Multnomah County Health Department Director Joanne Fuller abruptly retired Monday, weeks after she directed a high-ranking black manager to step down, prompting the employee to call for an investigation into systemic racism at the county.
A county employee for 29 years, Fuller announced her retirement Monday morning in an email to staffers, telling them it would take effect at the end of the day.
"As some of you know, I have been thinking about retiring for some time," Fuller wrote. "I have decided that now is the time."
Fuller's departure comes 11 days after Multnomah County reached a legal and financial settlement with Director of Public Health Tricia Tillman, who had claimed that Fuller forced her out with little explanation for why she was being ousted.
Under the settlement, Tillman agreed to resign in August 2018. The county agreed to pay her about $160,000, including 11 months of administrative leave, an additional $25,000 and $3,000 worth of outplacement services. It will also provide her with medical benefits through August 2018.
In exchange, Tillman agreed to not sue the county for age discrimination, mental distress, defamation and other potential employment claims. Tillman and the county both agreed not to say anything negative about the other.
In a September 7 letter to Multnomah County's Board of Commissioners and Chair Deborah Kafoury, Tillman said Fuller abruptly asked her to leave the county's employment even though Tillman had received only positive feedback in performance reviews over her 12 years working for the county.
In a 2016 performance review, obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive through a records request, Fuller indicated that Tillman was "fully effective" at her job overall and recommended a 3 percent raise based on merit.
"This has been a great year for Tricia," Fuller wrote. She complimented Tillman's "calming style" and her ability to get employees to focus on their work by being supportive and clear about expectations.
"I am very pleased with her work and the work of the public health division this year," Fuller wrote.
Among the health department's goals, the review listed increasing "the diversity of our organization...to reflect the populations we serve" and "relentlessly pursuing health equity and identifying and disrupting institutional white dominance."
Fuller gave Tillman similarly positive feedback in a 2015 probationary review, in which she wrote she was "very pleased" with Tillman's performance and said "it is great to get to continue to work with her."
Tillman wrote in the September 7 letter that she was confused and devastated when Fuller told her in August that her position "was not working out" and that they needed to plan for Tillman's "graceful" exit. Tillman wrote that she received little explanation.
"This treatment smacks of institutional racism and disparate treatment," Tillman wrote.
A week later, more than a dozen Multnomah County employees testified before the county's board of commissioners about their experiences with microaggressions, implicit biases and overt racism in their workplace. Some spoke about the use of the n-word in the work place, while others spoke of the lack of support when it came to helping employees of color retain employment with the county past their one-year probationary period.
Kafoury pledged to do better.
A few days later, according to emails obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive, Fuller emailed an administrative analyst in her department calling the previous week "deeply painful."
In 2011, when she was still head of the county human services department, Fuller won an award from Multnomah County Managers of Color for her work in social justice. In 2014, when she was named to the health department director's post, County Commissioner Loretta Smith called her a "Bionic Woman," complimenting her track record.
On September 18, in the wake of Tillman's complaint going public and Kafoury calling for action, Fuller expressed a need for improvement.
"Since we have a long way to go, this is going to take all of us working together to support each other," Fuller wrote to Phyllis Laners that day. She described plans to increase workforce equity, pledged to review every employee complaint of discrimination in the health department and emphasized the need for managers and supervisors to have the skills to support a diverse workforce.
Seven days later, Fuller announced her sudden retirement.
"We are deeply grateful for her service," Kafoury said in a statement. "In addition to leading the largest safety net health care provider in Oregon, Joanne steered the Health Department through some of its greatest challenges."
Fuller initially stepped in to temporarily lead the health department in October 2013 after working as the county's chief operating officer and managing two different departments. The county commission named her to the position on a permanent basis in June 2014.
--Jessica Floum
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