Senators frustrated over recovery projects still awaiting FEMA funds

V.I. legislators said they were disheartened and expressed their frustration over funding delays after hearing from the Disaster Recovery Office that 150 projects are still awaiting funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, nearly five years after hurricanes Irma and Maria.

Disaster Recovery Office Director Adrienne Williams-Octalien testified Wednesday before the Senate’s Disaster Recovery and Infrastructure Committee about the delays during a hearing held at the Frits E. Lawaetz Conference Room on St. Croix.

She told senators that following the destruction of the twin hurricanes in September 2017, the territory had 300 fixed-cost projects proposed to FEMA, and that to date only half of the offers have been executed.

Williams-Octalien said if FEMA is unable to deliver a fixed-cost on the remaining projects by a June 30 deadline, then extensions will have to be filed for each individual project.

Brad Gair, Witt O’Brien’s senior managing director, has been contracted as a consultant and policy adviser to the Disaster Recovery Office to work with FEMA and other federal agencies to obtain funding.

Gair told senators that the territory has provided the necessary documentation to move the projects forward, but FEMA lacks the capacity and personnel to move through the process in a timely manner.

“In 2019 they established a large cost-estimating center in Puerto Rico that’s trying to handle all of the projects for the Virgin Islands from the hurricane and all the projects from Puerto Rico; they simply don’t have the resources to do that,” Gair said.

He explained that with Witt O’Brien’s resources, a cost estimate for a complex project could take two to three weeks, but in some cases it’s taken FEMA two to three months, or even longer.

“It’s not acceptable to continue this way and we need to really determine what’s the pathway to move forward,” Sen. Samuel Carrion said.

Senate President Donna Frett-Gregory asked whether the federal agency can be dragged into court.

“Do we need to sue them? I am dead serious about this, this conversation has been going on for too long,” she said.