carry out its mission,” the audit stated.

“Despite this, no effort has been made in recent years to account for these assets and protect them against theft or misuse.”

The agency says it knows it has a problem.

“We recognize the significance of the asset problem and have and are taking major steps to correct this issue,” Homeland Security officials wrote in a response.

The problem is that the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management hasn’t put adequate controls in place to keep track of its equipment, the Legislative Auditor concluded.

Early this year, it dawned on Homeland Security officials that the division’s inventory was not updated or accurate, according to the audit.

A minimal number of fixed assets had been inventoried from 2013 to 2018. And it had been several years since the last physical inventory and reconciliation.

The agency gave a few reasons for its inattentiveness.

Previously, the agency did not have a section or a particular person with the specific responsibility of asset management.

“Rather, the finance and accounting manager was given the responsibility of asset management, and previous individuals in that position did not place much emphasis on it,” the audit stated.

The agency also indicated that when it transitioned to the wvOasis system, there was not much effort toward ensuring a smooth transition for asset management.

To improve, Homeland Security hired a part-time, temporary employee on Jan. 8 to make sure the agency has all its stuff.

The employee was trained at Surplus Property and started putting together an updated inventory, according to the audit. The worker is conducting walkthroughs of agency facilities, listing the assets and then having them entered into wvOasis.

Roman Prezioso

That process is how the agency discovered nine camping and box trailers that had been on its asset list could not be located.

The missing trailers drew the focus of Senate Minority Leader Roman Prezioso as he listened to the audit results during interim meetings.

“Where do you think these trailers are? How can they come up missing?” Prezioso asked.

The director for Homeland Security, Jimmy Gianato, responded that the trailers were provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency in 2001.

State Homeland Security Chief Jimmy Gianato

Back then, Gianato said, they were distributed across the state to counties, state agencies and non-profits. At some point, he said, the trailers were titled to the Office of Emergency Services.

“We have been vigorously trying to locate all of those, and these are the ones we still have to locate,” Gianato said.

“Some have been destroyed, the roofs have started to leak, the insides have rotted out and they’ve been surplused. If you can imagine, a cheap FEMA trailer in 2001 and now we’re at 2017 — a lot of the counties after determining no more use instead of returning them they just disposed of them.”

Homeland Security has developed a corrective action plan with target dates to resolve its issues.

Those included meetings with all staff to emphasize a culture of keeping track of property, a review of agency policies to be completed by the end of this month and dedicating some employees to tracking property.

State Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety Secretary Jeff Sandy

Jeff Sandy, the secretary for the Division of Military Affairs and Public Safety, said he wants to take on a broad-based effort to keep track of materials.

“One of our weaknesses we have is separation of duties,” Sandy said.

“There will be a separate entity — Division of Administrative Services — that will do the inventories, which will make sure the money is spent properly and individuals — not to say anything about Jimmy — but Jimmy and other individuals will have that separation from that, so they know that when an employee orders something or has something that needs to be on an inventory an independent person that can be uninfluenced is handling that.”

Brad McElhinny is the statewide correspondent for MetroNews. Brad is a Parkersburg native who spent more than 20 years at the Charleston Daily Mail.Contact him at brad.mcelhinny@wvmetronews.com or on Twitter @BradMcElhinny.

May 26, 2018 in Local News, NEWS, Politics

Kanawha Board of Education moves ahead with Herbert Hoover demolition plan

By: Douglas Soule, Staff Writer | Posted: May 25, 2018 | Source: WV Gazette-Mail

The Kanawha County Board of Education voted during a Friday special session to remove a previous motion that required the West Virginia School Building Authority board’s approval for a contract to demolish Herbert Hoover High School.

“I think we need to go ahead and move forward with the demolition of Herbert Hoover,” Kanawha board member Ryan White said during the meeting.

The contract allotted $382,777 to Charleston-based Rodney Loftis & Son Contracting, even though a lower bid of $338,888 was offered by Baltimore- and Fairmont-based Reclaim Co. LLC.

As a result, Reclaim filed a protest against the county school board and the SBA, said Jim Withrow, general counsel for Kanawha schools.

On May 10, the school board voted to give Rodney Loftis & Son the demolition project, but added an amendment that required the SBA board to give approval to the contract, as well.

At the time, White said he didn’t know why the SBA staff recommended against Reclaim’s bid.

“Our thought process was their staff is not accountable to us, so let’s have our approval be contingent on [the SBA board’s] approval, because their staff is accountable to them,” White said.

On Monday, the SBA board members on the Construction Committee decided not to put a vote on the demolition contract approval on future agendas, and board Executive Director David Roach also said he would not put the matter on an agenda.

A bid tabulation sheet provided with the special meeting’s agenda said that Reclaim was “disqualified per SBA recommendation.”

Reclaim wrote “not applicable” on a form where bidders must list the subcontractors and equipment/material suppliers they plan to use for a project.

