PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The director of Portland’s Office of Neighborhood Involvement quietly stepped down Monday in exchange for a full year’s salary after an audit found her office lacked leadership.

Amalia Alarcon de Morris was paid $144,000 to resign. KOIN 6 News learned it was the city’s HR department and attorney that decided to award her with the severance.

“We’re hoping to lead the bureau in a new direction,” Commissioner Chloe Eudaly’s Chief of Staff Marshall Runkel said. “We were advised by the city’s HR department and the city attorney that if we were interested in making a change, that this was the right approach.”

Alarcon de Morris ran the Office of Neighborhood Involvement for 11 years. But last November, an audit blasted the agency for lacking guidance. According to the report, the office failed to execute and create yearly plans.

“I think it was a fair criticism,” David Austin, the office’s new interim director, said. “We need to look at that and we need to do better.”

City HR Director Anna Kanwit said, in the past, one-time payouts helped avoid ongoing costs to the city or drawn-out litigation. Alarcon de Morris’ severance is just the latest in a series of top tier buyouts that have cost the city millions of dollars since 2001, when city council voted to change the maximum payout from 30 weeks to 1 year’s salary.

“Maybe this is the flashpoint that calls into question: Is this the best policy?” Runkel asked.

Still, the move is giving the bureau a clean break as it tries to move forward.

“I’m going to do a lot of listening in the next few weeks, and within a month or 2 we’re going to make some more decisions and become more efficient,” Austin said.