Gov. Justice Announces ‘Realignment’ of Flood Recovery Program, Terminations at Commerce Coming

Gov. Jim Justice (center) and other officials discuss a “realignment” in management of a slow-moving flood recovery program known as RISE West Virginia.
OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR / VIA TWITTER
By: Dave Mistich | Posted: June 4, 2018 | Source: WV Public Broadcasting

Gov. Justice has announced changes to the management of slow-moving flood recovery program designed to help those affected by the flood of June 2016. The announcement comes on the heels of reporting that shows poor management on the part of officials in the state development office, little money spent and few flood victims getting assistance.

Justice announced Monday he is placing Gen. James Hoyer of the West Virginia National Guard in charge of the RISE program and called for a “realignment” of the state commerce department. The governor declined to comment whether department Sec. Woody Thrasher would keep his job.

The RISE program was temporarily halted earlier this year after it was discovered a contract change order for $17 million had not been properly vetted. A subsequent investigation uncovered problems within the Commerce Department and the RISE program, which has $150 million to work with from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

During a news conference, Justice stated that…

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Divide over housing needs may shift flood relief money to infrastructure

Shauna Johnson/WVMetroNews.com
Jordan Creek Road in Kanawha County was just one of many areas devastated by floods.

By: Brad McElhinny | Posted: June 3, 2018 at 8:04 p.m. | Source: WV MetroNews

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Agencies handling West Virginia’s long-term flood recovery have been trying to figure out how much housing need still remains.

There are some indications that federal long-term disaster funds could be reallocated if the housing need isn’t as great as originally believed.

Almost two years out from the devastating 2016 flood, long-term recovery has moved to the spotlight because of growing complaints about the pace of applying millions of available federal dollars.

Gov. Jim Justice has set an 11:30 a.m. Monday press conference at the Capitol to discuss the RISE West Virginia program for long-term flood relief.

An action plan for long-term recovery from the 2016 floods estimated that housing repairs and replacement could exceed $300 million.

The action plan also estimated…

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Clendenin Homecoming Festival Quickly Approaching

Excitement is in the air as the 1st Annual Clendenin Homecoming Festival quickly approaches. June 22-24, 2018 the Town of Clendenin will welcome guests from near and far to witness the progress of a once flood ravaged town and to celebrate the rebirth of the community. The resilience and spirit of those who call Clendenin and the Elk River home is remarkable and unmistakable.

The Clendenin Homecoming Committee is a growing group of local citizens working tirelessly since last year to plan and coordinate the upcoming festival.  In addition to the carnival and parade, the festival will feature numerous activities like a kayak race, horseshoe tournament, fishing tournament, numerous concerts, fireworks, craft and food vendors, and so much more. See below for a complete list of the festival agenda. Craft/sales and food vendor applications are still being accepted, so it is not too late to register for a booth.

2018 Clendenin Homecoming Festival Pageant winners: (L-R) Teen Queen Lauren Gorma, Queen Charley Clayton, and Mrs. Queen Alicia Casto

The Clendening Homecoming Festival recently crowned its royalty at the recent Clendenin Homecoming Festival Pageant. Winners included Teen Queen Lauren Gorma, Queen Charley Clayton, and Mrs. Queen Alicia Casto.  The Children’s Pageant Royalty includes: Baby Mister-Zachary Brake II, Little Mister-Wyatt Russell, Baby Miss-McKenna Garnes, Tiny Miss-Sophia Casto, Little Miss-Grace Fletcher, and Junior Miss-Natalie Donohew.

Various businesses in Clendenin have re-opened their doors and new businesses have made Clendenin their home since the June 2016 Flood; however, to date, Clendenin does not have a hotel. Many who attend the festival will stay with family and friends in the area; however some may seek other accommodations. There are hotels in neighboring towns, including nearby Elkview, and local Bed and Breakfast’s in and around Clendenin. Country Road House & Berries is located in Clendenin and has a Bed & Breakfast, along with the best strawberries in the area. You can contact them for room availability at (304) 553-5761 or by visiting their website.

