Portland’s chief administrative officer will receive one year’s salary in exchange for his resignation.
Over his five years at the city, Tom Rinehart led the Office of Management and Finance and helped start the city’s Community Safety Division, which is intended to bring together the city’s four public safety bureaus. In a city rife with political bickering and siloed departments, Rinehart had a reputation among some city staffers for offering an apolitical hand steadying the city through financial and administrative bumps.
It’s not immediately clear why Rinehart, a top aide to Mayor Ted Wheeler during his stints in county, state and now city government, is departing.
“It has been a privilege to lead this team for the past five years, and to play a role in the vital work you are doing on behalf of our community,” Rinehart wrote in an email to staff. “In recent years, we’ve begun to talk about the Office of Management and Finance as an ‘engine’ — the central hub that powers city bureaus to serve our community. I hope that you continue to see yourselves that way.”
Rinehart had previously served as chief of staff to Wheeler during his time as Multnomah County chair and as state treasurer.
His contract ran out in six months, but he will be getting $219,000, the equivalent of one year’s salary, as a severance payout, according to the mayor’s office.
Within the city of Portland, it’s common for bureau directors — who unlike most city bureaucrats are at-will employees and do not have civil service protection — to be offered money in exchange for leaving. The city agreed to pay the former head of the Bureau of Civic Life Suk Rhee one year’s salary, $178,000, to resign after a report commissioned by city attorneys alleged she created a hostile work environment. Amalia Alarcón de Morris, who ran that office before Rhee, received $143,811 to resign. The head of the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, Andrea Durbin, recently received a year’s salary, $195,000 in her case, to quit after problems cascaded within her department.
Under Portland’s unique commission form of government, it’s usually up to individual City Council members to hire and fire the leaders of the city agencies they run. In Rinehart’s case, that means the mayor. A volunteer commission studying the city charter is poised to recommend a major change in the system of Portland’s government to voters in November.
Rinehart told staff his last day would be in early May.
The Oregonian/OregonLive first reported his resignation and characterized it as a firing.