Appeals

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Robert Buxton                                    

Director                                                           

New Hampshire Homeland Security and Emergency Management                          

33 Hazen Drive                                               

Concord, New Hampshire 03305

Dianne Craig

Chair 

Goshen Select Board

54 Mill Village Road N.

Goshen, New Hampshire 03752

Dear Robert Buxton and Dianne Craig:

This is in response to a letter from the New Hampshire Homeland Security and Emergency Management (Recipient) office dated December 6, 2023, which transmitted the referenced second appeal on behalf of the Town of Goshen (Applicant). The Applicant is appealing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA’s) denial of $72,961.85 in costs associated with work to repair Ball Park Road bridge.

Section 423(a) of the Stafford Act provides that any decision regarding eligibility for assistance may be appealed within 60 days after the date on which the applicant is notified of the award or denial of assistance. Implementing this provision, Title 44 of the Code of Federal Regulations, section 206.206(c) (2021), requires that applicants must file appeals within 60 days after receipt of a notice of the action that is being appealed. Recipients must then review and forward appeals within 60 days after receipt of the appeal from the applicant. 

According to the Administrative Record, the Applicant received notice of ineligibility by way of a Determination Memorandum on May 31, 2023. The Applicant filed its first appeal on July 24, 2023, which was transmitted by the Recipient to FEMA on September 25, 2023. On November 20, 2023, FEMA Region 1 Acting Deputy Regional Administrator denied the Applicant’s appeal. FEMA found that the Recipient transmitted the Applicant’s first appeal to FEMA after the 60 calendar-day timeframe required by FEMA’s regulations, making the first appeal untimely. 

On December 5, 2023, the Applicant submitted its second appeal. The Recipient transmitted its second appeal letter on December 7, 2023, supporting the Applicant’s appeal. The Recipient provided documentation demonstrating the Applicant filed its appeal with the Recipient on July 24, 2023, in accordance with the time limit provided in 44 C.F.R. § 206.206(c)(1), but that the filing was after the Recipient’s close of business. The Recipient established that it received the Applicant’s first appeal the next business day, on July 25, 2023. In accordance with 44 C.F.R. § 206.206(c)(2), Recipients must review and forward appeals to the Regional Administrator within 60 days of receipt. As the 60-day deadline after the July 25, 2023 receipt would have been Saturday, September 23, 2023, the Recipient’s transmittal on Monday, September 25, 2023, was timely.[1] For this reason, I am granting this appeal and remanding it to FEMA Region 1 to issue a first appeal decision adjudicating the substantive merits of the appeal. 

Please inform the Applicant of my decision. The Applicant’s right to a second appeal concerning any substantive determination(s) resulting from a new first appeal decision is not impacted by this decision. 

                                                                                                         Sincerely,

                                                                                                              /S/

                                                                                                        Robert Pesapane

                                                                                                       Director

                                                                                                      Public Assistance Division

cc:  Lori Ehrlich

Regional Administrator

      FEMA Region 1