May 16, 2018
 
 
The Honorable Senator Joe Manchin
United States Senate
Via e-mail
 
Dear Senator Manchin:
 
By way of introduction, we first became acquainted in the late ‘90s
when I served as mayor of Wheeling.  Awhile after I left office, my
bishop reassigned me to Huntington where I served as senior
pastor of Johnson Memorial United Methodist Church where our
beloved friends Steve and Jane Kopp were members.  You were
gracious to carve time to attend Marshall University President
Kopp’s funeral service which I conducted at the church, limited in
attendance to family, friends, and invited guests.  You and I spoke
briefly before and after the service.  In 2016, I attempted
retirement; however, following the devastating storms and flood
disaster of June 23, 2016, Bishop Sandra Steiner Ball asked me
to direct the United Methodist recovery efforts throughout the 12county declared disaster zone.  It has been an honor to serve The
WV Conference of The United Methodist Church and to be a
partner of our global United Methodist Committee on Relief
(UMCOR), and it has been a highlight of my 49 years of ministry
with The UMC to see first hand the determination and resiliency of
the people of West Virginia when struck by an overwhelming
disastrous event.  Most recently, I was asked to offer a prayer at
your gathering on primary election night but regret that travel in
the disaster recovery zone prohibited my being back in
Charleston in time.
 
I write to seek your help in moving WV RISE from its stagnant
dormancy to the promises made to The United Methodist Church,

 partner ecumenical and secular bodies, funding partners,
volunteer work team partners, and especially to survivors of the
disaster.  From increasing and more frustrating conversations with
our disaster recovery partners, particularly those of us active with
funding, volunteer work teams, and disaster case management, I
know that The United Methodist Church is not alone as we have
sat on the sidelines, having trusted what we were told by WV
RISE, WVDO officials, and the consulting firm of Horn, LLC while
disaster survivors have likewise been told to wait – and wait.
 
You were delighted to announce, and we were thrilled to hear,
that The United States Department of Housing and Urban
Development through the Community Development Block Grant
program would provide $104,000,000 for disaster recovery.  As
news unfolded, the amount increased to $107,492,000.  I believe
there were further increases of funding announced.
 
At a meeting held June 15, 2017 at the Sports Performance
Center at The Greenbrier, people from the WVDO and the
consulting firm described the WV RISE program and provided
iPads to disaster case managers, including our UM case
managers.  The iPads were programmed to provide easy intake
for client referrals to RISE.  At the meeting, we were provided
details of the grant and how it would be used.  Those of us
present that day were told that 1,000 homes would be built in the
12-county declared disaster zone (80% in the counties of
Greenbrier, Clay, Nicholas, and Kanawha) in less than a year. 
We were also told that RISE expected to serve 600 to 800
households.  That math doesn’t work very well, but I report to you
here what we were told to indicate the magnitude and efficiency of
work that was promised:  1,000 houses to be built, preferably by
local construction contractors, in less than a year.  Numerous
other details were provided including Social Vulnerability Index
priorities, single family home construction or rehab, mobile home

 replacement, elevation remediation, temporary rental assistance,
and flood insurance.
 
We were told the first homes would be under construction in
August of 2017.  Then September.  Then October. 
 
On February 5 of this year, after numerous concerns were raised
about RISE’s delays and requirements that make no sense given
WV’s sociology and geography, a meeting was held at the Clay
County Courthouse to discuss this.  I attended along with
ecumenical and other partners because we were being
embarrassed by RISE, being caught in the web of RISE’s delays. 
We further wanted to let the citizens who attended know what we
were doing to assist recovery apart from and in spite of RISE. 
Representatives from your office as well as the offices of Senator
Capito, Congressman Mooney, and FEMA were present.  A staff
member of the WVDO assured everyone present that during that
month, February 2018, 50 home would be under construction. 
When pressed about that number, he said that 30 some for sure
would be under construction.
 
To date, not one house has been constructed.  Not one house has
had construction to begin.  Two mobile homes have been placed
but are neither set up nor yet habitable.
 
In Roane County, I can point to three RISE applicants who are
held up for unexplainable reasons, all three elderly women, two in
their 70s and one 85.  At their ages and living conditions, will HUD
or WV RISE need to explain why one of them died before she
could get into a home after a disaster nearly two years ago? 
Ecumenical and voluntary organizations have been told by WV
RISE not to spend donated dollars on projects that RISE could
take.  This is a fast growing immorality as we see it, keeping
people from recovery while HUD and RISE fool around with this.

  
One of my UM case managers has a case with a large family
whose home was destroyed in Kanawha County.  The Elk River
undercut the land where their home sat.  Their lot stretches up the
hill from the precise site of the former home.  RISE has told them
they will not build on their own lot unless it is on the exact
previous site where the land does not exist as it was.  Does this
make any sense to you?  Would you be able to defend HUD and
WV RISE and their disqualification of our client family?  No thanks
to RISE, we have received generous gifts from three Charleston
United Methodist Churches to fund their new house, and we have
secured the commitment of Mennonite Disaster Services to
provide the labor to build it.
 
Our other case manager has a case in Nicholas County whose
home was destroyed by the flood.  As with the case above, a new
home could be built on his land further up the hill from the house
that was destroyed but which now has mine drainage that floods
the site.  RISE has disqualified him because he does not want to
live in a home that RISE would build on the mine drainage
impacted former home sitee.  Can you make sense of this or
defend HUD or WV RISE and their disqualification of this client? 
As I write this, we are seeking funding partners to care for this
survivor and get him into a home.
 
Our United Methodist case managers have other clients who have
been disqualified by RISE or are caught in the unconscionable
and strangling delays.  To reiterate, we are not alone with this
problem that is affecting ecumenical and secular partners,
especially our survivor families.  The WV United Methodist
Church, our ecumenical partners, and other voluntary
organizations are stepping up to move forward to help survivors
move from untenable, dangerous situations into residences that
are safe, secure, and sanitary.

  
What can you do to move this important program along? 
 
How much money has been paid to the consulting firm?
 
How much money has been provided to the West Virginia
Development Office?
 
Please, please help.  No doubt this is likewise an embarrassment
to you.  I will be pleased to meet with you – or take you on a tour
of recovery sites – or answer questions that you may have. 
 
Sincerely, with best personal regards,
 
John W. (Jack) Lipphardt, Director
West Virginia United Methodist Disaster Recovery
304.639.7035