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Kent Davis, commissioner of the Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs, has resigned effective December 31 after Gov. Kay Ivey called a special meeting for the board to consider his removal.
Ivey had called on Davis last week to resign, alleging that Davis “mishandled an ARPA grant program by, among other things, proposing … uses of grant funds that would be ineligible under U.S. Treasury rules and regulations and/or state law and policy.”
“This put in jeopardy the State of Alabama’s ability to fulfill its obligations under ARPA and your agency’s ability to most effectively serve veterans,” Ivey wrote to Davis on Sept. 5.
Davis on Friday had signaled he would not comply with Ivey’s request that he resign.
“I respectfully disagree with the inaccurate claims made against the ADVA this week,” Davis said in a statement. “We have been transparent in our mission and operations in serving Alabama’s 400,000 veterans, including recent interactions regarding ARPA funds.”
However, Davis agreed to resign after meeting Monday with Ivey to discuss the situation.
“Our meeting with Commissioner Davis today was respectful, frank, and informative, with both sides gaining new perspective and insight about the challenges each of us face in fulfilling our respective roles,” Ivey said in a statement. “I appreciate Commissioner Davis’s record of service as Commissioner, and I appreciate him doing the right thing for our state and the future of the Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs. As I have said before, we have important work to continue doing, and I want to see nothing get in the way of us remaining focused on the thing that truly matters here – improving veterans’ care.”
Ivey on Friday called a special meeting of the Alabama Board of Veterans Affairs for Tuesday at 2:30 p.m., expressly to consider the removal of Davis. That meeting has been canceled due to Davis’ resignation.
Members of the Legislature had recently joined the fray, calling for a change of leadership at the department.
“We fully agree with Governor Ivey and join her in calling on Commissioner Kent Davis to do the right thing for the Department and step down from his position,” the joint statement read. “In recent years, we have had growing concerns and frustration, the most recent example being the agency’s mishandling of its proposed ARPA grant program. This would have been a significant problem had it not been caught by the Finance Department. Fortunately, we were able to quickly resolve the issue by working with the governor to authorize $7 million to veterans groups. Taking care of our veterans in Alabama is too important to let anything stand in the way of that mission. We look forward to a new and even stronger chapter at the Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs.”
The joint statement was signed by Senate General Fund Chairman Sen. Greg Albritton, House General Fund Chairman Rep. Rex Reynolds, Chair of the Senate Veterans, Military Affairs and Public Safety Committee Sen. Andrew Jones and Chair of the House Military and Veterans Affairs Committee Rep. Ed Oliver.