Airbnb and Home Away are also great places that you can search for places to stay during the festival. Both Airbnb and Home Away are online marketplaces which lets people rent out their properties or spare rooms to guests. If you live in Clendenin or the surrounding areas and you are interested in learning how you can earn extra money by renting your room(s) and/or property during the Festival, here are some great resources:

In preparation for the festival, the Town of Clendenin along with the Kanawha County Commission, Chuck Grishaber with the Kanawha County Planning Department, and 25045- A New Clendenin, are sponsoring an Elk River Cleanup in Clendenin on June 9. Volunteers are asked to meet at Smith’s Foodfair parking lot at 9AM. View more details HERE.

2018 CLENDENIN HOMECOMING FESTIVAL AGENDA

Friday, June 22

6:00 PM: Myers Amusements Carnival (Across from the Post Office)

7:00 PM: Audio Outlaws Concert (Main Street Stage)

Saturday, June 23

8:00 AM:  Horseshoe Tournament Registration (Railroad Track)

9:00 AM: Opening  Ceremony (The Gazebo)

9:00 AM: All craft and food vendors open (Main St. & Maywood Ave)

9:00 AM: Kayak Race (Begins at Queen Shoals Bridge River Access)

10:00 AM – 6:00 PM: The Hoppy Express – from Smith’s Lot to Main Street and Back

11:00 AM: Horseshoe Tournament (Railroad Track)

12:00 PM: Parade Lineup (Poca Valley Bank)

12:00 PM: Carnival Opens (Across from the Post Office)

2:00 PM: Duck Race (Old Bridge to New Bridge)

4:00 PM: Royalty Coronation (Main Street Stage)

6:00 PM – 7:30 PM: Joanna Young Concert (Main Street Stage)

6:30 PM: Adam Tucker Meet & Greet (Main Street Stage area)

7:30 PM: Adam Tucker Concert (Main Street Stage)

After Adam Tucker Concert: Fireworks by Zambelli’s (on hill behind Smith’s lot)

Sunday, June 24

6:30 AM: Fishing Tournament (details on Facebook Event: Elk River Fishing Tournament)

5:00 PM: Fishing Tournament Awards (Main Street Stage)

Sponsors for the Clendenin Homecoming Festival include First Bank of Charleston, Pulmonary Associates, Poca Valley Bank, Shafer Equipment, Charleston Blueprint, FYAO, Cabin Creek Health Systems, Cantrell’s Florist, Houff Transfer, Teays River Construction Company, The Yak House, Kanawha County Commission, O.V. Smith and Sons, Inc., Town of Clendenin, and The Clendenin Leader.

You can stay up-to-date with The Clendenin Homecoming Festival by visiting their Facebook page.

Annual tournament honoring slain trooper is this weekend

Trooper Eric Workman Foundation
The Erick Workman Memorial Youth Musky Tournament started last weekend and this young man has already submitted one entry.

By: Chris Lawrence | Posted: May 31, 2018 at 9:32 a.m. | Source: WV MetroNews

BIG OTTER, W.Va. — It’s been seven years since the dreadful night when State Troopers Eric Workman and Marshall Bailey were shot and killed in the parking lot off the Wallback exit of I-79 in Roane County. Since then, those who new Workman have worked to preserve his memory and his legacy. This weekend will be the 6th annual Eric Workman Memorial Muskie Tournament.

“We started this tournament to honor Eric and his family and it’s grown beyond our wildest dreams,” said Scott Smith, a member of the Eric Workman Foundation’s Board of Directors. “We had to form a 501(C) 3 to handle the money and we’ve got a whole foundation.”

Proceeds from the tournament benefit the foundation, which has been instrumental in funneling money to the passions of Workman during his life.

Trooper Eric Workman Foundation

Trooper Eric Workman Foundation
Trooper Eric Workman who was killed in the line of duty in 2011

“Eric probably could have been a professional baseball player, but he wanted to be a state trooper and wanted to give back to the state and to Clay County. He wanted to get drugs out of Clay County,” said Smith. “The Foundation and the tournament is all about honoring Eric and giving back to the community.”

