Borough leaders are questioning what went wrong after the Federal Emergency Management Agency said it would not reimburse Haines for more than $1.4 million in funds spent on restoring Porcupine Trail Road.
After a 2020 storm that brought record-setting rainfall, flooding and fatal landslides was declared a federal disaster, Porcupine Trail Road was one of the projects the borough has been working to repair and get reimbursed through FEMA.
But what was supposed to be a work session on Nov. 16 on the multi-million dollar three-phase project turned into something of a postmortem as assembly members quizzed borough staff and contractors on how the project ran afoul of FEMA’s rules.
“This came out of left field in my opinion,” said Garret Gladsjo, the borough’s contracted manager for flood-damaged projects. Gladsjo said he thought the borough was just days away from the agency promising millions to finish the project.
Assembly member Kevin Forster asked Gladsjo what happened.
“If we were just to zoom out a little bit and give us in simple terms, what went awry here? Why are we seeing this from this project,” Forster said.
First, Gladsjo pointed to FEMA leadership – and guidance – which keeps changing. The top administrator for this specific federal disaster has changed three times over the last few years.
“So conversations and understandings that may have been in place … probably have gotten lost in translation with FEMA here in the last two-plus years,” he said.
Federal authorities also questioned work that was done on the road outside of the project scope it had been negotiating with the borough.
“This was something we just learned about as this issue came up,” Gladsjo said.
FEMA is arguing that these outside projects are connected actions – in other words projects that are closely related and should be considered under the same environmental review.
“What FEMA considers a connected action is, regardless of who is paying for it, regardless of the work that is being performed, if you have a FEMA damage site and somebody comes in there and does work, that is a connected action. Even if it’s not funded by FEMA, even if it’s not administered or under their purview, they consider that a connected action for their environmental review,” Gladsjo said.
Gladsjo said there was a stabilization project adding material and shifting the road inland when the road was washed out in late 2022.
And, earlier this year, the borough let Constantine Mining contract out and pay for emergency road-raising work. The company uses the Porcupine Trail Road regularly as it explores a mining claim in the area.
Borough officials have said Constantine’s work was legal and pointed out that borough code allows private companies to pay for street repairs. The borough had its legal staff review Constantine’s request and green-lit the company to move forward with repairs.
Assembly member Debra Schnabel questioned why borough staff used their own legal department instead of talking to FEMA.
“What I’m understanding is that the consciousness to direct the question to FEMA did not occur,” Schnabel said. “In hearing this story I’m thinking ‘oh, the question should have been directed to FEMA, not to our attorney.'”
“You know hindsight is 20/20,” said public works director Ed Coffland in response. “If we could do it differently, I think knowing what we know now, we would have done it differently.”
Borough staff said they were surprised by the decision, but there have been warning signs for months.
FEMA put funding for the project on hold in September to investigate the work that has happened so far on Porcupine Trail Road.
It’s not uncommon for the agency to de-obligate funds in its disaster assistance programs. In Florida, officials say the agency has been more and more likely to claw money back, deobligate funds, or audit projects in recent years. Especially in cases where communities don’t strictly adhere to the agency’s complex disaster reimbursement regulations.
It’s not entirely clear what justification the agency has for pulling the funds it promised to Haines. Borough staff are still waiting on a follow-up letter, or determination memo, from FEMA.
“So the project’s dead, is that kind of what we’re saying? Whatever it is that we want to do, we’ll do on our own,” Schnabel asked.
“There is an appeal process,” Kreitzer replied. “Once we have the determination memo it will be easier to know what, and if, to appeal.”