This story has been updated.

The Portland bureau charged with issuing building permits and enforcing city codes is on track to hire a nine-member communications team at a cost of as much as $800,000.

At the behest of Commissioner Chloe Eudaly, the Portland City Council approved the final stages of that growth Wednesday. The council voted to devote $200,000 in development fees to three new communications positions in the Bureau of Development Services, which she oversees.

Together, the nine positions will be paid primarily by fees, with about 5 percent of the funding coming from taxpayers. The team includes video production specialists, two graphic artists and two public information officers.

The bureau's public information manager, Dave Austin, said his department "desperately needs a new way of doing communications."

"We need it because we need to help the public better interface with the city," he said.

Builders in Portland have long bemoaned how slow and confusing it is to get a city permit, he said. The agency's web site is outdated and gives customers too little or inaccurate information, which in turn slows progress, Austin said. The new communications team, he said, will improve communication within the bureau and with other bureaus that also impact building requirements, he said. The intent is to help the public better understand how to get a permit and to improve efficiency, he said.

"This is about increasing the output, getting people through the system faster."

Mayoral spokesman Michael Cox said improving communication within the permitting bureau aligns with the mayor's vision for increasing housing supply and called Austin's effort "commendable."

Eudaly, who took office in January, originally hired Austin as her deputy chief of staff. He then served as interim director of the Office of Neighborhood Involvement before moving into the communications role. He draws a yearly salary of about $124,000 as the development bureau's communication chief.

Since starting at the bureau in August, he's hired an assistant who's paid $47,000 a year. He also hired a public information officer who makes $83,000 a year. He already had a graphic designer who makes about $60,000 on staff and plans to hire another.

The bureau was able to make those hires because it already had six communications positions, four of which were vacant, Austin said. Wednesday's council action adding three more positions authorized the bureau to spend $810,000 a year for the nine employees.

The council cleared Austin to hire a second public information officer to improve communication with both the public and other city bureaus and a senior community outreach and information specialist to build bridges to underrepresented communities including immigrants and communities of color. They also greenlighted a video production specialist to make videos for the bureau's website and to help train employees. Those positions could collectively cost as much as $300,000.

He also plans to hire a second graphic designer and a second video production specialist. Together, the positions could cost $180,000.

"With those increased efficiencies, these positions pay for themselves in a short period of time," Austin said. "When you streamline communications and make it broader to keep up with the times, it can only get better."

The City Budget Office recommended against adding those positions due to the "significant increase in administrative overhead."

"The continued enlargement of the communications team lacks the service level urgency of the other staffing needs," a budget report said.

"This seemed like a conversation that should happen during the budget process," City Budget Officer Andrew Scott said.

Austin previously worked as a reporter at The Oregonian/OregonLive and as communicatons director at Multnomah County before joining Eudaly's staff. He moved into a media relations role within the development bureau in part so Eudaly's office could make good on its promise to pay Austin the level of compensation it promised him when he joined her staff.

Eudaly's office is working to arrange for Austin to draw income from both bureaus Eudaly oversees and from the commissioner's office. The Portland Mercury first reported on this unconventional pay system.

The Oregonian/OregonLive asked Eudaly Thursday afternoon how the development service bureau's communications plan fit into her strategy for her two bureaus. She called the new communications team "vital." She declined to elaborate further, saying she was "extremely busy." She dismissed the need to explain the big boost in hiring, suggesting it was obvious.

NOTE: This story was updated by 2 p.m. on Nov. 10 to correct the salary of a public information officer and clarify when some communication positions were approved and filled. The update also clarified the proportion of the costs paid by taxpayers.

--Jessica Floum

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