Pleas to sue ODOT over Rose Quarter

MULTNOMAH COUNTY SIGNS $40 MILLION SECURITY CONTRACT: The county in February signed a five-year, $40 million contract with a Pasadena, California-based security company called Inter-Con to provide armed and unarmed security officers at county-owned facilities, including all county libraries, health centers, office buildings and homeless shelters. Spokeswoman Julie Sullivan-Springhetti says the province decided to explore more robust security services in 2022, as provincial librarians faced increasingly serious mental health outbursts from patrons and occasional physical violence. “The central finding of the assessment was that the province needed a security vendor that could provide a higher level of capabilities to effectively meet the evolving safety and security challenges in our workplaces,” said Sullivan-Springhetti. Under the contract, Inter-Con will designate up to 170 armed and unarmed security officers to patrol provincial facilities. In 2021, the province funded 52 security officers. Inter-Con will also establish a “Central Observation Station” at the county’s Multnomah Building.

PRISON HEALTH DIRECTOR RETIRES: Myque Obiero, the former nurse who headed Multnomah County’s jail health care unit, has resigned. Obiero, the county’s director of Corrections Health, oversaw the division during a time of crisis. Last year, seven inmates died in the two adult prisons as Obiero struggled to stem an exodus of staff. Last month, prison nurses voted almost unanimously to fire them after failing to address staffing shortages. Now he’s gone. “I would like to sincerely thank Myque for his more than seven years of service to the Department of Health, and for his many contributions during very difficult times,” Rachael Banks, director of the county health department, wrote in an email announcing his resignation on May 13 announced. her deputy, Valdez Bravo, will replace Obiero until his replacement can be hired. The resignation comes just days after nurses met with Banks and District Chairwoman Jessica Vega Pederson to discuss their concerns. “We are encouraged by the recent developments,” said union spokesman Kevin Mealy, “and we hope the province continues to make improvements and positive changes in the area of ​​Corrections Health.”

LAWYERS APPLY ODOT ON ROSE QUARTER: The No More Freeways group joined three other nonprofits and the Eliot Neighborhood Association on May 10 to sue the Oregon Department of Transportation in Multnomah County Circuit Court, challenging ODOT’s plan to cut Interstate 5 through the to widen Rose Quarter violates state law because it does not comply with the City of Portland Comprehensive Plan or Metro’s Regional Transportation Plan. The groups say ODOT has failed to reconcile its blueprints to widen the highway, increasing traffic, with Portland’s adopted climate plan calling for lower carbon emissions. “We filed this lawsuit because state law requires ODOT to meet the city’s clean air and climate goals,” said Chris Smith of No More Freeways. “ODOT should not promote a project that blatantly conflicts with the City’s adopted plans.” The groups have previously filed and withdrawn similar complaints pending federal approval of the project. When the FBI greenlighted the expansion earlier this spring, they decided to apply again. ODOT declined to comment.

CULTURAL CRITIQUE RILES PANEL AT OHSUEarly this year, Qiana Williams, chief people officer at Oregon Health & Science University, launched a new group called the Culture + Climate Advisory Group to “ensure our desired organizational culture thrives among our members,” according to a document the group is described. The CCAG, as it is known, got off to a rocky start. During a virtual meeting last month, Williams addressed grumbling from some of his 18 members. “There is a culture of complaints at OHSU,” she said on a recording obtained by Ww. “I’m just going to be honest and say that I think this group has an opportunity to think about how to be more helpful with what CCAG should be, versus the constant onslaught of what it isn’t. If it doesn’t work, recreate it.’ When a member of the group disagreed with Williams’ characterization of the university’s culture, she pushed back, saying, “We don’t police words, right?” Because we often police the words of Black women.” Williams has irked many employees at OHSU by looking beyond Oregon and hiring most of her senior staff from OhioHealth, where she previously worked. During the April CCAG call, she advised members struggling with their new duties to contact two of her associates, Ernest Perry and Brandi Wilson, who are from Ohio, because they are experts in “change management.” “During the meeting, Qiana discussed the concept of a ‘complaint culture’ within the context of encouraging proactive engagement and solution-oriented thinking,” OHSU said in a statement about the meeting. “Her comments were intended to emphasize the importance of each member’s role in driving positive change.”