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Gianato no stranger to controversy

CHARLESTON — The latest issue involving the former director of the West Virginia Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management is among others involving Jimmy Gianato since his appointment 13 years ago.

On Nov. 11, lawmakers were briefed about a penalty given to the state by the Federal Emergency Management Agency affecting how the state receives grants for natural disasters and emergency response.

Three years ago — Nov. 15, 2015 — FEMA sent a letter to Gianato that said the state was being put on manual reimbursement due to homeland security not responding to requirements for previous grant awards between 2009 and 2015. Since January 2016, the state has had to pay up-front for expenditures and was only reimbursed by the federal government after meeting all requirements.

The manual reimbursement penalty added up to 90 days before the state can be reimbursed by the federal government. The penalty affects five grant programs and all open FEMA grants, including emergency grants for the 2016 floods that devastated southern West Virginia.

Since the penalty went into effect in 2016, Gianato has served two governors and two cabinet secretaries, none of whom were told about the penalty, according to Jeff Sandy, the current cabinet secretary.

“It’s very disappointing to my staff and the governor’s staff that we were unaware of that letter,” Sandy told members of the West Virginia Legislature’s Post Audit Subcommittee.

“That’s astounding,” said Senate President Mitch Carmichael, R-Jackson, after hearing the report.

It’s the most recent grant program issue under Gianato. Attempts to contact Gianato through his office for comment were unsuccessful. An email to department spokesman Lawrence Messina for a comment from Gianato was not immediately returned.

Gianato was first appointed by former Gov. Joe Manchin on Aug. 30, 2005. Before that, he was the director of the McDowell County Office of Emergency Services since 1991 and was a deputy state fire marshal.

“Jimmy Gianato is well-respected by his colleagues on both the state and federal level for his proven leadership on a wide range of emergency management and homeland security areas. I am pleased that one of our best leaders in the field is accepting the task of coordinating and overseeing our statewide efforts,” Manchin said in a press release.

Gianato’s interests in emergency services dates back to 1972 when he joined the Kimball Volunteer Fire Department. He currently is the fire chief.

In 2009, Gianato and former Secretary of Commerce Secretary Kelley Goes applied to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and received a $126 million grant for broadband expansion in West Virginia under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Gianato was named the chief grant administrator.

With the grant money, the state planned to connect hundreds of anchor facilities to high-speed broadband and build a fiber line between West Virginia University and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Greenbank.

In 2010, Gianato was part of the grant implementation team that purchased 1,164 internet routers for the anchor facilities – public schools, libraries, city and county governments and state police detachments across the state. According to a 2013 legislative audit, the routers were too large and too powerful for the anchor facilities to use.

“The (grant team’s) decision to spend the federal funds on oversized routers resulted in millions of dollars in federal funds not being spent on expanding the state’s fiber optic broadband network,” according to the audit report.

The report goes on to state a survey should have been done to determine the right routers to purchase. Instead, the state paid $24 million for routers the anchor facilities could not use. The grant team also ignored state purchasing laws when ordering the Cisco routers.

“The effect of purchasing unnecessarily large routers is twofold,” the report states. “First, funds spent on unnecessary hardware, are funds which could have been used to build more fiber throughout West Virginia. If the…implementation team overspent at least $5 million on routers, with an average cost of $47,860 for every mile of fiber laid, this $5 million could have resulted in 104 additional miles of broadband fiber in the state of West Virginia.”

According to the report, Gianato told auditors Cisco recommended the routers due to their internal dual power supply.

Gianato also received scrutiny when it was revealed in 2012 by The Charleston Gazette-Mail that Adam Gianato – Gianato’s son – was working for an engineering firm installing emergency communications towers through the same $126 million stimulus grant. The Gazette said Adam was paid $73,000 by the state for salary and overtime on the project. He was later brought on as a full-time employee of the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

During the Nov. 11 subcommittee meeting, Sandy told lawmakers that the governor’s office starting noticing issues with homeland security early in the first year of Gov. Jim Justice’s term starting in January 2017.

“Early on in the Justice administration, we fully realized we that there was an issue going on with homeland security,” Sandy said. “The failure to adapt, the failure to respond, the failure to fulfill its responsibilities to our citizens.”

Sandy said that 18 months ago he started talking with Adjutant Gen. James Hoyer with the West Virginia National Guard taking over homeland security. Those conversations resulted in Lt. Col. Michael Todorovich, Gianato’s deputy director, stepping into the role and Gianato stepping down. Gianato remains the governor’s adviser on homeland security.

Yet, despite concerns being raised months ago by Sandy, Gianato was still front in center as homeland security director until late October. He was at several of the June press conferences when another grant program being managed by the Department of Commerce for flood relief came under fire for missteps.

During a June 4 press conference, Gianato talked about his role in requesting the first round of $149 million in grant money from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for rebuilding and rehabilitating homes in the flood zones, the beginning of the RISE West Virginia program.

“I had the privilege of going with (Hoyer) and the former governor (Earl Ray Tomblin) to Washington to request the HUD money,” Gianato said. “We all understand what our mission is, and that’s to take care of the people of this state.”

The governor’s office paused the RISE West Virginia program after issues arose regarding how the grant was being implemented.

Hoyer was also placed in charge of RISE on June 4. But at a June 7 press conference, Gianato was asked about whether a similar pause was happening with FEMA grants.

“No, we don’t have anything under pause,” Gianato said. “There is nothing held up that I’m aware of.”

All the while, the state was facing a slowdown in federal reimbursements due to the FEMA penalty that no one knew about outside of Gianato until legislative auditors started investigating. They’ll release a full audit in December.

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