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The long-time director for the Office of Neighborhood Involvement announced her departure this morning in an email to staff.
The announcement comes after Amalia Alarcón de Morris, who led the bureau for 11 years, faced a withering audit of her bureau in November for its management failures.
As he took office, Mayor Ted Wheeler called ONI the bureau most in need of reform, outside the police bureau. He reassigned the bureau from Commissioner Amanda Fritz, a fierce champion of the bureau and the Portland neighborhood system, to Commissioner Chloe Eudaly.
Alarcón de Morris's email did not state a reason for her departure, though she's leaving abruptly, on March 20.
"We wish her the best with whatever she does next," says David Austin, a spokesman for Eudaly.
Austin acknowledges that Eudaly is looking to address problems the audit identified.
"Clearly, the audit pointed out some issues within the bureau," he adds. "We have been working with the hardworking ONI staff to examine those issues and fix them. A lot of the ground-level people in this organization are doing a great job, and we're going to make sure a solid leader is brought in to help move the bureau in a new direction."
The audit in November found, notably, that East Portland neighborhood groups were given less funding than wealthier, more centrally located neighborhoods—something the bureau had no immediate plans to fix.
The bureau had also collected a wide range of responsibilities beyond managing neighborhood associations over the years, including the new public financing of elections and recreational-marijuana licensing. Alarcón de Morris disparaged her office as an "Island of Misfit Toys," according to the audit working papers, though she told WW she never used that nickname.
Alarcón de Morris did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
UPDATE, 11:15 am: David Austin, Commissioner Eudaly's deputy chief of staff, will serve as co-interim director along with Amy Archer, who is ONI's operations manager, starting next Monday.