Gov. Ivey asks state veteran affairs commissioner to resign

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Thursday called for the commissioner of the Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs to resign over what she called the mishandling of federal American Rescue Plan Act grant funds.

The one-page letter to Commissioner W. Kent Davis asked him to submit his resignation by the end of Thursday. The governor’s office released the letter to the media.

Ivey’s office said Davis did not respond Thursday and said she is “prepared to take further action.” Her office did not elaborate.

The Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs is a state department that assists former members military service members and their dependents. The commissioner is selected by the State Board of Veterans Affairs which Ivey chairs.

“Ample cause exists for your removal as Commissioner,” Ivey wrote in the letter. “For example, your agency mishandled an ARPA grant program by, among other things, proposing -- on a substantially delayed basis -- uses of grant funds that would be ineligible under U.S. Treasury rules and regulations and/or state law or policy.”

The letter did not provide examples of the ineligible uses.

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Davis’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Lagniappe, a news outlet in Mobile, had reported that Davis had filed an ethics complaint against an Ivey cabinet member, Department of Mental Health Commissioner Kim Boswell, during a dispute about the grant money. The complaint was dismissed.

State Sen. Greg Albritton, a co-chairman of the Legislature’s ARPA Oversight Committee, told The Associated Press that he did not know of any funds that had been improperly spent. He said he understood that some grant money had been “pulled back” by the state.

“As the finance director explained, they were not in accordance with ARPA guidelines,” Albritton said.