THE DIRECTOR of the city’s 911 system had good, if inexplicable, news for Portland City Council this past January.
Despite being understaffed and having a hard time holding onto existing workers, Bureau of Emergency Communications (BOEC) Director Lisa Turley wrote in a budget memo, “call performance measures have been met in recent years through the extraordinary efforts of our staff and by using increased amounts of overtime…”
The claim—that 911 emergency calls were being answered promptly, and exceeding Portland’s goals—no doubt had bearing on the urgency with which council addressed the pernicious staffing issues at BOEC.
But it wasn’t true, and Turley had every reason to know it.