NC disaster relief agency on the hot seat over funding deficits (11-19-2024--Hour1)

[00:00:04] What's going on? Thank you so much for listening to this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon to 3 on WBT Radio in Charlotte. And if you want exclusive content like invitations to events, the weekly live stream, my daily show prep with all the links, become a patron, go to thepetekalendershow.com. Make sure you hit the subscribe button, get every episode for free, right to your smartphone or tablet. And again, thank you so much for your support.

[00:00:28] So yeah, yesterday I was off. I want to thank Nick Craig for filling in for me. I appreciate that. Nick Craig is the host of the Carolina Journal News Hour, heard right here on WBT from 5 until 6 a.m. weekdays.

[00:00:43] And the reason I had to take the day off was because I had to drive to Wilkes County about an hour and a half away from where I live in Charlotte. Because there were no appointments available. And I booked this thing back in like September or something or October. There weren't any appointments available.

[00:01:14] Anywhere closer, anytime sooner. And my license was coming up for renewal. And so I had to renew it. And so I was like, well, I got to set an appointment. And I had, look, I have vacation days that I haven't taken. It's like, I never take all of my vacation days.

[00:01:30] It's what I always point out in any, any kind of performance review with management. I work too much. Like Pete, what would you think your biggest weakness is? Well, I work too much. Second biggest weakness. I care too much. That's, you know, it's, it's my cross to bear.

[00:01:47] But, uh, yeah, it took me an hour and a half to drive up there and then an hour and a half to drive back. But it was just a simple renewal. So here's something that's really stupid.

[00:01:58] I know, I know, I know, it's DMV. So yeah. But, um, but here's something that's really stupid. So if you want to renew your driver's license, you can do that online. But if you do it online, then the next time you come up for renewal, you have to go in person.

[00:02:17] So I assume that is so they can put my face up against the, um, the eye reader thing and I can like read the top line and then they can confirm that I'm not, you know, too blind to drive.

[00:02:33] Um, also they changed the color of my hair on my driver's license. I knew it was coming. I did. I knew it was coming.

[00:02:45] I no longer have brown hair according to official GovCo documentation. Now it's gray, which like I protested, but you know, what am I going to say?

[00:02:56] Like, it's obvious that it's now 50% plus one gray. So you got to go with the, it's, it runs in the families. What can I do?

[00:03:04] So, um, the renewal that I did. So I thought that, well, the last time I went into a DMV was two years ago.

[00:03:16] I went into a DMV. I'm not going to say which one because now apparently me telling people last time I went in there, I've now apparently helped to create a surge in this DMV office.

[00:03:28] And now it's harder to get into. So that's my bed. It's like telling people about, you know, your secret fishing hole or your, your sledding hill.

[00:03:38] Um, then everybody goes there and they ruin it. So that was my bed. Um, but when I moved into, I came back to Charlotte, moved into a house, the house was new construction in a new subdivision.

[00:03:50] And so we, uh, we're on a road that didn't even exist. And so we had to wait for the postal service to get the address from, I guess, the builder and the city.

[00:04:02] And they had to do their paperwork and then it had to get uploaded. And so we couldn't do anything. I couldn't get a driver's license. I couldn't, uh, like the banks were not recognizing anything because everything draws out of this postal service.

[00:04:16] Uh, they used to call it the red book, but it's, it's their database. And so because we weren't in that database, we couldn't get packages delivered. We didn't get mail for like two months. It was just, uh, just, I know, I know first world problems, but, um, I finally went into the DMV because in order, I had to get the license in order to get my concealed carry permit updated as well.

[00:04:42] And you're on a timeline, you're on a deadline to get that stuff done. And so I go in there and I have my, you know, I got the, the paperwork from the house sale and all of that to show that like, this is an address.

[00:04:57] It does exist, but you're probably going to have to override whatever it is in your system, which they did. So then he takes it, but then I said, while I'm here, let me do the real ID. Let me just go ahead and upgrade that. Right. I mean, GovCo's got all that information.

[00:05:12] China's probably got it by now too. So why just, you know, just, just go with the real ID. So I got the picture taken. I got the real ID. I went through all of that. And then I get the notice.

