'Move forward and do better': Lawmakers grill Veterans Affairs over Fayetteville vet home
Members of the North Carolina General Assembly are pressing the state agency tasked with overseeing North Carolina veterans homes for answers after a decision was made in November to temporarily close Fayetteville's home and move its 85 residents.
The Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on General Government and Cumberland County’s delegation in the General Assembly toured the Cochran Avenue facility on Friday. The committee reconvened to discuss the issue on Tuesday.
Brian Pierce, deputy secretary for the North Carolina Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, told committee members that construction on the North Carolina State Veterans Home in Fayetteville began in 1996 and the facility opened three years later.
“The building was built before this department even existed ... Our department didn't exist until 2016,” Pierce said. “Some of the problems can be tied back to the original construction of the building that we can't do anything about, but at the end of the day, you know, it's a partnership effort. It's a state building, that we all try to work together to make sure our veteran residents have the best care available, the best place to live in the latter part of their lives.”
Problems with building
Pierce said that after hurricanes Matthew and Florence in 2016 and 2018, staff at the Fayetteville home noticed the roof was leaking.
Though the issue was mitigated, Pierce said, a firm hired by the state recommended in June 2022 that a new roof be placed on the building.
During discussions about a new roof, he said, structural and fire-rated deficiencies were found in the attic, along with more water intrusion.
Pierce said water wasn’t just leaking through the roof. It was seeping through cement slabs, walls and other areas too.
“What became painfully obvious to us was in order to take care of the best interests and the well-being of our veteran residents, they needed to be cleared from the building,” he said.
Pierce said that whether the building needed a new roof or the entire structure had to be rebuilt, the engineer and design company said that residents would need to be out of the building during the work.
The existing slab of the building doesn’t have “adequate moisture barriers,” he said.
“The other thing is, from the outset, we understood that moisture intrusion can lead to other things, other risks and hazards to our veteran residents,” Pierce said.
An environmental test in November revealed four areas in the facility had what Pierce described as “a common outdoor allergen.”
While he did not specify what the allergen was, family members of some of the veterans have said they suspected mold was in the facility.
While a decision was made to move the residents by February, Peirce said, one of the wings of the building was closed, and several moisture and water diversion techniques were put in place.
As of noon Tuesday, Pierce said that three veterans remained in the home.
What Cumberland County state leaders are saying
During a phone interview Tuesday, state Sen. Val Applewhite, D-Cumberland County, who is a 20-year Air Force veteran, said she supports the decision to move the veterans from the facility.
“But what I am not sure about is how the process was for reaching out to family members because I received calls from families and veterans groups,” Applewhite said. “I believe that could have been handled differently.”
The NCDMVA, state veteran service officers and a task force worked with the veterans at the Fayetteville facility to develop care plans for whether they want to be moved to another state veteran home or to be placed in a care facility closer to Fayetteville.
Applewhite is not on the joint committee that met Tuesday but joined Friday’s site visit.
The topography of the land, she said, creates challenges.
“It is one of the lowest points in our city, with the Cape Fear River, which makes that facility subject to flooding,” Applewhite said. “I question whether the facility should have been built there at all, but we’re far down the road from there.”
The senator said she’s requested copies of engineer reports along with reports of any other inspections of the building.
“What were the outcomes of those inspections, because clearly, the degradation of this building did not start two years ago,” she said. “It did not start under this governor’s administration or the previous governor's administration. This has been a longer-term effect on this facility.”
Applewhite said she does not think there was “one single point of failure,” and that multiple groups and state agencies share the responsibility.
“If anyone thinks we can put a Band-Aid on this building and put veterans back in there, shame on them,” she said.
She said that going forward, she would like to see updates from the NCDMVA if there are “major issues that affecting the lives of the veterans.”
“We should look at collaborating efforts to see how we can further build that communication with the agency so this doesn’t happen again,” Applewhite said. “I expressed to the chair that I live here. I have veterans I speak with on a regular basis ... I said I would have appreciated being more informed on this from the beginning, but that’s water under the bridge. The focus is to move forward and do better.”
Applewhite said that while the House has a Committee Caucus for veterans, the Senate does not.
“We call ourselves the most veteran-friendly state, but we do not have a committee (in the Senate) that meets regularly to discuss veteran needs or the needs of active-duty service members and their families Why are veteran issues included under general government committee?” she said.
Furthermore, Applewhite said, she would like to see her colleagues in the General Assembly review state law about the NCDMVA and how the state veteran homes are funded.
State Rep. Charles Smith, who is one of Cumberland County's representatives, said during a phone interview Monday that he hates that the issues with the Fayetteville veterans home “has caused a disruption in the lives of our veterans.”
Smith said he thinks the department should be pushed on why it made its decisions and work to acquire land to construct another facility.
“I think it’s important because we have a large veteran population in Cumberland County and nearby Harnett County, but (a home) is needed to serve the wider area,” he said.
The next nearest veterans home in the state is 98 miles away in Kinston.
Smith said that while the Fayetteville home does not appear to have many deficiencies “to the naked eye,” he can see how the property’s elevation can cause water to go downhill and pool in one area.
“I think it’s clear this issue did not arise overnight,” Smith said. “There should be additional inspections above and beyond what’s generally required for typical buildings, because of the building being near a river and flood plain. So how can we be more proactive?”
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What other members of the General Assembly are saying
During Tuesday’s joint meeting, several committee members said they didn’t remember the issues with the roof or structure being flagged during the state’s budget process.
Others said they’d like to see reports about what measures can be put into place to divert water away from the building.
Sen. Steve Jarvis, R-Davidson and Davie counties, said that his review of a 500-year floodplain indicates that the Cape Fear River would have to rise 50 feet above bank levels before it would be a threat to the Fayetteville veterans’ home.
Jarvis said he thinks installing a French drain that redirects water and prevents pooling can mitigate the issues.
Rep. Mark Brody, R-Anson and Union counties, said water is the “biggest nemesis,” for contractors and that water issues in the Fayetteville building didn’t “all of a sudden happen.”
Pierce said the issues were not from a lack of building upkeep. While the NCDMVA does not have a facilities maintenance department, Pierce said, it relies on the state’s construction office and its assessments.
Brody said he does not think proper mitigation or work has been done for drainage on the property.
Rep. Edward Goodwin, R-Edenton, said that when he toured the property Friday, it was evident to him which direction the water drained.
Goodwin said he noticed a nearby canal full of trash, limbs, grass and debris, causing water to back up.
“We made a mountain out of a molehill of mistakes,” he said.
As his voice quivered with emotion, Goodwin, an Air Force veteran, said he also spoke to veterans who were at the home.
“I hate to see the thing just go away because we do not have enough smart people and the wherewithal to figure that out for soldiers who risked their tail," Goodwin said. "I was mad all the way back to Edenton for what I saw that day.”
Sen. Ted Alexander, R-Cleveland, Gaston and Lincoln counties, said he thinks it is premature to decide whether the building should be torn down.
Committee members said they would meet again about the issue, and Brody requested that representatives of the State Construction Office attend the next meeting.
Staff writer Rachael Riley can be reached at rriley@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3528.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: State officials start digging into Fayetteville vet home issues