Workman was a trooper, a former baseball player for West Virginia State, and a passionate musky angler. The tournament proceeds have been allocated to muskie research, aiding law enforcement, drug prevention, and support of youth sports–particularly little league baseball.

“We have given over $25,000 to the West Virginia DNR in the form of equipment for muskie research. Things like pit-tag readers used in fish tracking studies and special gloves to handle the fish during shocking studies so they don’t have to euthanize the fish,” explained Smith. “We’ve also now expanded and bought equipment for the Kentucky DNR and the Virginia DNR. We have people from Kentucky and Virginia participating in the tournament and the foundation so we’re also working with both of those states.”

The tournament starts at midnight Friday night and runs until Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. Participants have to be present at the banquet at Big Otter Elementary School in Clay County to qualify.

“The banquet is where you experience what this is all about,” said Smith.

Fishermen are scored on a point system. There are 10 points for a 30 inch fish, then one point for each additional half-inch. The most points wins and there is a prize for the largest fish. To keep the integrity of the event, the tournament organization sends out a message at the start of the event to all participants with a code. A legal catch must be a picture of the fish–with that exact code included in the picture. After the picture, the muskie are released alive back into the water.

“Two years ago we had somebody who caught the biggest fish and they got so excited they forgot to put the code in the picture,” said Smith. “We had two other boats witness the catch and they had pictures and video–but since they didn’t have the code they were disqualified and it made mine the biggest fish. I personally just gave the award to them.”

It’s that kind of camaraderie which Smith and the board believe helps to keep Workman’s legacy alive.

During the six year history of the tournament the biggest fish caught was a 50-inch muskie from Stonecoal Lake. The average size of muskies caught in the tournament has been 38-inches. During the tournament’s best year anglers caught 54 fish of 30 inches or more. Stonewall Jackson Lake has yielded the most fish in the tournament with 63 and the New River is second with 21 muskies to qualify.

A kids tournament got underway last weekend and will also culminate on Sunday with the banquet, awards ceremony, and a raffle drawing with loads of donated prizes.

Chris Lawrence is the anchor of the MetroNews Morning News, heard weekday mornings from 6-9 a.m. on MetroNews stations across West Virginia. Chris is also the host of the award-winning West Virginia Outdoors, heard Saturday mornings at 7 a.m. across the network. Chris has won numerous awards for coverage of hunting and fishing. You can reach Chris via email clawrence@wvradio.com. Follow him on Twitter @WVOutdoors, Facebook chris.lawrence.9822 and Instagram @chris_lawrence_metronews.

Flood damaged library reopens despite no answer from RISE West Virginia

By: Bob Aaron | Posted: May 30, 2018 | Source: WVAH

The flood damaged library in the Kanawha County town of Clendenin reopened Wednesday, despite no answer from RISE West Virginia.

The Eyewitness News iTeam uncovers yet another case involving lack of answers from RISE West Virginia, the flood recovery program under the state’s Commerce Department.

Nearly two years after the library in the Kanawha County town of Clendenin was destroyed in the 2016 flood, it is back open in a new location.

Kanawha County officials said representatives with the state-run RISE West Virginia flood relief recovery program talked about helping restore the old middle school where that library opened for business Wednesday, but county officials told Eyewitness News it was all talk and no action.

Tammy Parker is with the Clendenin library.

“When they went in after the flood, they found books and DVDs stuck in the ceiling tiles,” Parker said. “So, we lost everything.”

Nearly two years after the town and a wide area of West Virginia were impacted by killer floods, Clendenin saw its library reopen at a temporary location in the old middle school.

“Everybody in Clendenin and our surrounding area has computers in their home,” said Midge Forwood, a library supporter. “And the children, after school, the library is full. It means everything,” Forwood said.

The Kanawha County Commission provided much of the funds, approximately $50,000, and labor for dealing with the flood damage cleanup in Clendenin. The county library system is picking up the rent.

Officials said they tried to get RISE, the state Commerce Department-run program for flood recovery, to help with some of the damage in the old middle school, but they said it never got beyond the talking stage.

