Management and Budget Director Ira Mills said Friday that a Hurricane Georges-related request for $1.3 million to continue the Governor's Home Protection Roofing Program has received favorable consideration from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and he is awaiting final approval.
However, an official request for a 90-day extension of the remaining $2 million from Hurricanes Marilyn and Bertha needed to complete the roofing program has been denied.
After months of discussion, Mills sent in the request on April 27. In the letter, he also requested the return of the 28 vehicles loaned to the territory after Marilyn and recently recalled by FEMA.
Mills said an appeal of the denial had been filed.
However, HPRP Project Manager Charles E. Bornman said it had not, at least not yet.
"It was given to me on Friday," Bornman said Saturday. "I have filed one appeal already — the week before last. That one was for money to be used to finish projects that were already started."
The program has been mired in confusion due to the Finance Department's inability to reconcile the accounts involved. HPRP had done several reconciliations and said there was money left in the accounts. But in November, when all contracts for the roofs were to be signed, Finance said there was no money left.
Bornman did another reconciliation in February, which showed there was $2.4 million left in the account. "I was dealing on a macro level. I wasn't dealing with five different accounts like Finance is," Bornman said. "But I was sure there was money left."
According to Bornman, the problem has been that the approximately $2 million was never encumbered because Finance could not verify that it was there. He said there were another 29 roofs that could be completed "if we could use the unencumbered money."
In the denial letter from FEMA, José Bravo, director of the Caribbean Division, said, "We recognize that several problems were encountered during the implementation of the HPRP that resulted in extensions being granted. Continued delays were directly associated with project administration and management. Justification has not been provided to substantial consideration of an additional extension for this project. Therefore, the request for a time extension is being denied. All work must have been completed by April 30, 1999 to be eligible for federal funding."
Friday's release from Government House said that "faced with this deadline, roofing program staff worked throughout Carnival week to obligate the newly identified monies."
Bornman said he hoped FEMA would consider his appeal. "This all could have been taken care of in a couple of days way back last November with the reconciliation of the accounts."
Bornman is in a unique position to understand the problems with paperwork and bureaucracy. He has worked for HPRP for almost two years. In that time, he has lost a home to foreclosure and faces losing another one because he has never received regular pay for his work. He was, at first, lost in the contract system, and now appears to be lost in the equally cumbersome Notice of Personnel Action (NOPA) process.
He has not been paid since January.
