Tornado-stricken Arkansas school district hires C. J. Huff to handle building project

The Wynne, Arkansas School District, apparently failing to apply some due diligence to its research, has hired the C. J. Huff Group as project manager for the rebuilding of its high school, which was destroyed during a March 31, 2023 tornado.

The former Joplin R-8 superintendent has been a consultant with the district for the past year, according to the Wynne Progress.

Wynne Superintendent Dr. Kenneth Moore explained the hiring:

“Over the last year, it’s going to be pushing a year and a half pretty soon, I’ve gotten to know Dr. Huff very well,” he said. “He rebuilt 11 schools in Joplin. He’s very familiar and has been doing this work in other areas too since then. He knows the ins-and-outs. He knows how to connect FEMA and insurance and make sure we maximize the opportunities we have with both of those.

“He’s already been able to help us tremendously in ways that without him we wouldn’t have even know what to ask or look for,” Dr. Moore added. “We feel very safe and confident that Dr. Huff will do a great job as a prior superintendent with experience in this exact issue that we’ve been dealing with.”

Moore is correct about Huff knowing how to deal with FEMA, as I noted in the October 15, 2017 Turner Report after FEMA rejected $70 million in R-8 claims:

When the Turner Report submitted a Sunshine Law request earlier this year asking for documentation of correspondence between FEMA and the Joplin R-8 School District since the beginning of 2016, I was told that the paperwork would fill up numerous boxes and I would be charged an exorbitant amount not only for the copies, but also for all of the research and manpower that it would take to collect the documents and make sure I was not getting any I was not supposed to be receiving. A revised Sunshine Law request was made for copies of denial letters FEMA sent to the district over that time period.

One reason for all of the paperwork, according to the materials I received is that the district tried to overwhelm FEMA with hundreds of pages of documents that had little or nothing to do with the requests.

The FEMA denials presented a clear picture of deadlines for submitting requests that were missed by more than a year, deliberate attempts to ignore agreements with the federal agency and build things the way district officials wanted them built and the hiring of an outside consultant for $3 million on a no-bid contract, an arrangement that continued by allowing the consultant to charge far more than the contractual amount.

The Turner Report investigation also showed that R-8 officials asked FEMA to reimburse the district $44,000 for the planning of work that was never done at Emerson Elementary.

An audio recording revealed that C. J. Huff was already planning to bypass the original arrangement with FEMA when it came to construction of the new schools and Huff acknowledged that the federal agency would not cover any costs except for those that would restore the schools to cover the same area they covered prior to the tornado.

The inspector general's report on Huff and Joplin R-8's handling of FEMA funding was titled "Inadequate Management and Oversight Jeopardized $187.3 million in FEMA grant funds expended by Joplin School District Missouri."

From the report:

Specifically, Joplin Schools:

-did not comply with Federal procurement regulations for contract provisions and affirmative steps in awarding construction contracts;

-did not comply with Federal procurement regulations in awarding its grant management contract; and

-claimed ineligible direct administrative costs related to its grant management contract.

This occurred because Joplin School officials were either unaware of or did not understand procurement regulations. Joplin School officials also disregarded Missouri’s authority and relied heavily on the advice of their grant management contractor.

Improper management and oversight of the grant award further put the Federal funds at risk of fraud, waste, and abuse.

Good luck to the Wynne, Arkansas School District. It's tough to bounce back from a tornado. Thankfully, the district now has an expert on dealing with FEMA to handle its building project.