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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 31, 2014)
Street roots 3 Ja n 31, 2014 The other comer office Some o f the best examples o f how to run a city aren’t coming from the commissioners themselves, but from the analysis by City A uditor LaVonne Griffin-Valade BY A M ANDA WALDROUPE C O N T R IB U T IN G W R IT E R aVonne Griffin-Valade doesn’t mince her words. ■ the topic would consume much of her time as auditor, and present challenges an auditor might not otherwise face. Between that and interacting with Portland’s City Council ¿4 a group of people known for strong personalities and a fair heaping of drama — she learned early on that the city of Portland needs a strong auditor. . When Street Roots spoke to Griffin- Valade, she was in the midst of editing an audit of. Portland’s Streetcar services, which is soon to be released. Nor would she. As a former elementary school teacher and aspiring fiction writer, she values the precision of perfect grammar. As the city’s auditor, she values the ability of a weli-written, / researched — and sometimes, snappy- sounding — report to change, in some way, how the city functions. As auditor, Griffin-Valade is in charge of overseeing how the auditor’s office Am anda Waldroupe: W hat are some o f investigates and conducts reviews of the the core values or beliefs that inform y o u r job functionality of various city programs— on a day-to-day basis? : everything from the city’s streetcars to entire bureaus, to the stability of the city’s LaVonne Griffin-Valade: The thrust pf finances. She became, the city’s auditor in my Work involves neutrality, independence, 2009, when then-Auditor Gary Blackmer left impartiality transparency, and holding the position to become director of the accountable myself, the folks who work for state’s audit division. She came to the city me, and for the government I’m auditing after serving as Multnomah County’s - ànd providing some oversight function. auditor since 2006. think what has driven me She’s developed a essentially in every reputation for not professional endeavor I’ve - "The values of justice , sugarcoating: audits been involved in is a search on the city’slong- and fairness and for justice and fairness^ term financial That’s a value I’ve always speafelsg tru th to pow er stability, quality of its had. That can involve supersedes any o i the infrastructure, wonky things like spending concerns th a t 1 m ig h t overtime pay, taxpayer dollars government have a bout sta yin g above appropriately to ensure that transparency and we’re able to provide the the fe a y /? police accountability services the public expects can be described as of us. Historically, that’s •' nothing less than been a tenet that has driven blistering,. They’ve' a lot of change in the United States. I called into question how well Portland believe very strongly in creating a voicè for actually works, and created tension between the public. I’m also very pragmatic. If her office and members of Portland’s City something requires a strong public Council, particularly Mayor Charlie Hales. statement, to get mpvement or change, Fm Griffin-Valade announced latelastyear perfectly willing to do that. It’s nothing that that she will retire at the end of 2014. Her most auditors really enjoy doing, but the lasting legacy will likely be changes to the values of justice and fairness and speaking Independent Police Review and oversight of truth to power supersedes any of the Portland’s Police Bureau that have concerns that I might have about staying happened under her watch and in response above the fray. to the Department of Justice’s findings that Portland’s police use excessive force against A.W.: How would you characterize the tone the mentally ill. The attention directed at o f the audits y o u ’ve conducted? the police specifically signaled to Griffin- Valade as she was coming into office that P H O T O . C O U R T E S Y O F T H E P O R T L A N D C IT Y A U D I T O R 'S O F F IC E L.G-V.: We work very hard to make sure that the'language is neutral, that we’re not using a lot of jargon, and we’re just - presenting the facts. Sometimes just presenting the facts — not making an assessment one way or the other — can be read as pretty strongly worded. I want the tone to be clear. I want the message to be clear. I want the level of neutrality; making strong statements that need to be requirements. I want the public to be able to read it. Commissioners are not always as knowledgeable about the bureaus they’re .in charge of. It’s my goal to get opr reports to a point where they’re readable and accessible to the public so they can judge for themselves. A.W.: W hat dp you think the m o s t . appropriate response, io an a u d it is on the p a rt o f a city elected official or city bureau leaders? L.G-V.: My preference would always be that we issue these well-received reports and they’re acted on immediately; (laughing). About 93 percent of our recommendations are fully implemented, or in the process of being implemented. Within the industry, that’s a very high number. That speaks volumes. I think it’s an indication that they take our audits very seriously. We’re here to get change. That’s our goal. A.W.: P ortland’s motto is “the city that works. ’’.Given yo u r audits on police accountability, the city’s unstable finances, infrastructure improvements a n d other topics, * do yo u th in k the city is living up to that pledge? L.G-V.: Well, back to being, neutral. I think the audits speak for themselves. I think our audits ... demonstrate that the city may aspire to be the city that works, but' the city doesn’t always work, It is an aspirational goal. But our primary goal is to help, the city find ways to improve and ultimately work. / A.W.: On fa n . 8, the City Council passed a n ordinance beefing up the Independent Police Review’s (IPR) ability to oversee the police bureau a n d pursue discipline,, as p a rt o f See AUDITOR, page 5 M irador COMMUNITY rT"'.~-.fr?.-.-arr.-- ’F. 1 Canning jars & equipment, cookware, kitchen tools & appliances Organic cotton ' sheets, towels, & blankets Natural Kitchen & Home Food dryers Juicers 2106 SE Division Books on meat-free cooking, gardening & sustainability 503*231*5175 tniradorcommunitystore.com Mon-Sat 10-6 • Sun 11-5