Volunteer groups in West Virginia say they have spent about $26 million in labor and donations helping people with flood recovery.

Over the same time period, RISE has spent about a million dollars. That leave’s about $150 million in RISE-controlled federal dollars unused.

“I just hope that the state get their act together,” Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper said. “It’s past time. The people of this area deserve better than what they’ve gotten.”

State lawmakers are questioning the slowness of state response and trying to pinpoint exactly why it is taking so long to help flood victims.

The library is planning a ceremonial re-opening June 22, but it was back in business as of noon Wednesday.

On Wednesday, Gov. Jim Justice announced the RISE West Virginia program has resumed operations.

Decisions over WV flood relief contract spanned months

Parts of Route 4 fell into the Elk River during flooding. This is what the road looked like Saturday, June 25 just outside of Clendenin. Shauna Johnson/WVMetroNews.com

By: Brad McElhinny | Posted: May 30, 2018 at 6:52 p.m. | Source: WV MetroNews

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — On Nov. 2, 2016, just a few months after devastating floods hit West Virginia, then-Commerce Secretary Keith Burdette scrawled his name across a memo urging emergency action on an agreement to help manage millions in federal disaster relief dollars.

The memo was addressed to David Tincher, who was the state Purchasing director at the time.

West Virginia was anticipating approval of federal Community Development Block Grant funds for disaster relief.

Burdette recommended swift action — both for approval and in distributing the aid to West Virginians who had lost their homes, belongings and livelihoods.

Keith Burdette

“West Virginia has never received this amount of disaster recovery funding in the past,” Burdette wrote.

“Due to the extremely short deadline, a consultant needs to be commissioned immediately to assist the West Virginia Development Office in developing a strategy on how best to effectively utilize these funds in the designated areas, as well as to set up processes to track and expend the funds sufficiently in accordance with the federal regulations and requirements.”

Burdette warned that there would be complex regulations and requirements governing the funds. The first step would be to come up with a comprehensive action plan within sixty days.

“Without the ‘action plan’ and the necessary systems and processes in place, West Virginia will have to forfeit the CDBG-DR funding,” Burdette wrote.

Tincher indeed responded quickly, the same day at 6:56 p.m via an email from his iPad.

“Please be advised that your emergency purchase request is hereby approved,” he wrote.

View Keith Burdette email and memo

The memo and response kicked off a situation that rippled into the next, incoming administration.

When the current Department of Commerce tried to renew a contract with the consultant, Horne LLC, the agreement drew scrutiny from the Governor’s Office.

Questions by the Governor’s Office — and the state Purchasing division — caused the contract to be put on pause this spring, right as West Virginia finally got federal approval to start spending the federal disaster relief funds that Burdette had described with such urgency.

MORE: Local flood relief agencies exasperated over delays; Gov kick-starts RISE

The Governor’s Office has said its aim was to be careful about the contract while continuing to provide flood relief.

Reaction from lawmakers and citizens has been confusion and concern about why the contract was halted when so much flood relief remains.

West Virginia MetroNews sought and received communications between the Department of Commerce and the Purchasing division through a Freedom of Information Act request.

They show months of interaction, starting with a Commerce request last December to re-up the contract with Horne followed by questions from Purchasing that kicked up this spring, culminating with an official halt to the contract this April 4.

They show state officials in two different agencies — both in the executive branch under Gov. Jim Justice — trying to work through the sheer amount of money involved and the intent of the contract with Horne.

They show loose ends, followed by maddening delays.

It was a bureaucratic drama, with twists and turns at every push of the send button.

The buildup

West Virginia’s needs were vast.

Thunderstorms that concentrated over West Virginia created a historic rainfall on June 23, 2016. Some counties were hit with 10 inches of rain over 24 hours.

Twenty-three people were killed. There were 1,200 homes destroyed, and thousands were without power. The flood damaged businesses, roads and water and sewer systems.

Housing repairs and replacement were estimated to exceed $300 million. Damage to West Virginia’s public infrastructure was estimated to top $500 million.

