Nov. 09--Lisa Vasquez, former director of Portland's public safety project responsible for a new dispatch system and police and fire radio and records upgrades, intends to sue the city, saying she was wrongfully fired for being a whistleblower.
Vasquez, fired by Commissioner Randy Leonard this summer, argues in a tort claim sent to the city this week that she was unfairly terminated for "repeatedly reporting fraud, mismanagement and the misuse of public funds." She's expected to seek damages of over $1 million.
Vasquez said she informed supervisors and city officials of fraudulent billing and overtime put in by Bureau of Technology Services employees, and misuse of funds by the bureau director Mark Greinke, but the city failed to investigate or address her concerns.
"Ms. Vasquez's public opposition to BTS's financial improprieties seemed to be the last straw for Greinke and Commissioner Leonard," wrote her lawyer, Mitra Shahri.
Leonard gave her the option of resigning, promising Vasquez a glowing reference letter as long as she waived her right to sue the city, the tort claim says. Vasquez refused and was fired from her $139,777-a-year job June 24.
"In his letter, Commissioner Leonard falsely and shamelessly complained that he had no prior knowledge of Ms. Vasquez's complaints stated above -- which was a complete lie," the tort claim says.
Leonard Wednesday stood by his letter, saying Vasquez never reported concerns to him or his staff member who served as Leonard's liaison to the city's Public Safety Systems Revitalization Program, which Vasquez directed.
"She never raised any concerns related to anything related to fraud or misuse of funds to me," Leonard said Wednesday.
Instead, Leonard said he fired Vasquez, partly due to her personality conflicts with other city bureau officials that interfered with her running of the public safety program. "I tried very hard to resolve those, and it just became unworkable," he said.
A message left for Greinke at his city office Wednesday was not returned.
This spring, police and firefighters raised safety concerns about the new $14.5 million 9-1-1 dispatch system serving Multnomah County and argued that it was cumbersome and slow.
Vasquez was not confident in the city's BTS employees ability to provide technical advice, and wanted to hire an outside team to work directly with the 9-1-1 center, an idea that was rejected.
In her claim, Vasquez accuses Greinke of "secretly siphoning-off" tens of thousands of dollars from the public safety project money to pay for high-end office space for his staff. When she confronted him, he became enraged and warned her not to disclose it.
She also says Greinke's bureau unilaterally selected a public safety paging technology that was incompatible with the new computer dispatch system. When confronted, Greinke again demanded Vasquez keep the error a secret, the claim says.
Early this year, she said she complained to Greinke and Leonard's staff member Aaron Johnson that Greinke's staff was fraudulently billing her project for work that they did not perform. One BTS employee billed the public safety radio project for $27,000 in fraudulent overtime charges, the claim said.
In June, Vasquez complained about the city's failure to track $10 million committed to the public safety radio project by Greinke's bureau to supplement a fire bond.
She also raised concerns to the city's procurement officer about alleged price-gauging in a $6 million contract with Office Depot for office supplies. She said nothing was done.
"Ms. Vasquez continued to discover that many of Greinke's decisions were often revenue-based in support of his own group instead of in the best interest of the public and the public safety bureaus," Vasquez's attorney wrote in the tort claim.
In mid-May, Vasquez tried to hire a full-time financial analyst to audit and monitor BTS' use of public safety project funds. Leonard initially supported the move, but then changed his mind following "stiff resistance from, now retired OMF Director Ken Rust," the claim said.
Vasquez said at no time during her city employment was she disciplined or reprimanded, but given positive feedback as an effective employee, the claim says. But after her firing, Vasquez said defamatory, public statements made by Leonard caused her to lose a lucrative position in New York.
--Maxine Bernstein
Copyright 2011 - The Oregonian, Portland, Ore.