[00:05:23] I got to renew. I said, I was just in the, so first I go online and I'm like, Hey, I'd like to renew. And they're like, sorry, you renewed last time online. So now you need to come back in.

[00:05:36] I said, I was just in, I just can't, I just went to the DMV office. I got the real ID. So there was a phone number and I called it and somebody actually answered it.

[00:05:50] I am as surprised as you. So they answer the phone. I talked to a lovely woman and she's, she's like, no, that she's like, you renew, you renewed online.

[00:05:58] I said, yeah, but I went in two years ago and she says, that does, that does not count as a renewal.

[00:06:07] That counts as a duplicate license.

[00:06:12] Cause they only have two categories, apparently renewal or duplicate.

[00:06:16] Like, well, but it's, but it wasn't a duplicate. It was a real ID. It was a new ID. It was a, I mean, you can't spell renewal without new and like right there, renew ID.

[00:06:31] Got a new picture, right? Adjusted the height because it used to say six foot and I've gotten shorter.

[00:06:40] Now I'm like between five, 10, five, 11, I'm holding onto the five, 11 for as long as I can. So, um, I wore taller shoes and everything, but they just ask you.

[00:06:50] So I don't understand. I really don't understand why this system is so awful. It's almost like, like this is a choice guys.

[00:07:04] Like there's no other explanation for it. This is a choice to be this user unfriendly. If we were building government today, it would not look like what it looks like right now.

[00:07:18] I want to believe at least I, all right. Okay. I want to believe that it would very well would look worse. I don't know.

[00:07:24] But how is it possible that this is still this? And I will say this, the Wilkes County DMV was fantastic.

[00:07:34] They were great. You couldn't check in 15 minutes. If you tried to check in 16 minutes before your appointment, they would not accept your,

[00:07:45] your, uh, like check-in. You had to wait until it was 15 minutes or less. And then I checked in and I sat there.

[00:07:53] They took me, they got in early. It took like, well, cause I talked with her for a little while. So, but I was done in 10 minutes.

[00:08:02] The whole process took like five. And then I got back in the car, drove another hour and a half home to Charlotte.

[00:08:07] She said she had just seen somebody from Waxhaw. This is how bad DMV is in the Charlotte area that people are leaving this area from Waxhaw and from

[00:08:18] Charlotte. And they're driving all the way to Wilkes County. I was listening to ads about the Virginia casinos on that radio.

[00:08:27] That's how close I was to Virginia. Come on, people get it together.

[00:08:32] Well, speaking of GovCo failures, the legislature, uh, held a hearing yesterday about how badly, uh,

[00:08:40] uh, the, the government has been, uh, dealing with the, uh, uh, hurricane responses.

[00:08:48] Officials with the North Carolina office of recovery and resiliency, or as they call it, N-COR, N-C-O-R-R, N-C-O-R.

[00:08:58] That's the state agency that is tasked with assisting victims of natural disasters.

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[00:10:11] you're used to frequent moves. In South Carolina, in four different offices over the years, I have never

[00:10:16] waited more than 40 minutes. And that time, every seat was taken and about 20 people were standing.

[00:10:22] My last NCDMV experience was three and a half hours. Yeah, I don't do the walk-in just for that

[00:10:28] reason. But then again, I ended up on the road for three hours. But it was in my vehicle listening

[00:10:34] to music and podcasts and stuff, you know, and the sound of my own voice cussing out other drivers.

[00:10:41] So it was worth it. I did get the gold star on my driver's license. Yes, Jeff, I did. And Mike says,

[00:10:47] that was a riveting segment. Thank you. Compelling and rich, as I like to say.

[00:10:54] All right. So officials with the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency, or the N-COR,

[00:11:00] it's also called Rebuild NC, the state agency tasked with assisting victims of natural disasters

[00:11:07] admitted during a committee meeting yesterday that it actually faces a $221 million budget shortfall,

[00:11:16] rather than the $175 million budget deficit that was previously reported. Here is Representative

[00:11:23] Brendan Jones, co-chair of the legislative committee. He's from Columbus County, and he said it's hard

[00:11:30] to believe that their accounting is so bad.

