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Deploying Relief
in West Virginia
JAMIE NULL
The West Virginia National Guard is known for the values
and ideals of leadership, loyalty, responsibility and execution.
This collection of characteristics is just one of the many reasons
why Governor Jim Justice chose Major General James Hoyer
and the guard to step in and oversee RISE West Virginia, the
state’s flood recovery plan.
The RISE program was created to provide low-income
West Virginians whose homes were directly impacted by the
June 2016 floods in central and Southern West Virginia with
assistance in repairing or rebuilding. When controversy arose
over how $17 million of the $150 million in federal grant
money the program had been awarded was being spent by
the West Virginia Development Office, the program was put
on hold by Justice and state lawmakers, causing the recovery
effort to lose two of the six years it was allotted. In June 2018,
Hoyer took the reins of the program. He will spend the next
four years helping RISE West Virginia and those affected by
tragedy move forward.
“We had an unfortunate set of circumstances in state gov-
ernment that led to a failure to effectively execute, and what
Governor Justice asked the guard to do was come in, identify
the problem areas and things that needed to be put in place
to address those problem areas and then go out and lead and
execute,” says Hoyer. “Part of that was improving communi-
cation with the people who were impacted by the flooding and
potential beneficiaries of the program—as well as community
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WEST VIRGINIA EXECUTIVE
leaders and the general public—
who are the taxpayers funding
this thing.”
Leadership and execution
under a deadline are challenges
that are familiar to Hoyer and
his staff.
“Those are all the things
that are ingrained in us in the
military construct,” he says.
“Those are also things we have
been pretty good at from a West
Virginia standpoint, particularly
on the emergency response side
of things.”
Hoyer’s eight years on the job
have given him a lot of experi-
ence dealing with natural disas-
ters such as snowstorms, water
contamination that affected
thousands of people, summer
derechos and various levels
of flooding. The guard was
already on the ground—along
with the West Virginia Division
of Homeland Security and
Emergency Management and
private nonprofits—to assist res-
A home in White Sulphur Springs, WV, after
idents after the 2016 flood. To-
the 2016 flood. Photo by Pat Bauserman.
gether, they helped more than
1,530 families.
“Part of our success has been because we took those non-
profits that have been so successful and brought them into this
side of things,” he says. “That, combined with the contracting
piece, has allowed us to move forward—not as fast as I would
like but fairly rapidly.”
Since June 2016, Hoyer has led the guard in assisting West
Virginia families. To date, 43 projects have been completed,
and according to Hoyer’s office, as of January 2019 there were
406 active homeowner cases remaining. While the guard has
four years left to complete the job, Hoyer estimates it will take
closer to 24 months to finish the houses despite challenges with
weather, environment and the readiness of materials.
To those still waiting on their structures, he believes the
lines of communication are much better now. There are solid
timelines for families with regular communication from case
workers.
“I think one of the most important things we did was get
that case management system right and get it under some folks
who know how to do it well,” he says. “Now people who have
questions can call, and they can plan their lives accordingly.”
Under this new approach to handling the RISE West Vir-
ginia program, guard members are able to help more people.
Moving forward, Hoyer views his new role in this capacity as
an opportunity to create a long-term state resiliency program.
“What we envision long term is that we will have a state
emergency operation plan that identifies all the players and