CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia Sen. Ed Gaunch, R-Kanawha, said he and other lawmakers want to make sure resources associated with RISE West Virginia are properly distributed to those affected by the June 2016 flood and that lawmakers figure out what led up to a pause in distributing funding.
The Legislature’s Joint Committee on Flooding was formed in March 2017 as part of an effort to understand how to develop a plan in anticipation of future flooding.
Gaunch, a member of the committee, said on Friday’s MetroNews “Talkline” he has spoken to West Virginia Adjutant General James Hoyer about the steps he will take leading the RISE West Virginia.
“I have every confidence that we’ve put this charge in the right hands, and that he is moving,” he said. “We’re seeing progress. It would’ve helped initially if someone said here’s the problem, here’s what happened, but we just haven’t had that advantage to do that yet.”
Hoyer took over RISE West Virginia earlier this month following an order from Gov. Jim Justice. The governor moved authority from the state Department of Commerce and its secretary, Woody Thrasher, resigned last Thursday at the request of Justice.
“I honestly do not know what his involvement with RISE was,” Gaunch said of Gaunch. “Obviously, the buck stops somewhere and it looks like it’s going to stop with Woody. I’m sad that he’s gone. I think West Virginia was better having Woody on board and I hope — I think it’s important because he is the face of economic development — that we have an appointment sooner than later on this so that we can get back to doing the work that needs to be done in Commerce.”
Justice named Clayton Burch as interim Commerce Secretary on Friday.
Gaunch went into detail about the problems some people were facing in receiving funding, which included communication problems with officials from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
“Some of them were getting false information,” he said. “Who was responsible, we don’t know yet. I think it probably was a prudent thing for somebody — the governor, the governor’s office — to push the pause button and say let’s unravel this, get it right.”
Gaunch added he does not believe any significant damage was done by the pause.
“We all want to make sure those dollars were spent just like how they were supposed to be spent,” he said. “There are an incredible amount of hoops to jump through when you spend federal dollars. You want to make sure those are being spent properly, so I’m not critical of that.”