Multnomah County fires top mental health managers

Multnomah County has named a new director of its troubled mental health and addiction services division on the same day it fired two mental health managers at the center of an investigation of the handling of abuse complaints.

Ebony Clarke, 42, who has been serving as deputy director will take over the division, replacing longtime director David Hidalgo, one of the two managers who were terminated. The county also terminated the division's quality assurance manager, Joan Rice.

"I have determined that your continued employment is no longer in the best interests of Multnomah County," wrote Marissa Madrigal, the county's chief operations officer, in nearly identical March 27 letters to Hidalgo and Rice. "Please consider this letter your termination notice effective immediately. Your final paycheck will be sent ... today."

In December 2018 the Portland Tribune first reported that prosecutors and a sheriff's investigator were looking into whether division employees had committed any crimes while mishandling at least 16 complaints of abuse received concerning adults struggling with mental illness at the Unity Center for Behavioral Health.

Read more: https://portlandtribune.com/pt/9-news/423795-329359-multnomah-county-fires-top-mental-health-managers