While Reclaim legal representatives said May 10 that the company didn’t plan to use any subcontractors, the form says that, “if no subcontractors will be used to complete the project, indicate on the SBA Form 123 that all work will be self-performed and provide the name and contractor license number of the contractor that will be performing the work.”

The form also says the “SBA shall be the sole interpreter of this document to ensure that the information provided by the prime contractor meets the intent of the form.”

An SBA official said Reclaim also submitted this form to only the county, not the SBA, despite the wording at the top that said the form “must be submitted to the SBA within two hours of the close of bid.”

The bid protest filed by Reclaim argues that the form sent to the county was forwarded to the SBA and that irregularities in the form should have been waived for the lowest contract bidder.

The demolition project will be paid for by the SBA and Federal Emergency Management Agency flood recovery funds, Withrow said.

May 25, 2018 in 2016 FLOOD, Community News, Education News, Local News, Long Term Aftermath & Recovery, NEWS, Politics

House Speaker calls for sped up school rebuilding from June 2016 flood

Tim Armstead – Staff photo by Rusty Marks

By: Jake Jarvis | Posted: May 25, 2018 | Source: WV News

CHARLESTON — House of Delegates Speaker Tim Armstead has called on state and local officials to speed up the process for rebuilding a handful of Kanawha County schools destroyed in the June 2016 flood.

In a letter dated Wednesday, Armstead, R-Kanawha, asked several officials to review the timeline for rebuilding the schools.

“As you are aware, students in this area have been through a tremendous ordeal, and it is essential that we provide them access to completed classrooms as soon as possible,” Armstead wrote.

Armstead sent the letter after hearing a presentation from the state School Building Authority during an interim meeting of the Joint Legislative Committee on Flooding earlier this week. He included a copy of part of the presentation in his letter.

The letter was addressed to a regional administrator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the state superintendent of schools, the executive director of the School Building Authority and the cabinet secretary for the state Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety.

“It is essential that we make every effort to complete these schools as soon as possible in order to eliminate any further negative impact on the education of our children due to the June 2016 flood event,” Armstead wrote. “I would also request that you notify my office if the Legislature can be of assistance in streamlining the process for completion on these buildings.”

The presentation addressed the new Clendenin-Bridge Elementary School and the new Herbert Hoover High School. The former is expected to be completed by the fall of 2020, the documents show, while the latter won’t be completed for another year.

“We totally agree, and we’ve been pushing since we got started to move these processes up,” said Ben Ashley, the SBA’s interim director of architectural services. “The problem we’re finding is, unlike a traditional SBA project, there are so many hoops you have to jump through.”

Ashley said the presentation Armstead referenced was actually the worst-case scenario of what could happen. He said the SBA didn’t want to provide an earlier estimate to lawmakers and then not deliver.

Besides needing to jump through federal hoops to work with FEMA, Ashley said there is a surprising new hoop the projects might have to get through. A certain kind of bat, called the Indiana bat, is endangered and has been spotted in the area.

Federal wildlife officials are going to complete a study to see if they are actually these type of endangered bats in the trees for the site construction. If they are present, Ashley explained, federal regulations will prevent crews from removing the trees between the months of March and November.

Besides bats, Ashley said the SBA would be doing everything in its power to streamline the process. But at the end of the day, the work can only be completed so fast.

Earlier this week, a handful of SBA members didn’t want to vote on awarding a contract to demolish the old Herbert Hoover High School, but Ashley said that shouldn’t slow down the process for building the new schools.

“We totally share their frustrations,” Ashley said. “While the public might be upset now, we’ve been upset for months and months trying to push this process forward.”

Jake Jarvis can be reached by phone at 304-935-0144, on Twitter at @NewsroomJake or by email at jjarvis@statejournal.com.

May 25, 2018 in 2016 FLOOD, Local News, Long Term Aftermath & Recovery, NEWS, Politics

World Hunger Day is May 28th

By: Debi O’Dell | Posted: May 14, 2018 | Source: Elk River Backpack Blessings

THIS WORLD HUNGER DAY, THE HUNGER PROJECT IS FOCUSING ON GOOD NUTRITION.

Good nutrition – an adequate and well-balanced diet – is a cornerstone of good health. Better nutrition is related to improved infant child and maternal health, stronger immune systems and safer pregnancy and childbirth. People with adequate nutrition are more productive and can create opportunities to break the cycles of poverty and hunger. Experts agree that tackling malnutrition is not only the right thing to do, but it also makes economic sense.

World Hunger Day is an initiative by The Hunger Project. Started in 2011, it aims to celebrate sustainable solutions to hunger and poverty.

This year, the day will highlight the importance of fostering self-reliance, upholding principles of human dignity and recognizing that every human is inherently creative, resourceful, responsible and productive. Decades of systematic marginalization have kept people from making lasting changes in their communities. A holistic development approach — one that includes peacebuilding, social harmony, human rights and good governance — is essential to ensuring the empowerment of people living in hunger and poverty.

We at Elk River Backpack Blessings help children in need of nutritional meals. Please help us help them.

Click here to donate to our cause.

May 25, 2018 in Community News, Life & Style, Local News, NEWS