[00:11:34] You know, I get back to the numbers.

[00:11:38] N-COR has several people earning over $100,000 a year with knowledge of the budget, correct?

[00:11:43] Yes.

[00:11:45] You yourself are a Capitol Hill appropriation staffer?

[00:11:48] Yes, sir.

[00:11:49] Chief Operation Officer at HUD?

[00:11:51] Yes, sir.

[00:11:55] Why has N-COR or you failed so miserably?

[00:12:00] I think we have succeeded in getting a number of families home and in running a program that

[00:12:04] gets a larger percentage of families home.

[00:12:06] I'm sorry, did you say succeeded?

[00:12:07] Succeeded?

[00:12:08] Succeeded in getting them home.

[00:12:09] Hmm.

[00:12:10] And we are the top producer in the country of CDBGDR grantees for homes per month. 115

[00:12:18] homes per month is something that no other state is able to do. We were not watching the

[00:12:22] budget carefully enough.

[00:12:24] That's an understatement. I think, Senator Brinton, I would love to ride you around Columbus

[00:12:28] and Robinson County and show where you hadn't succeeded.

[00:12:30] Cool. All right. The voice you heard there, the female voice you heard there, Laura Hogshead,

[00:12:36] she is the director of the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency, also known

[00:12:42] as N-COR, also known as Rebuild NC. And she was on the hot seat along with a fellow by

[00:12:50] the name of Pryor Gibson. And I always try to be polite and call him Previous Gibson just

[00:12:57] because... Just kidding. His name is Pryor. He is the deputy legislative counsel for the

[00:13:08] governor's office. So Roy Cooper, Governor Cooper, my good friend Ray, sent Pryor over

[00:13:15] to N-COR to kind of help them fix their crap. All right. Because things have been bad and badly

[00:13:25] managed for quite a while over there. In fact, this also came out. Did you know that we're still

[00:13:33] not done with the recovery effort for Hurricane Matthew? People might not even know what Hurricane

[00:13:43] Matthew was or when it was because it was so long ago. The thing hit in 2016. And they still

[00:13:51] haven't figured out a way to get everybody into homes. The entire term, both terms of Cooper's

[00:13:58] administration. All right. Hey, real quick. If you would like to get your product or service in

[00:14:03] front of about 10,000 people multiple times a day, send me an email at Pete at the Pete Calendar

[00:14:09] show.com and ask me about advertising. It's super affordable. It's baked into this podcast forever.

[00:14:15] And podcasts have a higher conversion rate than other social media platforms, making it the best

[00:14:19] bang for your buck. Send me a message. Pete at the Pete calendar show.com. And I can show you how it

[00:14:24] works. Run the numbers with you. Again, that's Pete at the Pete calendar show.com. Going over what

[00:14:31] happened at the legislative hearing yesterday, where the leader of the North Carolina Office of

[00:14:37] Recovery and Resiliency, a woman by the name of Laura Hogshead was called to testify in front of the

[00:14:43] legislators over what is essentially a quarter of a billion dollar budget shortfall. And the explanation

[00:14:53] from her and the agency is that they were not watching closely enough their budget.

[00:15:00] That that's I'm not kidding. That's what she said. The next soundbite here is an exchange

[00:15:10] between representative Mark Pless. He is from Western North Carolina.

[00:15:15] And he's asking her how the recovery efforts have changed since Hurricane Matthew eight years ago

[00:15:24] versus now. Back to the people that you're dealing with right now. They were having to chase deeds,

[00:15:37] chase FEMA documentation. We as a state, even though we said we're here to help, we're requiring them to do

[00:15:44] this, but we're not going to do that next time. So we will have access to most of that because we now

[00:15:48] have access to all of the FEMA data. So they will still need to show us their deed or we will be able to pull

[00:15:53] it from the online, hopefully the online system that the county has. But we should be able to chase more of that

[00:15:57] down than our vendors were willing to chase down in the beginning of Matthew and Florence.

[00:16:01] So the initial part, the slowdown that you keep referring to and people not being able to go

[00:16:06] through it would have been because of the vendors you were choosing to use?

