Oregon Youth Authority outlines progress on investigation backlog, asks Legislature for $2.4 million and six PSO positions

Interim Oregon Youth Authority Director Jana McClellan told the Public Safety Subcommittee on May 1 that the agency's Professional Standards Office (PSO) has stabilized leadership, improved case tracking, and prioritized "aged" investigations opened more than 180 days ago, while asking the Legislature for emergency funding for six positions valued at $2,400,000 for the next biennium.

McClellan said PSO "can now easily show the work it is doing and the outstanding work left to be done on aged cases," and described steps taken since she assumed leadership of the effort in February, including hiring temporary investigators, standardizing weekly case-status reports and assigning aged cases to investigative teams.

The update matters because the agency reported 508 known aged cases as of April 25, down from earlier counts the director cited in February, and because many of those cases remain open pending additional investigative work or partner-agency disposition. McClellan told the committee the agency has closed roughly 250 aged and recent cases since Feb. 14 and that a larger set…