Appeals

SENT VIA EMAIL

Patrick Sheehan                      

Director                                                          

Tennessee Emergency Management Agency

3041 Sidco Drive                                            

Nashville, TN 37204-1502 

Karen Estes

Director, Transportation/Mobile Meals Kitchen 

Knoxville-Knox County Community Action Committee

2297 Western Avenue

Knoxville, TN 37950

Dear Patrick Sheehan and Karen Estes:

This is in response to a letter from the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (Recipient) office dated April 30, 2024, which transmitted the referenced second appeal on behalf of Knoxville-Knox County Community Action Committee’s (Applicant). The Applicant is appealing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) denial of $94,800.00 in costs for the purchase and installation of two freezers for the Applicant’s Mobile Meals Kitchen in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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) (2019), 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 the denial of its first appeal by way of a first appeal response on July 26, 2023, and filed its second appeal on September 18, 2023. However, the Recipient did not transmit the appeal until April 30, 2024. This was after the 60 calendar-day timeframe required by FEMA’s regulations, making the second appeal untimely. Therefore, this appeal is denied.