[StBernard] Recovery czar chastises Road Home contractor

[Westley Annis]

Federal Gulf Coast rebuilding coordinator Donald Powell on Wednesday urged
the contractor running the Road Home program to speed up payments to victims
of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. 
 
"As I expressed by phone, I have serious concerns about the effectiveness
and expediency of the program," Powell said in a letter to Sudhakar Kesavan,
chief executive of the Virginia-based ICF International. 
 
"As I write this letter, only 92 homeowners have received financial
assistance out of over 80,000 applicants, or .1 percent of applicants," he
wrote. "This rate must dramatically improve." 
 
In the one-page letter, Powell said that since Nov. 2, representatives of
his office have held weekly conference calls with ICF staff in Baton Rouge,
representatives of the state and of the Louisiana Recovery Office and of
other federal agencies. 
 
"While these calls have been an effective tool to identify and eliminate
challenges, they have made clear to me that serious administrative issues
remain with the Blanco Road Home program," Powell wrote. 
 
ICF officials again promised the program will pick up speed. "We understand
the great urgency to continue to streamline and improve the program in
cooperation with our state and legislative stakeholders," said ICF spokesman
Dwight Cunningham. "As exemplified by last night's positive meeting hosted
by the governor, we look forward to continued frank and constructive
discussions to improve the program for the citizens of Louisiana." 
 
Powell spokeswoman Susan Aspey said the letter was a follow-up to a
telephone conversation with Kesavan on Tuesday, in which the ICF executive
promised to send a letter outlining outstanding issues he was facing in
improving the grant program. 
 
"The Chairman wants to ensure that the money gets to the folks who need it
as quickly as possible, and the slow response of this program to date is
worrisome and of concern," Aspey said in an e-mail response to questions
about the letter. 
 
The letter came on the same day ICF announced several changes in the kinds
of appraisals that would be accepted in determining awards. A number of Road
Home applicants have complained their award letters contained inaccurate
numbers that may have resulted from the company using inaccurate appraisal
estimates. 
 
Marie Centanni, a spokeswoman for Gov. Kathleen Blanco, said the governor
hadn't received a copy of the Powell letter late Wednesday. 
"That seems like it's between Mr. Powell and ICF," Centanni said. 
. . . . . . . 
Mark Schleifstein can be reached at mschleifstein at timespicayune.com or (504)
826-3327.