[00:16:11] I think it's always more bureaucratic when you have an implementation vendor. And so we've learned a lot

[00:16:16] through the years about bringing all of that in house and making this making all of the questioning

[00:16:20] streamlined using third party sources to verify rather than putting that burden on the homeowner.

[00:16:25] And so we've learned a lot about how to make that more streamlined.

[00:16:28] So it was the vendors. That's the problem. Okay. They do actually say that, that the slow recovery

[00:16:38] efforts were driven by a number of issues. Number one, limited experience of homeowners who had never

[00:16:47] had to deal with a general contractor and a new home build, right? This isn't like building a subdivision.

[00:16:55] It's essentially like custom builds at a large scale. The other issue they identified was local

[00:17:04] capacity. Too many homes were in the pipeline, which overwhelmed the system very quickly.

[00:17:09] If you think about it, right, all of the permitting, like all of the rules and regulations that

[00:17:15] GovCo sets up to build a home. You're now trying to do that for, you know, 1500 homes all at once

[00:17:24] in one location. Also contractors were not getting paid as quickly as they needed to be.

[00:17:31] They're waiting a month, two months or whatever for payment. And like that, the contractors aren't

[00:17:39] going to keep doing work for you if that's the timeline you're going to pay them on.

[00:17:42] The N-C-O-R-R or the N-C-O-R-R addressed this last year. They say they got that pay timeline now down to

[00:17:50] two weeks. So that was good. Senator Buck Newton said delays seem to have persisted.

[00:17:59] And now there is a very big shortfall in the funding.

[00:18:04] First of all, I want to go back to what you asked about, what you were asked about, about

[00:18:08] decisions on extending or keeping open the application period. I believe you said that

[00:18:14] someone above you or some people above you made that decision. Is that what I heard you say?

[00:18:22] It was not in my control. No, sir.

[00:18:23] Okay. So it wasn't in your control. Someone above you made the decision to keep it open.

[00:18:29] Who?

[00:18:32] Yes, sir. As N-C-O-R is a body that reports both to DPS and the governor's office, it was

[00:18:36] a discussion amongst N-C-O-R, the governor's office, and DPS.

[00:18:39] And those names would be who? Who made the decisions?

[00:18:46] In the governor's office, I am not sure who made the decision, but it was a governor's

[00:18:49] office decision to keep the application open to help as many people as possible, which

[00:18:53] I believe is what we all wanted to do.

[00:18:55] So is it fair to say that was the governor's decision to keep it open?

[00:18:59] I do not know that it was his decision.

[00:19:02] Well, he is the governor.

[00:19:06] True.

[00:19:07] For now.

[00:19:07] That is true.

[00:19:08] It is his department.

[00:19:11] Maybe it was delegated to the secretary of DPS or someone else, but I want to know the

[00:19:16] answer of who it was that made these decisions.

[00:19:21] That's going to determine a lot about what this body decides to do about going forward.

[00:19:27] I mean, we're wasting millions of dollars dragging this out for years.

[00:19:34] $76 million on hotel rooms.

[00:19:40] And a lot of people over there are getting paid pretty good compared to the salary I make

[00:19:44] to sit here.

[00:19:48] I'd like to know who.

[00:19:50] Because somebody needs to be held accountable for these decisions.

[00:19:53] And we need to make decisions about going forward on a storm that's four or five times the size

[00:19:59] of what this mess is.

[00:20:01] Sir, I do not know exactly who made the decision.

[00:20:03] I was told that I was not allowed to close the application period.

[00:20:07] All right.

[00:20:07] So what is this about?

[00:20:09] Well, the application for assistance for recovery funds and help and rebuild of homes and that

[00:20:15] sort of thing had closed or was about to close.

[00:20:20] And they were told, don't close it.

[00:20:22] Well, when you keep it open for longer, that means more money keeps going out.

[00:20:28] Right.

[00:20:31] And you heard also a reference there that DPS may have made this call.

[00:20:38] That's the Department of Public Safety.

[00:20:41] DPS.

[00:20:42] And I was not aware of this either, but I got a message here that North Carolina's former

[00:20:49] secretary of the Department of Public Safety, Eric Hooks.

[00:20:54] Remember that guy?

