NJ Official Says Getting Hurricane Sandy Relief From Feds Was 'Cumbersome' But Worth It
By David Madden
TRENTON, N.J. (CBS) -- An audit by the federal government has shown that the State of New Jersey had to apply 15 times to extend a grant in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.
The program put a thousand people to work cleaning up after the October 2012 superstorm. The state received more than $19 million under that program, and New Jersey deputy labor commissioner Aaron Fichtner insists it was a success -- so much so, he notes, that New Jersey received a national award for the effort.
But he acknowledges that there were bumps in getting continued federal assistance.
"We wanted to extend the grant," he recalled today, "and we worked very closely with our partners at the US Department of Labor to go through what was a cumbersome application process to get an extension for the grant."
Fichtner called that process "a minor hiccup" and stressed that no one lost their job because of it.