BOEC reports shorter 911 wait times after staffing rebuild; community‑safety offices warn funding is mostly one‑time

The Community and Public Safety Committee received an overview Feb. 11 of the Public Safety Service Area’s operations and costs, hearing from interim deputy city administrator Mike Myers, Bureau of Emergency Communications Director Bob Cozzi, and Community Safety Director Stephanie Howard and program leads.

BOEC: staffing, call volume and response times

Bob Cozzi told the committee BOEC answered about 35% more 911 calls in the most recent period than in 2018, with a 21% spike in calls in 2021 and a modest decline last year. Cozzi said the bureau lost roughly a third of staff during the civil‑unrest years but has rebuilt capacity through sustained hiring and training: two years ago BOEC had 62 senior dispatchers and 90 certified call takers; as of Jan. 1 the bureau reported 82 senior dispatchers, 108 certified call takers, 127 total operations staff and nine vacant positions. Cozzi said 13 recruits (12 in the academy plus one rehire) were starting soon.

Cozzi framed a multiyear recovery: “When calls started going up… we lost about a third of our staff,” he said, and later noted the bureau intentionally over‑hires into a training pipeline to stay ahead of attrition. He said BOEC’s average 911 answer time was about 22 seconds in 2018, improved to about 12 seconds in 2019, rose to more than a minute in 2022, and has since improved — BOEC reported a year‑to‑date average near 43 seconds and recent weekly averages around 21 seconds.

Budget and operations: Cozzi said BOEC’s total budget is about $39.5 million and that more than 90% of the bureau’s costs are personnel. He identified projected increases from internal service charges — facilities (+12%), BTS (+9%) and risk management (+31%) — and said a training‑pipeline fund created from vacancy savings is being spent down as the bureau over‑hires to reduce future overtime. BOEC told the committee it expects an overtime reduction of roughly $483,000 next year.

Community safety programs: Ceasefire, OVP, Rose City Self Defense and SafeBlocks

Community Safety Director Stephanie Howard introduced program leads who described prevention, outreach and violence‑reduction services.

- Ceasefire: Director Sierra Ellis said Ceasefire’s strategy centers on intensive case management and credible messengers. She reported a nearly 20% reduction in shootings year‑over‑year against a stated target of 10%, and said the program’s budget is about $9.1 million, of which $179,000 is ongoing general‑fund and roughly $8 million is one‑time ARPA funding that expires in June. Ellis said the program employs more than 40 credible messengers and another ~40 street‑level outreach staff.

- Office of Violence Prevention (OVP): Operations manager Rachel Fetters said OVP runs grants (including the Safer Portland grant), youth‑focused programming and a revived Community Peace Collaborative; OVP listed a small personnel roster and said its director position was vacant. Fetters said much of OVP’s recent spending has been one‑time general fund or ARPA grants.

- Rose City Self Defense: Program director Sarah Johnson said Rose City Self Defense has two full‑time staff and a volunteer instructor corps of about 50; in six months the program delivered 60 private workshops and trained more than 1,300 community members.

- SafeBlocks: Supervisor Andrew Culberson described place‑based interventions and placemaking in neighborhoods with federal grant support. He said SafeBlocks currently operates with eight staff (down from a historical high of 17) and that a federal “Bureau of …” (burn) grant supplies roughly $2 million over four years to support neighborhood activities and one FTE. He said contingency planning is underway for federal funding risks.

Why it matters: Co‑chairs and councilors pressed staff on sustainability and asked how much program growth relies on one‑time funding. Several councilors — including Novick and Murillo — urged the officeholders to develop sustainable funding plans because ARPA and other one‑time dollars are expiring and contract partners need predictable multi‑year commitments to plan work.

Ending

Committee members thanked bureau staff and program leads for the briefing and asked for follow‑up material on budgets, the BOEC training pipeline, and options to transition temporary funding into sustainable models. The committee scheduled further briefings on Portland Street Response for March 11.