About a year after the floods, June 1, 2017, the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development approved the action plan to manage $104 million in Community Development Block Grant disaster recovery funds.

That was later augmented with an additional $45 million.

This was the first time West Virginia had received such a grant. Meanwhile, West Virginia was also managing the largest amount of FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funds ever received.

Representatives from HUD, FEMA and the Justice administration gathered on Nov. 7, 2017, for a meeting of the minds.

“Due to the complexity of the situation, the meeting was convened to ensure that there was a holistic strategy for the use of these funds,” FEMA Region III officials wrote in their newsletter, Forward Recovery.

Participants raised concerns that the federal agencies had allocated more money toward housing recovery than was really needed.

The Department of Commerce agreed to work with HUD to figure out how to reallocate housing funds once the needs had been covered.

“Overall, the participants wanted to ensure that funding decisions and recovery efforts decrease specific risks over time and make communities more resilient,” FEMA wrote in the newsletter.

Contract renewal

By December, Commerce was taking steps to renew its one-year contract with Horne.

Horne sent a memo to the state Development office Dec. 6, 2017, expressing its agreement to extend its project management services.

The Development Office wanted to do that too.

On Dec. 7, 2017, Russell Tarry of the West Virginia Community and Development Office in Commerce wrote a memo to the Purchasing division.

“The West Virginia Development Office wishes to renew the Disaster Recovery and Project Management Agreement with Horne LLP, who has agreed to renew this agreement under the same terms and conditions set forth in the original agreement, including any subsequent amendments or Task Orders,” Tarry wrote.

“The renewal period will be valid from December 12, 2017, to December 11, 2018.”

Another official notification went out Dec. 13, 2017, from Sheila Hannah, the procurement officer for the state Development Office.

“We would like to renew this contract for one year. This contract is to benefit the residence of West Virginia flood victims of June 2016.”

Sheila Hannah and Melissa Pettrey Email

A week after her memo went out, Hannah followed up with Melissa Pettrey, the senior buyer in the Purchasing department who was the original recipient. “Melissa are we waiting on something?” she wrote at 11:02 a.m. Dec. 20, 2017.

There was a sign of trouble, but it didn’t seem major.

At 12:06 p.m., Pettrey responded “The memo from you should have your signature, but I will process this as is. However, going forward, please include your signature on all memos and/or letters.

“Also, remind our agencies not to wait until the last minute to submit change orders, especially renewals.”

At 2:53 p.m. Guy Nisbet, a supervisor in the Purchasing division, responded that the request had to be rejected because of what appeared to be a technical problem. “This is Change Order No. 01 not Change Order 02.”

He concluded with a simple instruction.

“Please review and submit.”

Slow pace tag is applied, contract inquiry begins

That was the last of the email communication between Commerce and Purchasing for a few months.

At the start of this year, members of the Justice administration got together to broadly assess progress, Brian Abraham, general counsel for the administration, recalled this past Friday on MetroNews’ “Talkline.”

“The issue came up: ‘Have you started any work yet?’ And the answer we got was ‘We just did.’”

A few key events transpired early this year.

West Virginia made its request to start using federal long-term relief money on Jan. 29.

HUD gave its OK on Feb. 20.

And shortly after that, West Virginia drew notice from the federal agency for the pace of drawing down the federal funds.

By the time a performance report was put out by HUD covering this past January through March, only $1,138,866.60 had actually been spent.

“It is not uncommon for large-scale disaster relief efforts to get off to a slow start,” said Brian Sullivan, a spokesman from HUD, in an interview earlier this month. “However, if it strikes us as being slow we’ll say so. And in this case we have.”

Abraham said the slow spender designation came out during a January meeting with the state Department of Commerce and representatives from Horne.

“They indicated to us it was not a huge deal,” Abraham said last week on MetroNews’ “Talkline.” “They were working through it and because now the projects were starting that would all work out.”

About that time, Abraham said, state officials started looking at the contracts having to do with the long-term recovery money.

“What raised some suspicions was that there was a $900,000 initial contract and then we saw during this presentation the new contract was for $17 million,” he said.

