HUD Secretary urges local leaders to move forward on disaster recovery projects | News

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HUD Secretary Adrianne Todman is calling on the Bryan administration to “act with urgency” in carrying out disaster recovery plans, and is encouraging her fellow Virgin Islanders to “hold their government accountable” when it comes to completing federally funded projects that will improve residents’ quality of life.

“I think that there is no perfect system, so if we’re waiting for perfection to get work done, then the people are going to have the frustration that they have that nothing is getting done,” Todman said Friday in an interview with The Daily News at the University of the Virgin Islands on St. Thomas.

In 2021, Todman toured disaster recovery project sites funded through of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant, including Donoe Redevelopment Housing, Magens Junction, and a private home that underwent roof repairs through the EnVision Tomorrow program, four years after damage from Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria in 2017.

Since then, “we’ve had regular and continuous engagement” with Gov. Albert Bryan Jr., and the leaders of the territory’s Housing Finance Authority and Housing Authority, “to ask them to continue to push the envelope to just get things done, whether it’s housing, whether it’s the hospital,” or other critical infrastructure, Todman said Friday.

In addition, “there was a lot of interagency conversations between HUD and Energy, and FEMA and Agriculture, on ways that the national government, the federal government can help coordinate better so that the localities that we are funding like the U.S. Virgin Islands, we’re not confusing them,” Todman said.

Streamlining the processes and reducing bureaucracy could help projects flow more smoothly, but Todman said local officials also have to do their part to move the recovery effort forward.

“When I’ve spoken to the governor about this, what he has said to me is that you know, he wishes that his folks would act a little bit more forcefully in terms of making decisions and getting things done. I know he’s said that to me,” Todman said. “I suggest you speak to him about his thoughts around that. For my purview and my seat, we don’t see all of the machinations of decisions not being made, what we’re looking for is the outcomes.”

Government House did not respond to a request for comment from The Daily News.

Todman said she spent Thursday touring the D. Hamilton Jackson housing community on St. Croix, where disaster recovery funds will be used to repair units, and Bryan mentioned other sites where work is anticipated to take place.

“If there’s any frustration from HUD’s lens, is that things aren’t happening fast enough and I’m sure that’s what people feel,” Todman said.

In terms of why local government employees have been slow to make decisions, “it’s unclear to me, because I’ve not had that conversation with them. But that has continually been something that comes back as a place that needs some type of fixing,” Todman said.

The Housing Authority and Housing Finance Authority are under new management, and “I am hopeful that that new leadership, working with the governor and his team, will make the types of decisions that are impacting what people want to see,” Todman said.

“I think they’ve hit the ground running already,” she added. “They’ve had to.”

To Virgin Islanders still waiting for roof repairs and other relief, Todman said residents should not hesitate to advocate for themselves.

“Hold their government accountable, continue to beat the drum when things are not happening the way that they’re supposed to, and make sure their elected leaders are doing the same thing,” Todman said. “Do not be afraid to speak up, because then there’s no accountability.

Todman also met with leadership of the V.I. Water and Power Authority on Thursday, “which was a critical reason why I wanted to come down here, because we did invest $145 million to stabilizing the VITOL situation, and also looking at how to get the new generators up and commissioned.”

Todman said she was told WAPA has used the funding to complete a buyout of the propane infrastructure at the Harley Power Plant on St. Thomas, ending a longstanding payment dispute with the fuel supplier VITOL that was hampering WAPA’s ability to dig out from massive debt and contractual obligations.

WAPA is also set to begin running four new Wartsila generators at the plant, which is expected to reduce fuel costs and improve reliability of service.

But the most recent power failure in the St. Thomas-St. John district was not due to a lack of generation, but failures in the underground transmission line Feeder 13, and Todman said discussions are ongoing about all aspects of the fragile power grid.

“That came up as well, in terms of something that continuously is an issue and impacts the people who live here,” Todman said.

As a St. Thomian, “I get messages from my family all the time, as you can imagine, ‘The power’s off!’ ‘The power is off again.’ And so I know it’s still an enduring issue,” Todman said. “I will say this, at least what I heard yesterday and what will soon be announced and executed on gives me hope, that at least some of the basic things that we all expect for WAPA is in place.”

More than anything, “I told them this is the most critical thing, is trust of the people,” Todman added. “The people have to trust and have faith that the dollars provided to them through me, is being used for their public good, and I’m hopeful that everything I heard yesterday, that there is now going to be a path forward for that to happen.”

There have been instances where the public’s trust was broken by corruption in the past, and Davidson and Sasha Charlemagne were charged in June with federal crimes involving government program fraud and money laundering.

According to the indictment, the Charlemagnes reaped millions in federal dollars through a contract to manage and distribute lumber for HUD-funded disaster recovery efforts in the territory. Prosecutors allege that Charlemagne never disclosed that he was employed by the Education Department as a facilities manager, or that he stored lumber on Education Department property without paying rent.

Both have pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial.

In terms of corruption in the territory, “there are bad actors everywhere in these United States of America, so the Virgin Islands doesn’t have a sort of monopoly on people who are doing bad things. There are people doing bad things all over, everywhere, all the time,” Todman said Friday. “The most important thing is to have systems in place to catch them.”

The system “make take longer than one wants, but eventually, I trust the systems will catch bad actors and hold them accountable,” Todman said. As long as the justice system is working, “then the people should continue to have hope that 90% of the public servants who are working for them, are working for them.”

She emphasized that the governor and WAPA leaders, “need to make sure that they’re executing in a way that builds trust,” and are utilizing all available federal funding, not just disaster recovery money.

“I continue to be disappointed in the pace of some of that work as well, and the impact it has with people here,” Todman said. Bryan “is aware of that, he and I have spoken about it, we’ve talked about additional technical assistance that the HUD team can give, but we have to act with urgency.”

With President Donald Trump returning to the White House, “I am concerned about what’s to come behind me,” Todman said. “I am concerned, because it’s not as though there was a high value in what was happening down here prior to the Biden/Harris Administration. When we started in ’21 we had to unlock certain doors, even though the money had been allocated, we had to unlock some things to really keep it flowing. My concern is that if there’s not enough urgency and action, what that will mean. And I will despair if the people of the Virgin Islands has to suffer because of that.”

Todman said her team has worked hard “to put in place something that allowed not just maximum flexibility but maximum collaboration to get things done, and that has to continue,” so she will be monitoring the situation even after she leaves HUD.

“As a Virgin Islander, it’s important for me,” Todman said. “This has been a job of a lifetime, a great honor to serve the President and the Vice President, but it’s a job. Adrianne Todman isn’t going anywhere, and I’ll be watching.”

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