Commissioner Chloe Eudaly Is Getting Rid of Another Bureau Director

Chloe Eudaly continues to clean house.

Weeks after the hurried departure of the director of the Office of Neighborhood Involvement, Paul Scarlett, the long-time director of the Bureau of Development Services, is on his way out as well. For those keeping score at home, that means Eudaly has overseen the departure of the longtime leaders of the only two bureaus she controls.

“I am writing to inform you all that I will be ending my employment with the Bureau of Development Services and the City of Portland, effective this Friday, April 14, 2017,” Scarlett wrote in an announcement to BDS staff this morning. “It has been an amazing journey and I have enjoyed working alongside all of you and leading the bureau in my role as the Director for the past nearly 12 years.”

In Scarlett’s place, Eudaly has tapped Rebecca Esau, the bureau’s principal planner and a longtime employee. News of Scarlett’s departure was first reported by the Oregonian.

The move is less anticipated than Eudaly’s ouster or former ONI Director Amalia Alarcon de Morris. Since the commissioner took over that bureau, her staff had telegraphed seismic changes were in the works. There wasn’t as much talk about changes for BDS, which issues building permits and carries out code enforcement.

In a statement [PDF] on Scarlett’s departure, Eudaly said: “Since I took office in January, it has become clear to me that the bureau will benefit from new leadership.”

BDS under Scarlett has seen a host of challenges. Some involved the Great Recession, when building permit applications plummeted and the bureau’s staff did as well. Since then, Scarlett concedes, BDS has had difficulty recruiting new employees. And as the Oregonian notes, there have been signs that morale within the bureau is in the basement, and a new digital permitting system the bureau has tried to implement has fallen on its face.

Scarlett worked for the city for nearly three decades. He’ll receive a year’s salary of $182,561.60 as part of a severance deal negotiated with the city’s Bureau of Human Resources, according to Marshall Runkel, Eudaly’s chief of staff.

The departure comes at an interesting time. Mayor Ted Wheeler has pledged to take all city bureaus back from their respective commissioners when he releases a budget at the outset of this month. Wheeler says he hopes that will help commissioners avoid lobbying for their own bureaus’ interests, and hasn’t committed to ensuring each commissioner keeps the bureaus they currently have.

But as Runkel notes, it also means Wheeler’s going to take on BDS just as the bureau might be gearing up for recruitment. Runkel anticipates a permanent director will be in place in four to six months, and believes Esau will be among candidates for the position.