The contract was worth up to $17 million over its course, although Horne had been paid only about $700,000 over the past two fiscal years.

The situation gave the administration pause, Abraham said, because of the amount of money and what it saw as a lack of controls in place.

“That immediately raised some red flags, and we started looking into it,” he said.

The law firm for U.S. Attorney Mike Carey was paid more than $20,000 in April to look into the matter. And the eyes on the contract extended beyond that.

“I personally took five bankers boxes worth of records to the legislative auditor’s, who put three or four people on it. They pointed out things to us,” Abraham said.

“We had to arrange a meeting with Mike Stuart, the U.S. attorney. Mike Carey and I went down and provided that to him. We then had various meetings with members of the Legislature where we told them what we going on. Then we tried to organize a meeting with HUD leadership.”

Spring swirl

As the administration embarked on its examination, the messages between Commerce and Purchasing kicked up.

The first hint of trouble was 11:09 a.m. March 2.

Sheila Hannah, the procurement officer with the Development Office, zipped an email to Nisbet and Pettrey.

“Guy/Melissa, Have you had a chance to look over the task orders I brought over for you to look at yet? I have had several inquiries about them. Thanks.”

Yes, there were questions.

Nisbet responded at 1:40 p.m. that day that he had seven of them.

  1. What is Horne requesting and you the Agency agreeing to
  2. What justification is there to support any additional changes
  3. What has transpired since the award of the contract that moves the vendor to provide service/work outside what was captured during the award.
  4. Who ok’d the work and based on what criteria
  5. The responses to these items must be in detail and reference the part of the original contract that has changed while connecting to the documentation and clarification of the documents that you presented.
  6. This is a really quick review and provided responses most likely will develop additional questions depending upon the responses and clarity
  7. This was awarded as a fixed contract with renewals, therefore any additional funds spent will require an additional commodity line within Oasis so that encumbrance is possible.

Nisbet concluded, “Again this is a starting point of questions and will require further review once we are able to review the above responses.”

Within 20 minutes, the Nisbet email was circulating around the Development Office with everyone trying to figure out who should answer the questions.

The first take appeared to land with Russell Tarry of the West Virginia Community and Development Office. He wrote at 2:34 p.m. that day that he’d tried to provide his best immediate explanation.

“I provided the explanation below in red,” he wrote. “I think they will have more questions, so please let me know what other information I can provide. We may want to include Josh at some point as well.”

The Josh he referenced was Josh Jarrell, the general counsel for Commerce who had signed the contracts with Horne.

Jarrell wound up parting ways with Commerce. The Justice administration has said he was fired. Jarrell says he was nudged and left of his own accord.

“State procurement is a detailed and technical process,” Jarrell toldthe Charleston Gazette-Mail this month.

“If any errors were made, they were minor compared to community needs and occurred in haste to bring nearly $150 million in congressionally appropriated federal aid to West Virginia after a major flooding disaster that left many homeless and claimed many lives.”

Inquiry continues

Through March, the back-and-forth continued between Commerce and Purchasing.

At 10 a.m. March 7, Hannah of Commerce wondered where matters stood.

“I see I got left out of an email about Horne. Did they answer your questions, or do I need to do something? This place is a very unique place.”

Turns out she had been left off the email chain with the responses by Tarry from a week earlier.

One by one, Tarry had briefly answered Purchasing’s questions.

Once Hannah got the answers, she forwarded them on to Purchasing.

“Here is part of what they had done,” Hannah wrote. “I told them it was in-depth enough.”

By 12:29 p.m. Nisbet sent back a note indicating he didn’t find the answers sufficient.

“The responses are not in depth enough nor are they captured so that it is understood, this was just a road map to help you develop responses that can be evaluated,” he wrote. “I do not see the Change Order in wvOasis and I do not see the requested documentation.”

He passed back the original questions, Tarry’s responses and his own followup questions and comments in bold type.

Guy Nisbet and Melissa Pettrey Email Page 12

Guy Nisbet and Melissa Pettrey Email Page 13

That’s where matters stood until a couple of days later, March 9, when Administration Secretary John Myers sent an email to Purchasing Director Mike Sheets and James Meadows, general counsel for Purchasing.

