February 13, 2004
(Updated) Results Of Investigation To Cause 'Major Changes' At Bureau Of Licenses - MAJOR CORRECTION
Note: The supposition contained within this item regarding the Bureau of Licenses is incorrect. We made the assumption based upon the strikingly similar timeframes involved -- the seven months referenced by Commissioner Leonard, and the "last July" mentioned by Willamette Week. Please see the end of this item for clarification from Commissioner Leonard. We apologize for the error.
Returning to Leonard for a moment: Leonard indicated to us that he will soon be announcing the results of a 7-month investigation involving the misconduct of employees "in positions of trust" within one of the bureaus for which he has responsibility. These results, Leonard said, will "cause major changes" in that bureau.
This, presumably, would be a reference to the Bureau of Licenses. The controversy is described in a recent Willamette Week article:
The city auditor is investigating whether the Portland Bureau of Licenses failed to collect millions of tax dollars owed to the city and county.
WW has learned that last July Commissioner Randy Leonard, who oversees the license bureau, asked city auditor Gary Blackmer to audit the license bureau's operations immediately. Leonard, who took over the bureau from Commissioner Jim Francesconi after being sworn into office in November 2002, says he asked for the probe at the request of concerned bureau employees.
"The message," Leonard said,�"will be that my office takes citizen complaints very seriously, [they] will be investigated, and, if misconduct is found, [it] will be dealt with�swiftly and decisively."
Update
As alluded to above, we were incorrect in making a connection between the bureau to which Leonard referred and an earlier Willamette Week story regarding the Bureau of Licenses. We have been corrected by Commissioner Leonard himself in the comments to this item. Here is the most relevant portion:
The persons I am alluding to in positions of trust are not in the Bureau of Licenses. They are in fact Housing Inspectors that now work out of the Office of Neighborhood Involvement.
Today I gave letters of intent to impose discipline to employees on administrative leave that have been the subject of serious allegations by citizens who had properties that were inspected by the Housing Inspectors.
The charges are of the nature that I consider to be the most serious possible for a person employed by the city in a position of public trust.
The employees involved have an opportunity to respond to the proposed discipline before it is in fact implemented. I will consider whatever response they have before the proposed discipline becomes final.
The allegations in this case arose out of a citizen coming to my office and making a complaint. I hope as citizens become aware of this horrible issue they will remember that one citizen coming forward caused this investigation and subsequent personnel action to occur.
Again, we regret the error we made in linking the two separate matters based upon the apparently-similar timeframes of the investigations involved. Click through to the comments for Leonard's statement regarding the Bureau of Licenses matter.
Comments (3)
Randy Leonard on 13 Feb 2004
B!X-
While I intended to be circumspect I do not want to be misleading.
The persons I am alluding to in positions of trust are not in the Bureau of Licenses. They are in fact Housing Inspectors that now work out of the Office of Neighborhood Involvement.
Today I gave letters of intent to impose discipline to employees on administrative leave that have been the subject of serious allegations by citizens who had properties that were inspected by the Housing Inspectors.
The charges are of the nature that I consider to be the most serious possible for a person employed by the city in a position of public trust.
The employees involved have an opportunity to respond to the proposed discipline before it is in fact implemented. I will consider whatever response they have before the proposed discipline becomes final.
The allegations in this case arose out of a citizen coming to my office and making a complaint. I hope as citizens become aware of this horrible issue they will remember that one citizen coming forward caused this investigation and subsequent personnel action to occur.
Commissioner Randy Leonard
Randy Leonard on 13 Feb 2004
B!X-
As a post script...I should have added that there are in fact major changes occurring in the Bureau of Licenses as well....There will be major policy and personnel changes occurring in the management structure to ensure that their responsibility as the city's major revenue collector is fullfilled....Randy
The One True b!X on 13 Feb 2004
My bad. I'll refrain from trying to blame this on Friday the Thirteenth and just admit this was a blunder.