News Multnomah County Chair Ted Wheeler this morning is wheeling out his $883 million proposed 2009-2010 budget. WW got an advance look at which programs he wants to save and which he'd cut as the county struggles under an estimated $42 million budget shortfall. The district attorney's office, Northeast Portland parents and public-safety advocates are all likely to be pissed off by Wheeler's proposed ...   More

News Multnomah County Chairman Ted Wheeler got a response from Mayor Sam Adams today on whether the city would help the county get federal matching funds to replace the Sellwood Bridge, as Wheeler proposed in March [PDF]. The City Council has now had six weeks to consider that request. According to Wheeler, who met Tuesday afternoon with Adams, the mayor told the county chairman he would support funding ...   More

News Multnomah County Chair Ted Wheeler on Tuesday rejected an offer from county jail deputies to give up their cost-of-living pay hikes next year, the head of the county corrections deputies' union tells WW. Read about why Wheeler gave up $1.2 million in savings for the county, which is facing drastic budget cuts to fill a $42 million shortfall, after the jump. Multnomah County Sheriff's ...   More

News Multnomah County Chair Ted Wheeler has pulled the plug on his plans to hire a new staff member to use Facebook, Twitter and other new media to help the county communicate with citizens. After KPTV (channel 12) broke the story on May 8th about the $70,000-a-year job and national blogs followed up, Wheeler said he was deluged with hundreds of responses both for and against the hire. Many of ...   More

News When Multnomah County commissioners wanted to raise vehicle registration fees last year to help pay for a new Sellwood Bridge, their plans were shut down by the city councils of Gresham, Troutdale and dinky Maywood Park. Their support was required under state law, and when county Chair Ted Wheeler failed to convince them to go along with the plan, the episode again raised questions about whether ...   More

News After a 15-month lull, the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office reported this week they were once again forced to release prisoners because local jails were full. The sheriff's office let 30 prisoners walk free in the past week: 10 on June 14, and 20 on June 16. Twelve of those prisoners were arrested for property crimes like identity theft and car theft. Another 12 were arrested for drug crimes ...   More

News The leader of Multnomah County's largest employee union this week traded heated emails with county Chairman Ted Wheeler over recent salary increases for two members of Wheeler's staff. Becky Steward, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 88, says the raises send the wrong message to county employees who agreed to salary freezes this year to help ...   More

News The controversy continues over recent raises for two top staffers to Multnomah County Chair Ted Wheeler while other county employees agreed to a pay freeze. First, from Wheeler's Twitter feed: That tweet follows an email last week where Wheeler asked Becky Steward and Michael Hanna out to lunch to discuss the controversy. Steward is president of the American Federation of State, County ...   More

News Multnomah County Chair Ted Wheeler tells WW he has three qualifications he wants to see in candidates seeking to replace outgoing state Sen. Margaret Carter (D-North/Northeast Portland). And Wheeler is in a key position to lay down those requirements for contenders. The five-member board of commissioners he heads will vote Sept. 24 on who will replace Carter, choosing from up to five candidates ...   More

News ...   More