“You should have received a calendar entry for Monday at 1:00 for a meeting with commerce,” Myers wrote.

“This is in reference to a $146 million contract with Horne Associates. I understand they have something to do with flood relief. I wanted to give you the opportunity to prepare as I know nothing about the contract or their concerns.”

Sheets forwarded the email, asking his assistant director Frank Whittaker about the status of the change order.

Whittaker provided the current status, along with some additional narration.

“Guy and Melissa went back to Sheila with questions concerning the intent of the change request. To date Sheila has not submitted anything through Oasis,” he wrote.

And in apparent reference to general counsel Meadows, he added, “Jimmy is looking at the file now. Jimmy is concerned that it looks like we are being unhelpful.”

From his Samsung Galaxy Tab S2, Sheets wrote back, simply, “Thanks.”

Finale

No action for the next couple of weeks.

Then, on March 19, Kimberly Miller of the Development Office sent an email to a list of recipients that included Pettrey and Sheets of Purchasing.

Miller wrote that the $900,000 contract for Horne “was never done correctly on our end.”

She wrote, “It should not have been capped at $900,000, which was just the first two task orders of many task orders. Is it absolutely necessary to have a letter from Horne when they are not asking for anything beyond what their original bid was?

“We know of additional task orders 3 through 8 at this point and there could be more, but those are within the scope of the original RFP and the original bid of 17% of the original federal award. Shouldn’t Horne’s signature on the task orders be sufficient? Again, they are not asking for anything outside of the scope or bid of the original response to the RFP.

“We understand that you need a letter from us and perhaps it should also explain that due to an error on our part this CCT was capped at $900,000 when it never should have been.”

More time passed.

At 11:31 a.m. March 27, Pettrey of Commerce tried to prompt a response. She wrote to Pettrey of Purchasing.

“Melissa, This was sent the 19th and we still do not have a response.”

Pettrey wrote back at 1:53 p.m.: “Sheila, See Director Sheets comment below.”

Sheets, director of Purchasing, had been looped in. Pettrey was passing on his brief assessment of the situation.

“The Horne contract is under review by the Governor’s Office,” Sheets had written at 1:50 p.m. “We have been asked not to take any action until their review is complete.”

That was a month and a week after Housing and Urban Development had sent its official letter of approval for the funds to be spent.

Melissa Pettrey Email Page 6

Another week passed, and on April 4 Sheets sent out a memo with the final ruling.

It answered the question about the change order that had first been floated in early December of 2017.

Over the four pages of his memo, Sheets spelled out the history of the contract, starting with the emergency approval that had been sought by Burdette in late 2016.

He also described concerns.

Work already completed cannot be added after the fact by a change order, he wrote. And the pricing and scope of the work for the third phase was not sufficiently defined to allow it to continue under the existing contract.

He concluded that West Virginia would be best served by competitive bidding to get the best pricing and value for the services that had better defined over the course of the back-and-forth between Commerce and Purchasing.

“For the reasons stated herein, the Purchasing Division will not approve the change order containing Task Orders 3 through 8 if it is submitted,” Sheets wrote. “The Purchasing Division will, however, work diligently with the WV Development Office to quickly obtain any needed services through proper procurement methods.”

Horne LLP – Contract Change Order by Sheila Hannah

Epilogue

The public became aware of the problems with long-term disaster relief on May 17 when WCHS-TV reported on complaints from flood victims who described red tape.

The first time the Justice administration publicly described its concerns with the contract was an interview with WSAZ-TV on May 22.

“There’s a new sheriff in town and people need to realize that Jim Justice will see to it that West Virginia is not going to be on the short end of the stick,” Governor Justice stated in that account..

“We found things that could save West Virginia millions in federal funding. Our flood victims are going to continue to be served. Those people that weren’t doing their jobs have been held accountable.”

In an interview with the West Virginia Press Association on May 23, general counsel Abraham alluded to the possibility that Horne’s services could be reinstituted.

