Politics & Government
Portland And Multnomah County FAIL Oversight Responsibilities
Portland and Multnomah county governments have irresponsibly abandoned their fiduciary duty to protect the taxpayers from reckless spending
Not a single elected official in Portland and Multnomah county governments, including the auditors, has actual line item expenditures and balance sheet accounting data for the Joint Office of Homeless Services 8005 N. Richmond Ave. hard-walled homeless site project.
Not a single elected official in Portland and Multnomah county governments, including the auditors, has seen a complete and comprehensive set of project based accounting files and reports for the JOHS 8005 N. Richmond Ave. hard-walled homeless site project.
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Not a single elected official in Portland and Multnomah county governments, including the auditors, has asked to review a complete and comprehensive set of project based accounting files and reports for the JOHS 8005 N. Richmond Ave. hard-walled homeless site project. As a result no such accounting files and reports exist.
Find out what's happening in Portlandfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
No majority of elected officials in Portland and Multnomah county governments has publicly voted to house 20 individuals on private property at a public cost of $550,000 in FY1 and about $300,000 per year thereafter.*1
Not a single elected official in Portland and Multnomah county governments, including the auditors, recognizes that the JOHS 8005 N. Richmond Ave. hard-walled homeless site project blithely disregards the Indisputable fact that Public Housing is a regional issue. What does that mean? It means that every Public Housing, which includes the homeless, policy and spending decision by any public jurisdiction MUST be considered within the parameters of REGIONAL NEEDS. Parity of Public Housing households among the Metro counties is the touchstone by which all related policy and spending decisions must be measured.
Portland and Multnomah county governments have irresponsibly abandoned their fiduciary duty to protect the taxpayers from waste, fraud and abuse by allowing an unelected Multnomah county employee to have the singular authority to determine location policy and spending of $70,000,000 of public money without oversight or project approval by majorities of elected officials in Portland and Multnomah county.
It is unconscionable in a time when Portland, Multnomah county and Oregon’s budgets will certainly face revenue shortfalls of immense and unprecedented dimensions to allow JOHS director, Marc Jolin, the singular authority to recklessly and indefensibly spend $550,000 in FY1 and about $300,000 per year thereafter on his pet project which is unarguably NOT cost effective.
Dear Readers, Please call and email each of the following decision makers NOW to STOP the Joint Office of Homeless Services director, Marc Jolin, from forcing his hard-walled homeless camp scheme at 8005 N. Richmond Ave on the St. Johns neighborhood. There needs to be an immediate halt to all JOHS spending pending a review of where these already allocated dollars can be most wisely spent.
| Deborah Kafoury | Multnomah county | Chair |
503-988-3308
Sharon Meieran
Multnomah county
Commissioner
503-988-5220
Susheela Jayapal
Multnomah county
Commissioner
503-988-5219
Jessica Vega Pederson
Multnomah county
Commissioner
503-988-5217
Lori Stegmann
Multnomah county
Commissioner
503-988-5213
Ted Wheeler
Portland
Mayor
503-823-4120
Amanda Fritz
Portland
Commissioner
503-823-3008
Chloe Eudaly
Portland
Commissioner
503-823-4682
Jo Ann Hardesty
Portland
Commissioner
503-823-4151
Thank you. Stay in. Stay safe.
Richard Ellmyer
North Portland
Author of more stories on the politics, players and policies of Public Housing in Oregon over the last nineteen years than all other journalists and elected officials combined.
Author of The Ellmyer Report, a newsletter that informs, educates and influences on public policy. Occasionally distributed to more than a quarter of million readers in Oregon and beyond. Facebook, Portland Politics Plus . Opinion contributor to Patch.com news.
*1 Proposed budget accepted by all Portland and Multnomah county commissioners.
| Capital Expenditures | |
20 Hard Walled Dwellings @ $10,500 per unit
$210,000.00
Utilities Electric
$11,154.00
Utilities Gas
$11,154.00
Utilities Water
$11,154.00
Utilities Sewer
$11,154.00
Total
$254,616.00
Recurring Annual Expenses
Rent
$40,800.00
Professional Services
$40,000.00
Utilities
$45,000.00
Staff Wages
$141,600.00
Staff Benefits
$4,000.00
Staff Taxes
$20,384.00
Insurance
$2,400.00
Accounting
$1,200.00
Total
$295,384.00
Capital + Expenses FY1
$550,000.00
Despite overwhelming arguments against Marc Jolin’s Unilateral, INDEFENSIBLE Homeless Scheme for St. Johns the Portland city council and the Multnomah county commission will continue to ignorantly and shamelessly proceed unless they hear from YOU.
FYI - Project History And Other Arguments In Opposition
SALIENT FACTS
1. This project was motivated by successful lobbying of mayor Wheeler by the Overlook NA to get rid of the homeless campsite in that neighborhood.
2. The task to find a different location for the Overlook campers was assigned to the Joint Office of Homeless Services.
3. JOHS could have proposed a campsite or another solution anywhere within Metro’s geography.
4. JOHS first choice was a publicly owned property in the St. Johns neighborhood that already had 15% Public Housing households which is 5% above Multnomah county’s 10% Public Housing households, 11% higher than Washington county’s 4% and 12% above Clackamas county’s 3%.
5. Lobbying from a business nearby the proposed location caused JOHS to move the proposal to a private property site in St. Johns at 8005 N. Richmond Ave.
6. JOHS and the St. Johns NA held a public meeting in May 2019 attended by 400 concerned citizens. Not one citizen was allowed to comment or ask a question.
7. In October 2019 all 15 positions in the SJNA board were up for election. Citizens who campaigned against the proposed hard-walled homeless at 8005 N. Richmond Ave. won all fifteen seats.
8. No majority of Portland and Multnomah county commissioners has approved Marc Jolin’s unilateral location policy and spending decision for the proposed hard-walled homeless camp at 8005 N. Richmond Ave.
9. Do Good Multnomah, the organization that is eventually supposed to manage this project, has suspiciously signed a contract with the St. Johns Christian church to proceed with this project despite the apparent fact that no contract has been signed between DGM and JOHS. Nevertheless, $3,400 and some other miscellaneous unidentified JOHS funds have been distributed to DGM for this project. This, of course, raises DGM efficacy and credibility issues.
9. Both the location in the St. Johns neighborhood and the FY1 outlay of $550,000 are both indefensible and highly controversial.
10. The economic disruptions caused by the coronavirus and the guaranteed massive government revenue shortfalls which are sure to affect all governments including Portland and Multnomah county, demand that such an unnecessary, ill-advised and indefensibly extravagant expenditure of public funds on the 8005 N. Richmond project must be stopped and abandoned.
Portland, Multnomah county and JOHS fiscal transparency and credibility demand that a revised JOHS budget with detailed real time expenditures must be published on the JOHS website.