Portland staff outline hiring plan, town‑hall testing and timeline for OVP, PSR and community safety leadership

Interim Deputy City Administrator for Public Safety Bob Kaze and Bureau of Human Resources officials told the Community and Public Safety Committee that the city is launching multistage recruitments for the Office of Violence Prevention (OVP) director and the Portland Street Response (PSR) director and outlined plans for hiring committees, candidate town halls and expected timelines.

Kaze said the city hopes to post the OVP director position by the end of the month and leave the recruitment open for about six weeks to maximize outreach. His proposed hiring committee would include two OVP representatives, a Ceasefire representative, two community representatives, an Oregon Bureau of Human Rights (OEHR) representative, a service‑area enterprise services representative, a Portland Police Bureau representative and Director Howard. Kaze said the committee should set objective criteria in advance, use the criteria to score finalists, and consider a public forum with invited stakeholders to observe candidates’ ability to engage under pressure.

Ron Zito of the Bureau of Human Resources described typical executive recruitment steps: meeting with the hiring authority, developing minimum qualifications and a recruitment plan, surveying and listening sessions for stakeholders, multiple interview rounds and, for finalists, facility tours and reference checks. He said the HR team processes “approximately 2,000 recruitments a year” and that high‑level recruitments often include three rounds of interviews and stakeholder panels.

Councilors asked whether a public town hall should be open to the general public or limited to invited stakeholders. Kaze said an open, general‑public town hall for these kinds of hires is “rare” and that the city usually invites a set of stakeholders to create a performance environment that tests candidates’ ability to answer questions under stress. Councilors expressed support for strong community engagement, but several raised timing and capacity concerns.

Councilor Kanal and others pressed for faster progress on positions that have been vacant for many months; Kanal said the Division of Community Safety position had been open “for a year at least.” Kaze said he monitors recruiting weekly with direct reports and would provide periodic updates from HR on applicant numbers and outreach needs. He also said his executive team would review the service‑area structure and capacity gaps when they return from scheduled leave and would assess whether a full‑time FTE should be devoted to leading the division.

Kaze estimated an OVP hire could be onboarded by September or October, with the PSR director recruited thereafter and possibly onboarded in December or January. He said the hiring committee could split responsibilities—one subgroup to set criteria and another to review applications—to reduce the size of interview panels and the potential intimidation of large panels.

Councilors urged tailoring hiring committees for PSR to avoid optics concerns—specifically, they suggested limiting direct Portland Police Bureau involvement on PSR panels given PSR’s non‑armed mission. Councilors also recommended co‑hosting candidate forums with the Community & Public Safety Committee to provide council input. The committee did not take formal action but asked staff to proceed with posting, engage with council on outreach and provide updates during the recruitment period.