Editorial: City’s lax oversight on display, again, with high-ranking employee’s violations

Portlanders renovating their homes, businesses looking to expand operations and developers wanting to build apartments, can attest to the multitude of Byzantine rules they have to navigate to get a permit from the city.

So, it’s more than a little exasperating to see a high-ranking, highly-paid permitting manager violate so many rules himself. Acting on tips submitted to a fraud hotline, the city auditor’s office found that longtime employee Kurt Krueger used a transportation bureau car for personal use without permission and worked a side job as a high school volleyball coach on city time, as The Oregonian/OregonLive’s Nick Gibson reported. Krueger, who makes $194,604 a year as executive manager of the bureau’s public infrastructure team, now faces a human resources investigation.

Certainly, in the universe of Oregon public corruption, Krueger’s violations rate relatively low on the list. He didn’t take a $10,000-a-month contract for a campaign donor as former Secretary of State Shemia Fagan did. Rather, he appears to be an involved dad who coached the junior varsity volleyball team at Ida B. Wells High School for $5,402 in fall 2022 ­– the second year in a row that he coached, according to Portland Public Schools, which paid him $3,848 in 2021. He also told the investigator that he covered the cost of gas and said his supervisor and bureau director knew of his car use, although they dispute that.

But it’s yet another instance that exposes the city’s inability or unwillingness to exert oversight and foster a culture of personal accountability. The auditor’s investigation specifically notes minimal supervision of Krueger, insufficient communication by bureau managers and a lack of awareness among employees about policies, such as requirements to submit written disclosures of outside employment to supervisors. The investigation noted the transportation bureau has no such disclosures on file and that “it is unclear” whether other employees are similarly taking on outside work.

Unfortunately, even the auditor’s investigation similarly reflects a lackadaisical attitude.

The auditor’s office knew that Krueger had worked as a volleyball coach in 2021 as well as 2022. But the investigator did not explore how much Krueger may have worked that job on city time because the volleyball team’s practice schedule could not be easily found, said audits division director KC Jones.

And the report contends that Krueger’s coaching during his regular work schedule “did not involve actual waste.” The rationale is that Krueger had more than enough paid leave to cover the 71-plus hours of work time that he spent at practice or volleyball games, not including travel or planning. The auditor’s office notes that Krueger had far more paid leave than he was able to use in 2022 or carry over for use in the next year.

Such a forgiving attitude ignores the “actual waste” that stems from employees not being available to the public when they’re supposed to be.

Krueger’s job involved resolving permitting conflicts among city bureaus, including meeting with developers and design professionals, the auditor’s investigation notes. Such conflicts are famously cited among the reasons that building homes in Portland takes too long and too much money. Did his afternoon volleyball commitments interfere with the ability to help permit-seekers get prompt attention? Was anyone handling Krueger’s responsibilities during those business hours? While Krueger may have worked on his city job long after business hours ended, how did any delays on his end affect the chain of people and bureaus needing to weigh in?

Some of these questions are admittedly outside the auditor’s focus, which targets systemic weaknesses as opposed to disciplining individual employees. It’s up to the human resources investigation to explore whether his side job affected his performance at his main job. But any determination of “actual waste” by city employees should always assess the impact to the public – a consideration that seems to get lost all too frequently.

–The Oregonian/OregonLive Editorial Board