Portland refuses to release audit of controversial city bureau
May 05 2021
The Office of Community & Civic Life was reviewed after employee complaints or abusive leadership and potential fraud.
Portland officials are refusing to release a third-party audit of the Office of Community & Civic Life. Former employees and several news organizations are accusing the City Attorney's Office of violating Oregon's public record laws to withhold information about a bureau that has been accused of historic mismanagement.
"Allowing the City Attorney to withhold this important review of the behavior at Civic Life serves, not justice for the people victimized, but rather to help the City prevent community members from understanding the full extent of the governance and management failures in City government," said Paul Leistner, a former employee who now is now a senior fellow at the PSU Center for Public Service at the Hatfield School of Government.