Portland residents deserve more explanation for the recent lucrative severance packages awarded to exiting city employees (“ Portland pays once lauded bureau director $241K to resign from agency ,” Nov. 20). Those include former Portland Housing Bureau Director Helmi Hisserich ($240,880), former Parks Director Adena Long ($140,000) and Prosper Portland Interim Director Shea Flaherty-Betin ($212,992). All three were asked to resign within the first year of Mayor Keith Wilson’s tenure.

Taxpayers are not shareholders choosing to accept risk for profit. We should not be incentivizing failure from our high-ranking officials with such lucrative packages.

If these packages are not pre-negotiated in the employee’s contract, it brings up an even larger question. Are we using taxpayer funds

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