[StBernard] Lawmakers asking whether they can replace Road Home contractor

[Westley Annis]

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- Lawmakers asked their financial staff Friday to
determine whether they can replace the private contractor hired by Gov.
Kathleen Blanco's administration to hand out recovery grants in Louisiana's
"Road Home" program.
Blanco's staff and legislators have complained about the pace of aid
delivery, the small number of homeowners who have received grants and
inaccuracies in letters notifying homeowners of the aid they could expect to
receive.
 
"When people work for me, and they don't do their job, I fire them," said
state Sen. Cleo Fields, D-Baton Rouge, a member of the Joint Legislative
Committee on the Budget, which lashed out at ICF International Inc., the
contractor running the Road Home.
 
The program gives repair or buyout grants of up to $150,000 to homeowners
who have suffered damage from hurricanes Katrina or Rita, but few homeowners
have actually received aid so far. Eighty-two homeowners out of an estimated
123,000 eligible in Louisiana have received their housing recovery grants
through the $7.5 billion program, according to Road Home statistics.
 
Mike Byrne, Road Home director for ICF, said the company continues to
improve the aid process and make changes as it learns of problems in one of
the largest grant programs in the nation's history.
 
"We continue to work hard. We understand the urgency of this," Byrne said.
Lawmakers, however, weren't happy with Byrne's response.
 
"Mr. Byrne, with all due respect, you sit at that table all the time with
the same blank face. You don't have the answers," said Sen. Ed Murray, D-New
Orleans.
 
ICF was hired by Blanco's Division of Administration, and lawmakers want to
know what options they have with the contractor: whether they can withhold
money to the company, tie payments to performance or oust ICF outright.
 
Legislators expected to get a report from their staff next month when
they'll bring ICF officials back to see if they have doled out substantially
more grants. But the budget committee members harshly criticized the company
Friday, saying that homeowners living in trailers and waiting for Road Home
payments have no confidence in ICF.
 
Rep. Steve Scalise said many people have given up on ever receving housing
aid from the Road Home and are going to stay away from Louisiana because of
it. He questioned why the state was continuing to pay ICF despite the slow
aid delivery.
 
"How do you respond to the frustration of the people who are waiting for
their check when you haven't been waiting for yours?," said Scalise,
R-Metairie.
 
Suzie Elkins, director of the governor's Office of Community Development,
the agency that monitors the Road Home program, said one-fourth of the first
4,000 letters that went to homeowners announcing their grant amounts were
incorrect. But she said those people were contacted by phone and corrected
letters were sent to them.
 
The state delays payments to ICF when they don't meet certain performance
standards spelled out in their contract, Elkins said. She acknowledged she
was not fully satisfied with ICF's performance, but she said the company
staffed the housing assistance centers quickly and ramped up the aid program
very fast after signing a contract with the state in July.
 
"They have done a lot of things well," Elkins said.
 
The private company has been paid $80 million for its work in a contract
worth as much as $756 million, according to the Office of Community
Development.