[00:20:57] There was controversy when he was in charge of DPS.

[00:21:01] Do you know where he is now?

[00:21:06] He's with FEMA.

[00:21:10] Yeah, he's now with FEMA.

[00:21:14] He is the deputy administration, a deputy administrator of FEMA.

[00:21:21] Starting to connect some dots here.

[00:21:27] So that was Buck Newton that you heard.

[00:21:29] He said that the legislature is concerned about making sure that the money is spent well and

[00:21:35] that the people are getting back into their homes when the state is spending this kind of money.

[00:21:41] So for us, how long it takes to get an approved applicant into a modular home is a little better metric than whether or not the contractor is meeting their obligations under the contract.

[00:21:55] Understood.

[00:21:56] That's the second part.

[00:22:00] So would in excess of 500 days be anywhere near the ballpark of accurate to you?

[00:22:09] Does that sound right to you in excess of 500 days from the time they're approved to the time they get in their modular home?

[00:22:17] That is possible from the time they sign their award to the time that they get to the correct GC and then get into their home.

[00:22:23] That is possible.

[00:22:24] Okay.

[00:22:25] Over 500 days.

[00:22:28] That's almost two years.

[00:22:30] That seems a little long.

[00:22:34] Especially for like modular homes.

[00:22:36] Right?

[00:22:38] All right.

[00:22:39] All right.

[00:22:39] So at this hearing, this Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations and Subcommittee on Hurricane Response and Recovery.

[00:22:50] All right.

[00:22:51] That's what happened yesterday.

[00:22:55] The agency has admitted to a massive hole in the disaster recovery budget, even though North Carolinians impacted by Hurricane Florence are still without permanent housing.

[00:23:08] Carolina Journal's Brianna Kramer writing that victims have stayed in hotels for over six months at a time and waited years to return to a permanent home.

[00:23:16] The NCOR, which employs more than 200 staff under Governor Roy Cooper's management, has faced legislative scrutiny for years because of its operational issues dating back to Hurricanes Matthew and Florence in 2017.

[00:23:31] NCOR was created one year later to oversee federal recovery funds in response to the disasters.

[00:23:40] The legislators slammed NCOR during this committee meeting, during which Cooper staffers were questioned about financial mismanagement.

[00:23:51] The director of the NCOR, Laura Hogshead, admitted that her team, quote, was not watching closely enough over budget lines.

[00:24:02] Brendan Jones, representative from Columbus County, said the buck stops at Hogshead here.

[00:24:10] Looks like it's going to cost about $980 million.

[00:24:13] You guys came to us for $530 million.

[00:24:16] We've already talked inflation.

[00:24:17] We've done that.

[00:24:18] The original budget was for $530 million thereabout.

[00:24:21] So there's about a $450 million difference now.

[00:24:25] You just said you were at fault.

[00:24:27] So are you going to admit to this committee today that it's your fault that this NCOR is in this situation?

[00:24:34] I should have been watching more carefully, but I want to make sure we're talking about the right numbers.

[00:24:38] What we requested of the federal government after Florence was $1.1 billion.

[00:24:42] Are you telling the committee?

[00:24:43] I want to get very clear right now, very specific.

[00:24:46] Is it your fault where we are with the numbers?

[00:24:52] Yes, sir.

[00:24:52] This is my vote.

[00:24:53] Will you turn in your resignation today, please?

[00:24:56] That is for the governor and for DPS.

[00:24:58] I'm asking you, as this committee, having met with you several times and I am frustrated, you can tell.

[00:25:03] Will you turn in your resignation today if you're admitting your fault?

[00:25:08] Sir, I believe that we have done what we can to come to solve the problem.

[00:25:10] Yes or no, please?

[00:25:11] No, sir.

[00:25:12] I will not resign.

[00:25:12] Okay.

[00:25:13] Then we'll...

[00:25:13] Committee, I think we've got a lot of work to do.

[00:25:16] Mm-hmm.

[00:25:16] They do.

[00:25:17] All right, that'll do it for this episode.

[00:25:19] Thank you so much for listening.

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[00:25:34] Again, thank you so much for listening and don't break anything while I'm gone.