And in a telephone interview with The State Journal today, Governor Justice said long-term flood relief is getting up and going.

Justice told the newspaper that the pause on the contract was lifted last Monday.

Governor Jim Justice

Governor Jim Justice

“If I had known, really, that the pause had delayed monies going to somebody, I’d have been all over that the very second I heard that, just because of how I feel,” Justice said.

And by this evening, the governor’s account tweeted that the lingering problems had been resolved.

He said six flood victims have now gotten the keys to brand new homes.

“Along the way I uncovered waste and abuse and stopped the state from losing $8 million that can be used to help our flood victims,” Justice stated.

“Moving forward my office will continue working closely with the Department of Commerce and every day we are monitoring this program to ensure we are serving the West Virginia families who were affected by this disaster and still need assistance.”​

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.

Library reopens for Clendenin after 2 years

Books ready for check out at the Clendenin Branch Library. Jordyn Johnson/WVMetroNews.com

By: Jordyn Johnson | Posted: May 30, 2018 at 3:32 p.m. | Source: WV MetroNews

CLENDENIN, W.Va.– Tuesday night Tammy Parker, branch manager at the Clendenin Branch Library, had trouble sleeping, because she was so excited for the next day– a day she has been looking forward to for two years.

Wednesday was the ribbon-cutting of the new Clendenin Branch Library since the 2016 flooding ruined the former branch. It has taken two years for the community to get its library back but due to hard work and perseverance books can be read once more.

“We have been here working to get all the furniture in, the books on the shelves and in the mean time, when I was out in the community, people were stopping me and asking me, ‘When is the

The teen section of the newly opened Clendenin Branch Library, Jordyn Johnson/WVMetroNews.com

library opening?’ and I would say, ‘Oh in a few days or a few weeks’ or whatever, and so everyone was asking, and I was so excited,” Parker said.

The new branch is located in the former Clendenin Middle School. While the branch is still getting settled, those in the area now have a place for reading and computer access.

“There’s still a few things that we still haven’t completed,” Parker said. “We’re still waiting for a couple pieces of furniture and to get the last pieces of our computers ready to go, and it was a lot of work but worth it.”

Midge Forwood is the president of the Clendenin Branch Library Advisory Board and has worked in the branch since its first opening in Clendenin.

“We’ve waited two years, and now we’re here, and I’m happy,” she said at the opening.

Many residents and book-lovers alike have been anxiously awaiting the branch’s reopening.

“I think that, you know, it’s a happy day for a lot of us and especially the Library Advisory Board,” Forwood said. “We work hard to keep it here, you know. We work hard to buy the things that we need for the library, and so we’re just real happy.”

Clendenin’s library is very important to the community, because without it, not many residents would have access to computers and so many books.

“The one thing that we need for our young people is our library– we really do,” Forwood said. “They use our computers. Not every family in this area has a computer, so after school, and even in the summertime, the library is always full of kids.”

Now that summer break is here for Clendenin’s school-children, the branch has lots of activities planned for all ages.

“We have programs planned for the whole summer. We have some big programs,” Parker said. “We’ve got ‘Dino Ed’ coming with his animatronic dinosaurs, and we’ve got just all kinds of programs throughout the summer.”

While the library location changed, its supporters work to make it feel like home.

“We’re going to do a few new things, but we wanted it to be as much like it was as possible to keep the kids familiar with what kind of things we have in the library,” Parker said.

The opening drew lots of members from the community, and now that the branch is open again, it will draw people from all around.

“Once people know that we’re here, know where we are, it’ll be good,” Forwood said.

The new Clendenin Library Branch is located at 107 Koontz Avenue.

Story by Jordyn Johnson

Prep softball: Champion Herbert Hoover gets three first-teamers on Class AA All-State

Herbert Hoover pitcher Delani Buckner is one of three Huskies named to the Class AA All-State first team. Craig Hudson, Gazette-Mail

By: Ryan Pritt, Prep Sports Writer | Posted: May 30, 2018 | Source: WV Gazette-Mail

Chapmanville and Herbert Hoover took two different routes to the Class AA softball championship game.

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