By Maxine Bernstein
The Oregonian
PORTLAND, Ore. — John Nohr, a Portland Fire & Rescue emergency operations division chief, accepted an offer to serve as fire chief for Clark County Fire and Rescue, starting May 2.
He’s continued, however, to maintain his position at Portland Fire using vacation leave through July 19, which will enable him to be eligible to retire with greater Portland public safety pension benefits, according to city documents obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive.
The city’s Human Resources manager, Anna Kanwit, had informed the Fire Bureau that such an arrangement violated two city human resources administrative rules.
A rule regarding separation from city service, for example, says, “Employees who are leaving the city service for any reason may not elect to use accrued vacation, rather than have their vacation paid out, to extend their employment with the City. For example, if an employee states that they wish to resign at some date in the future but stay on City payroll using accrued vacation until that date, that request must be denied.
Another rule regarding outside employment says, “No person holding a budgeted position in the city shall be granted a leave of absence for the purpose of engaging in outside employment.”
Absent approval of a special ordinance by the City Council, the city rules “prohibit what Nohr wants to do,” Kanwit wrote in an April 19 email to another city employee.
In a subsequent email the next day, Kanwit wrote that city commissioner Dan Saltzman -- who serves as fire commissioner -- was unaware of the situation.
Nohr, reached Wednesday, said the vacation hours were approved by former Chief Erin Janssens. “We talked about it, and several people had done it before,” Nohr said. He said Kanwit ultimately authorized the vacation time.
Nohr said he sought the extended vacation with Portland fire to allow him to “test out” the new job as Clark County’s fire chief, though he’s already signed a contract with Clark County.
A 28-year Portland fire veteran, Nohr, 49, served as fire marshal, the bureau’s training chief and head of emergency operations during his city career. As fire chief for Clark County Fire & Rescue, he’s earning a $133,000 annual salary.
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(c)2016 The Oregonian (Portland, Ore.)