Dear friends and neighbors,
This month I published my final audit schedule as your County Auditor. It will take my office through December 2026, when my term ends. You can learn more about the new schedule below.
I wanted to let you know how my office develops the schedule. Each year, we conduct a risk assessment at the county division level. The assessment has around 14 measures, including the life and safety impact if a division doesn’t adequately perform its core functions, its annual budget and staffing, how many complaints we’ve received about the division, and how recently we’ve audited it.
Anyone who works or lives in Multnomah County can propose audit ideas to my office. You can also suggest areas we should look into for the audits we are about to start. I encourage you to submit suggestions via our feedback form. We appreciate your input and take it seriously.
Based on the risk assessment and audit ideas we’ve received, staff in my office propose audits. I share a proposed schedule with my Community Advisory Committee for their input, and I then finalize the schedule and publish it.
Each audit my office conducts results in a report that you can use to help hold county leaders accountable for improving our county government. I appreciate your participation and support!
Thank you,
Jennifer
Audit schedule announcement
Between now and December 2026, the Auditor’s Office will complete four in-process audits:
- Customer service audit
- Elections Division audit
- Supportive Housing Services audit
- Land & building purchases audit
And we’ll conduct five others:
- Countywide trans and gender expansive inclusion
- Health Department - Corrections Health
- Department of Community Services – Bridges
- Addictions Services - Behavioral Health Division
- Financial Condition 2026
We’ll also evaluate the status of recommendations from five audits, and complete special studies on the office’s history, reparations, and the county’s ethical culture. You can read the initial concepts for the upcoming audits here.
DCJ audit release
This month we issued our audit on the Department of Community Justice, which focused on the experiences of adults on probation and parole. We found that since 2019, average technical jail sanctions days nearly doubled in length. Black and Native American people were disproportionately sanctioned to jail. Sanctions from 2019 to 2024 were mostly from technical violations, such as failure to report to a meeting with a probation and parole officer.
Additionally, we found that the number of referrals to resources like housing and mental health services were inadequate to meet needs, and culturally responsive resources were limited. The department's mission includes providing resources, and providing resources is important because of the population served. For example, between 2019 and 2023, 38% of those on supervision had a documented history of homelessness and 26% had a documented history of mental illness.
Audit recommendations focused on reducing harmful impacts of jail and revocation sanctions; developing a strategy to prevent failures to report and absconding supervision; addressing disparities in sanctions and racial equity; improving access to resources and referrals, including for those with mental illness, and creating a more consistent grievance process.
Audit Director Nicole Dewees, Senior Auditor Moss Roberts, and Performance Auditor Mical Yohannes conducted the audit, with participation from Performance Auditor Siniva Bennett.
Countywide equity audit release
Also this month, we issued our countywide equity performance audit report. Audit Director Nicole Dewees and Senior Auditor Sura Sumareh conducted a deep dive into practices in every county department and also looked at countywide issues.
Among my office’s findings: statistically significant differences in outcomes for employees based on their demographic groups. Countywide, Asian employees were less likely to be supervisors, Black or African American employees were less likely to pass the trial service period and were more likely to be fired, and LGBTQIA2S+ employees were more likely to quit.
A common theme we heard during the audit is that employees are exhausted from sharing again and again that different employee groups at the county have different outcomes. The data we analyzed show that employee concerns were more than warranted.
The audit report has recommendations for each department, as well as 16 recommendations for the entire county ranging from improving county work environments and manager accountability to enhancing support for employees with disabilities.
Audit Committee opening
The Multnomah County Board of Commissioners’ Audit Committee has an opening for a volunteer community member. Potential Committee members should be interested in county financial practices. Knowledge of financial audits, financial statements, and/or financial management is desired but not required.
The Audit Committee serves as a liaison between the Board, the independent external auditor and management, as their duties relate to financial accounting, reporting, and internal controls and compliance. The Committee assists the Board in reviewing county accounting policies and reporting practices related to the county's Annual Comprehensive Financial Reports. Committee members help assure the independence of the county's external auditors, the integrity of management, and the adequacy of disclosures to the public.
While the Audit Committee is not a group that advises the Auditor's Office, Committee members do interact with me and other county leaders throughout their service on the Committee. My office serves as staff to the Audit Committee. We support community members’ participation by providing stipends, transportation support, and other assistance. Please visit the application web form to learn more about the Audit Committee’s work and apply!
Applications will be accepted until 11:59 pm on August 15, 2025. If you need translation or an accommodation, or to request a paper application, please contact the Auditor's Office at (503) 988-3320 or email mult.auditor@multco.us.
Community Engagement
Portland Pride Parade
I was proud to once again march in the Portland Pride Parade, this time with the Multnomah County contingent. While Pride is always a joyous event, this year it felt particularly important to attend and demonstrate that my office values all of our LGBTQIA2S+ community members.
Rocky Butte Farmers Market
We participated in our first Rocky Butte Farmers Market! County Ombudsperson Cheryl Taylor, Ombudsperson Intake Specialist Kate Milne, Senior Auditor Mandi Hood, Performance Auditor Jeremy Johnson, Operations & Audit Director Annamarie McNiel, and I enjoyed talking with community members and learning what accountability means to them.
Portland Samoan Festival
On July 12, Raymond De Silva, Constituent Relations and DEI Engagement Specialist attended the 4th annual Portland Samoan Festival at Peninsula Park, in the Piedmont neighborhood of North Portland organized by the local non-profit Samoa Pacific Development Corporation (SPDC). This family-friendly event celebrated Samoan culture through dance, music, food, art, to name a few. There were many talented live performances including Tausala Manaia, a children’s Samoan dance group, that is pictured above. I’d also like to recognize Siniva Bennett, Performance Auditor for connecting our office to the festival and her contributions as a volunteer with Samoa Pacific Development Corporation.
Welcome Jeremy Johnson
Jeremy Johnson (he/him), Performance Auditor, has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in Business Technology & Analytics. His work with the State of Oregon and private financial institutions includes extensive experience in compliance analysis, responsive community outreach, program evaluation, and effective change implementation. Jeremy approaches his work with a service mentality and believes in producing careful analysis that applies an equity lens and offers actionable insights for positive change. His prior roles have focused on ensuring fair banking practices and helping Oregon's small businesses equitably secure valuable contracts. When he’s not working, he enjoys snowboarding on Mt. Hood, reading, writing, running, and spending time with his family. Jeremy has lived in Multnomah County since 2001.
Welcome Gigi Bareilles
Gigi Bareilles (she/her), Good Government Hotline Community Engagement Intern is going into her Sophomore year at Seattle University, where she will spend the next year focusing on earning a Spanish minor and is excited to be traveling to Puebla, Mexico for a study abroad program. She is an undeclared major but has spent her first year in college exploring political science, and public affairs. She believes accountability and transparent communication are crucial to doing quality work in any organization and are especially important to building trust in government, which is why she decided to intern with the Auditor’s Office. In high school she worked on her student newspaper as an Editor in Chief, collaborating with other students to publish articles and stories about local current events. This experience solidified her commitment to honest reporting with the goal of informing and serving the public. In her free time, Gigi enjoys roller skating, baking Italian cookies, and throwing a frisbee with her brother.