It's official: Portland's 911 shop is in serious trouble.
City Auditor Gary Blackmer delivered the goods on the
Bureau of Emergency Communications last week in a long-awaited
memo to Commissioner Dan Saltzman.
The three-page missive confirmed what many people knew
already: Although the city's 911 center fields emergency
calls with due dispatch, it is overseen by a group of
managers that seems to have been subjected to fewer rules
than your average kindergartner.
Blackmer's management letter, which probed areas where
the 911 center was out of touch with city policies, didn't
get into precise details. Nonetheless, it points ever
so obliquely at the bureau's former director, Sherrill
Whittemore, as the source of its "lack of control and
compliance with City rules."
Blackmer's memo, which WW obtained last week,
makes recommendations in 11 areas and consistently highlights
the lack of policies and procedures at the bureau. Among
his findings:
* BOEC failed to enforce city rules for purchasing materials
and services. Blackmer offered no specifics, but WW
previously reported that in one case, an outside computer
consultant rang up $88,225 for two software projects within
two and a half years, all of it without bureau management
following city bidding and contracting procedures. Twenty-nine
of the 36 invoices carried Whittemore's seal of approval.
(See "Bureau of Elusive Contracts," WW, Nov. 23,
1999.)
* The bureau failed to adopt a policy that "strictly
prohibits the use of city time, property, equipment, and
supplies for personal or non-business purposes." Although
Blackmer didn't name any specific instances of abuse,
WW reported in early December that Gary Bevans,
BOEC's principal management analyst, was running a part-time
side business ferrying tourists to and from cruise ships
while on city time and using the agency's fax machine.
(See "Fax Checking," WW, Dec. 1, 1999.)
* BOEC failed to have in place a policy requiring advance
approval for vacations or management leave.
* The bureau had no policies in place for "expected work
hours" for management personnel. Blackmer again didn't
point any fingers, but bureau employees have repeatedly
told WW that Whittemore herself was frequently
not on-site at the Southeast Portland agency. (See "Training
Grounded," WW, Dec. 28, 1999.)
* BOEC had no policy outlining when telecommuting by
management personnel would be permitted and what the bureau's
work expectations were.
* BOEC failed to adopt rules of conduct for management
employees, which included treatment of co-workers. When
the bureau's training manager, Joseph Chinosi, resigned
in a huff Dec. 15, his letter of resignation cited Whittemore's
"condescending and vituperative" behavior and her "abusive"
attitude toward subordinates, some of them managers. (See
"Training Grounded.")
Blackmer's management letter came 11 weeks after accusations
against Whittemore and other bureau managers were first
brought to light by a BOEC employee, who was given protection
under the federal whistle-blower law. In mid-January,
the auditor delivered a personnel investigation to Saltzman.
City officials have denied WW's request for a copy
of that document, but it is believed to focus on Whittemore's
managerial lapses.
On Jan. 24, Saltzman called Whittemore into his office
and demanded her resignation. When she refused, sources
say, he told her that he would begin termination proceedings,
which in the case of non-union city employees often prove
especially thorny and litigious.
Whittemore is currently on paid administrative leave.
Saltzman's office would not comment on Blackmer's memo
or release the complete investigation. But the rookie
commissioner has to be grinding his teeth as he tries
to do the right thing yet finds himself hamstrung by complex
legalities.
This is not the first time that removal of a BOEC director
has given a commissioner fits. In 1994, then-Commissioner
Earl Blumenauer fired Gary Schrader from his post, beginning
a nine-month legal battle. Whittemore was appointed to
the job in January 1995.
Whittemore seems intent on putting up a fight. Sources
say she has hired a legal team, including a private investigator.
WW has confirmed that a private investigator visited
the home of the whistle-blower on the night of Jan. 31.
The investigator has also contacted several other BOEC
managers and supervisors, asking about work practices
at BOEC. One source tells WW that "people thought
it was pretty weird."
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Willamette Week | originally
published February 9,
2000
