Portland’s economic development agency has hired an outside law firm to investigate allegations that its brand new executive director made “inappropriate communications to a city staffer.”

Cornell Wesley, who assumed Prosper Portland’s top post in August, forcefully denied the allegations.

The city’s Human Resources Bureau received a complaint from a city staffer Oct. 3 regarding Wesley’s discourse during a recent out-of-state trip, Prosper Portland Board Chair Tavo Cruz confirmed in a statement Tuesday.

The new Prosper executive allegedly made flirtatious comments to the staffer during the trip, saying “I would like to get together with you later,” according to a person with direct knowledge of the complaint.

Cruz said the agency had hired Portland law firm Snell & Wilmer to investi

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